__________________________________________________ The Online Newsletter of the Board on International Scientific Organizations Issue #16, Spring/Summer 2006 July 17, 2006 Dear Readers: Summer is always a busy time for our board and this year is no exception. We have staff and scientific delegations going to General Assemblies in Spain, Greece, and the Czech Republic. We welcome the International Union for Soil Science, which is holding its congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the International Union for Crystallography, which is holding a congress in Honolulu, Hawaii; and the International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, which is holding its congress in Providence, Rhode Island. We wish everyone safe travels and successful meetings. I also want you to mark your calendars for a special event we are planning this fall. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the International Council for Science, BISO and Student Pugwash are jointly organizing a symposium that will explore issues related to the independence and integrity of science and the public understanding and perception of science. A special focus of this symposium may be on the unique challenges facing biologists who must grapple with dual-use implications of their research. The symposium will take place in the morning of 27 October 2006 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. It will be open to students and the general public. We will post the agenda and registration details on our BISO website so please watch that space. BISO News is our regularly published online newsletter that is meant to keep readers informed of all of our activities. We intentionally keep this newsletter short but invite readers to contact us directly should they need additional information about any of our projects. Wendy D. White Director, BISO Table of Contents: BISO Briefs Milestones Union News Scientific and Technological Issues Capacity Building Information and Data Membership News Staff News

BISO Briefs

Report on Spring 2006 BISO Meeting
IIASA Postdoc Program Accepting 2006 Applications
U.S. NMO Committee Meeting Held at IIASA
Immigration Reform Bills Move Through Congress
Report on Spring 2006 BISO Meeting BISO convened its tenth meeting on April 10-11, 2006. During this meeting, Board members discussed the outcome of the ICSU General Assembly (October 2005). Highlights of the Board meeting included presentations on ICSU’s strategic plan and on the National Academies’ efforts to support the teaching of evolution. ICSU marks its 75th anniversary this year and will place special emphasis on capacity building regarding the work of young scientists. Review a complete summary of the BISO’s Annual Meeting and updates on ICSU’s U.S. National Committees. IIASA Postdoc Program Accepting 2006 Applications The International Institute for Applied Sciences (IIASA) is currently accepting applications for its 2006 Postdoctoral Program, which is part of IIASA’s Programs for Young Scientists. IIASA will fund up to two post-graduate researchers for a 12-24 month stay at the Institute in Laxenburg, Austria. The deadline for applications is August 15, 2006. Candidates will be notified by September 15, 2006. Consult IIASA’s Website for details. U.S. NMO Committee Meeting Held at IIASA The U.S. National Member Organization (NMO), for the first time, held a Committee meeting at IIASA, in conjunction with the IIASA Council meeting in Laxenburg, Austria. The meeting began with the June 12 IIASA Energy Day, which featured presentations highlighting the Institute’s varied work in energy-related projects. The Committee spent a day and a half visiting IIASA research staff, meeting Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) fellows, and generally learning more about the Institute before the NMO Committee meeting on the afternoon of June 14. The meeting agenda focused on developing outreach strategies, and included discussions with IIASA research leaders, outreach staff, and IIASA Endowment Fund. Immigration Reform Bills Move Through Congress Comprehensive immigration reform legislation (S.2611) passed the Senate on May 25. The bill includes a new F-4 visa category that would make it easier for foreign graduate students studying science and engineering in the United States to remain here after graduation. Under current law, all temporary visitors, including students and scholars, must prove their intent to return to their home country. Science and engineering students in this new category would not be required to do so, and could apply for a change in status and green card after graduation. A $2,000 fee would apply. The bill would also increase the H-1B visa cap from 65,000 to 115,000 per year and would provide for future growth. The current exemption for those with graduate science and math degrees earned at U.S. universities would be retained. The Senate bill must now be reconciled with HR 4437, which passed the House of Representatives on December 16, 2005. The House bill focuses primarily on enforcement and border security and does not include the provisions mentioned above. Back to BISO Briefs Back to Table of Contents Milestones BISO Board Member Elected to Moroccan Royal Academy of Sciences Notre Dame Honors USNC/Math Chair USNC/Math Member to Head Math and Physical Sciences at NSF USNC/IUGG Member Awarded the 2006 International Hydrology Prize Newly Elected National Academy of Science Members BISO Board Member Elected to Moroccan Royal Academy of Sciences BISO congratulates Board Member Farouk El-Baz, Chair of the national committee for geological sciences and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, on his recent election to the Moroccan Royal Academy of Sciences and Technology. A geologist and a veteran of the Apollo lunar exploration program, Dr. El-Baz has devoted the past 30 years of his career to the study of the origin and evolution of desert landforms. He has pioneered the utilization of space images in the field, particularly for the location of groundwater resources in arid regions. Dr. El-Baz is the director of Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing. Notre Dame Honors USNC/Math Chair The University of Notre Dame recently honored Salah Baouendi, Chair of the U.S. National Committee for Mathematics (USNC/Math), at the International Conference on Partial Differential Equations, Complex Analysis, and Differential Geometry held 11-16 June, 2006. Plenary speakers addressed current concerns in pure and applied mathematics, as well as in science and engineering more broadly. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Notre Dame’s Graduate School and Department of Mathematics, the event formally recognized Dr. Baouendi’s contributions to the field. A Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, San Diego, Salah Baouendi has served as the USNC/Math Chair since 2005. Review the agenda and photos of the event. USNC/Math Member Heads Math and Physical Sciences at NSF USNC/Math Committee Member Tony F. Chan has been named by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the Assistant Director for Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the NSF. Dean of Physical Sciences at the University of California at Los Angeles since 2001, Dr. Chan has overseen several research institutes and departments comprising more than 200 faculty, 1,700 undergraduates, and 700 graduate students. In his new position at the NSF, which he assumes October 1, 2006, Dr. Chan will manage research funding in support of astronomy, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and materials science. He currently serves on the National Committee for Mathematics and will be one of five U.S. delegates at the General Assembly of the International Mathematics Union in Santiago de Compostela, Spain this August. Read the official NSF press release. USNC/IUGG Member Awarded the 2006 International Hydrology Prize W. James Shuttleworth, USNC/International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Member and Director of the Center for Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA) at the University of Arizona, was awarded the International Hydrology Prize (IHP) for 2006. Dr. Shuttleworth’s innovative research and leadership have contributed to the growth of hydrology as a vital Earth Sciences discipline over that past thirty years. Given annually by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the International Hydrology Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to the field. View a complete list of IHP winners. Newly-elected members to National Academy of Sciences with ties to the national committee network: Jose N. Onuchic; Co-Director, Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, and Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego (Member of USLC/IUPAP). William A. Eaton; Chief, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. (Former member of USNC/IUPAB). Back to Table of Contents

Union News

Upcoming IUBS Symposium on Sustainable Development

ASBMB Holds Public Affairs Forum on Teaching Evolution

Upcoming IUBS Symposium on Sustainable Development The 29th International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) Conference and General Assembly will be held in Washington, DC, 9-13 May, 2007. The IUBS Conference will feature the three-day symposium “Biological Sciences for the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges of Sustainable Development in an Era of Global Change.” In support of the UN Millennium Development Goal of ensuring environmental sustainability, this event will address major developments in the biological sciences and highlight the challenges of sustainable development related to ecosystems, agriculture and fisheries, and global health. A final half-day session will integrate discussions from previous scientific sessions and include a keynote speaker. Open to the general public, the symposium is expected to draw scholars and entrepreneurs from the public and private sectors. Click here for registration information. ASBMB Holds Public Affairs Forum on Teaching Evolution The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) held its Public Affairs Forum on “Teaching the Science of Evolution Under the Threat of Alternative Views” on April 4, 2006. Video footage of the presentation is available under annual meeting presentations on the ASBMB webpage. A link to the page can also be found on the USNC/IUBMB webpage. The IUBMB contributed $5,000 toward producing a CD-ROM of the presentations, which will be distributed to high school science teachers. Michael Cox, Vice-Chair of the USNC for IUBMB, helped to organize the forum and chaired a complementary session on "Current Themes in Molecular Evolution." Back to Table of Contents

Kebira Crater in Sahara Desert (Landsat image courtesy of Boston University Center for Remote Sensing)	BISO Board member and Boston University researcher Farouk El-Baz, along with his colleague Eman Ghoneim, recently discovered the largest known crater in North Africa’s Great Sahara Desert. Drs. El-Baz and Ghoneim detected the crater while reviewing satellite images of Egypt’s Western Desert. The crater, named “Kebira” meaning “large” in Arabic, measures approximately 31 kilometers in diameter. Prior to Kebira’s discovery in March of this year, the 17 km Aorounga Crater in Chad was considered the Sahara’s largest impact crater. Kebira’s double-ringed shape is similar to craters found on the Moon and the sandstone terrain in which Kebira is located is approximately 100 million years-old. El-Baz and Ghoneim hope to determine the precise age of the crater upon further examination of rock samples and the surrounding area. Farouk El-Baz is the Director of Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing.
Additional information about the Kebira Crater may be found on Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing Web site.
Workshop on Dual-Use Issues in the Biological Sciences The Royal Society, the International Council for Science (ICSU), and the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues (IAP) will co-sponsor a workshop to assess recent developments in the biological sciences and their potential implications, to address concerns about the misuse of biotechnology, and to promote scientific awareness and responsibility. The International Unions for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), Microbiology (IUMS), and Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) have also been involved in planning for this meeting. A report compiled from the participant discussions will be released prior to the Sixth Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which will take place November 20 – December 8, 2006. Get additional information. Deemed Export Control Rules Withdrawn By Commerce Department The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently published two announcements in the Federal Register dealing with deemed exports. Commerce had published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) in March 2005 based on recommendations of the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and these latest notices were based on feedback received from the community regarding the proposals. The first notice, published May 22, announced the Department’s decision to create a new Deemed Export Advisory Committee (DEAC). The 12-person committee, appointed by the Secretary, will be charged with reviewing the Department’s deemed export licensing policies with the twin objectives of safeguarding national security while ensuring that the U.S. retains its technological lead. DEAC members will be drawn from academia, industry, and the fields of national security and intelligence. Committee members will serve no longer than one year and must obtain security clearances. Those interested in serving should send a written request and their CV to Yvette Springer at Yspringer@bis.doc.gov no later than July 21, 2006. The second announcement, published May 31, withdrew proposals contained in the March 2005 ANPR, including consideration of the country of birth of foreign students and scholars and a revised definition of equipment “use.” Regarding the country of birth, the announcement states, “BIS determined that the current licensing requirement based upon a foreign national’s country of citizenship or permanent residency is appropriate … [as the current policy] recognizes the significance of declarative assertion of affiliation over the mere geographical circumstances of birth.” In regard to “use” of equipment, the Commerce Department decided that the existing definition contained in Section 772.1 of the Export Administration Regulation (EAR) should remain unchanged. That definition requires that six activities—operation, installation, maintenance, repair, overhaul, and refurbishment—all be present before a license is required. The OIG had recommended replacing the word “and” with “or” so that any one of the listed activities would trigger a licensing requirement. According to the announcement, “only the totality of these activities would provide a foreign national with enough knowledge to replicate or improve the performance capabilities of the controlled item.” In general, the research and higher education communities have welcomed these moves by the Commerce Department. However, as the Association of American Universities recently cautioned its members, “there is one aspect of the announcement that remains contentious. In the announcement, BIS distinguishes the outputs of fundamental research (e.g. publishable information) from the inputs needed to conduct and enable such research (e.g. information concerning controlled technologies). Thus, while a research product is not subject to EAR, the announcement suggests that a license may be required ‘if during the conduct of research controlled technology is released to a foreign national. The Department of Defense is also expected to release a new notice on its deemed export proposal at the end of June. Back to Table of Contents

Capacity Building Iraqi Virtual Science Library InterAcademy Council Report on Women for Science Building Bridges: Bring Your Child to Work Day 2006 Iraqi Virtual Science Library Launched in May 2006, the Iraqi Virtual Science Library (IVSL) provides full-text access to scientific, medical and engineering material at no cost to Iraq’s scientific community. The IVSL is the result of the collaborative efforts of the U.S. National Academies in partnership with the U.S. Government, scientific publishers, and professional societies. More than 17,400 journals and journal databases, as well as encyclopedias, books, and course materials, are readily available to Iraqi scientists, engineers, and university students. The virtual library serves to further develop Iraq’s higher education and research communities. To access the on-line resources, members must register and be affiliated with one of several Iraqi universities or institutions. In addition to research journals and databases, registered members also have access to customized websites by IVSL's U.S. and international partner agencies. Click here (https://ivsl.org) for details about the library and its sponsoring partners. InterAcademy Council Report on Women for Science The InterAcademy Council (IAC) recently released the advisory report, Women for Science, encouraging the world’s academies of science, engineering, and medicine to take measures to foster greater representation of women in the fields of science and technology (S&T), as well as among academy memberships. According to the IAC report, the under-representation of women in the S&T community weakens science capacity worldwide. The report calls for full inclusion of eligible women in management, leadership, and mentoring roles. The world’s scientific academies, through their collaborative partnerships and alliances with governments, universities, and nongovernmental organizations, are urged to assume an advocacy role to strengthen S&T capacity building. The InterAcademy Council was created by 90 global scientific academies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Read more about Women for Science or view the full report.
Building Bridges: Bring Your Child to Work Day 2006 Designed to introduce children aged 8-12 to the work of the National Academies, Bring A Child to Work Day 2006 was held on April 27th at the Keck Center. The annual event serves to inspire children about their future career goals, especially in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine. This year’s theme, “Building Bridges,” highlighted the importance of making connections across cultural perspectives and scientific disciplines. Accompanied by their parent or sponsor throughout the day, participating children were given future employee identification badges and had an opportunity to take part in educational activities sponsored by various divisions at the National Academies. Keeping with this year’s theme, visitors to BISO were challenged to build a bridge capable of holding up a book by utilizing only three sheets of paper and a roll of tape. We congratulate Presha and Johnathan Merritt, grandchildren of BISO Director Wendy White, for their winning bridge, which held an impressive 59 pounds.		Winning bridge held 59 pounds!
Biso Kids (L to R): Troy Dixon, Presha Merritt, Miranda Merritt, Johnathan Merritt, and Emily Mathae
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Information and Data Report from CODATA Workshop on Scientific Information in Southern Africa USNC/CODATA Activities with the Chinese National Committee for CODATA Report from CODATA Workshop on Scientific Information in Southern Africa A full report and an Executive Summary from the international Workshop on Strategies for Permanent Access to Scientific Information in Southern Africa: Focus on Health and Environmental Information for Sustainable Development, are now both available online. The individual presentations also are available. All of the Workshop output may be obtained on CDs as well. The Workshop was co-organized by the USNC/CODATA in Pretoria, South Africa on 5-7 September 2005, together with the South African CODATA Committee, the National Research Foundation of South Africa, and the CODATA Task Group on Preservation and Access to Scientific and Technical Data in Developing Countries. A small follow-up workshop is currently being planned by the same organizations for later in 2006. USNC/CODATA Activities with the Chinese National Committee for CODATA The USNC/CODATA is initiating a bilateral Roundtable on Scientific Data Cooperation with the Chinese National CODATA Committee and the Chinese Academy of Sciences this October. The Roundtable is based on a series of ad hoc data policy meetings between the two national committees that have taken place since 2000. The agreed focus areas for the new Roundtable are: data policy, cyber-infrastructure data applications, environmental and geospatial data, and health and biomedical data. The first organizing meeting of the Roundtable will be held October 20 in Beijing, in conjunction with the 20th CODATA Conference and General Assembly, which will take place October 22-25. Other major side meetings are also being planned. The USNC/CODATA Chair, Roberta Balstad of CIESIN, is the Conference Co-Chair and there is strong U.S. participation in the program. See www.codata.org for more information about the CODATA Conference. Back to Table of Contents

Changes in BISO Membership New USNC Members Members Completing Service Changes in Committee Leadership Changes in BISO Membership The membership of BISO’s advisory board is changing. We give a hearty thanks to four founding members who cycled off the board in June: Merry Bullock, Roger Coate, Goetz Oertel, and Marti Rabinowitch. These members brought considerable experience and expertise to BISO and their participation in our activities will be missed. We thank them for all their hard work over the last six years. We would like to welcome the following members to the board: Christopher Field is the founding Director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, Professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, and Faculty Director of Stanford's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2001. For most of the last two decades, Dr. Field has pushed the emergence of global ecology. His research emphasizes ecological contributions across the range of earth-science disciplines. He and his colleagues have developed diverse approaches to quantifying large-scale ecosystem processes, using satellites, atmospheric data, models, and census data. His activities in building the culture of global ecology include chairing the U.S. National Committee for SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment) and the U.S. Interagency Science Steering Group on Carbon Cycle Science, plus service on many committees of the National Research Council and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Marvin Geller is Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Marine Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He is currently the president of SCOSTEP -- the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics. He has been active in a number of NRC committees since 1987 and currently serves on the Committee on Strategic Guidance for NSF's Support of Atmospheric Sciences. Current research interests include using atmospheric general circulation models, mechanistic models, and data analysis to better understand interannual variability in tropical upwelling through the tropopause and its effect on stratospheric water vapor; using high resolution radiosonde data to characterize atmospheric gravity wave activity and better understand the sources for this activity; and using models together with data assimilation techniques to better characterize and understand stratospheric ozone losses that have occurred. Dr. Geller received his Ph.D. in 1969 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Pricilla Grew is Director of the University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History. She is also Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and teaches a large undergraduate course on Geology of National Parks. Since 1998 she has also served as UNL’s NAGPRA Coordinator for repatriation of human remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. She was Vice Chancellor for Research at UNL from 1993 to 1999. Since 1989, Dr. Grew has served as a member of the Advisory Board of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University. Currently, she is also a member of the Education and Outreach Steering Committee of the NSF-funded EarthScope project administered by the Incorporated Research Institutions in Seismology (IRIS). She chairs the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and is Vice Chair of the U.S. National Committee for DIVERSITAS. Dr. Grew graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1962 with a BA magna cum laude in Geology and earned her PhD in Geology in 1967 from the University of California at Berkeley. Melinda Kimble is Senior Vice President at the United Nations Foundation. She oversees the program areas of health, population, the environment, and peace/human rights. Ms. Kimble joined the UN Foundation in May 2000. Prior to that, she served as a State Department Foreign Service Officer, attaining the rank of Minister-Counselor. She served in policy-level positions in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, overseeing multilateral development issues and debt policy, and in the Bureau of Oceans, International Environment and Scientific Affairs, leading environmental negotiations (e.g, Climate Change Conference, Kyoto, Japan, 1997). Ms. Kimble's assignments abroad include Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, and Tunisia. She speaks French and Arabic and holds two masters degrees: Economics (University of Denver) and MPA (Harvard's Kennedy School of Government). Kenneth Ribet is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a member of the national committee for mathematics. Dr. Ribet was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1997 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2000. After three years of teaching at Princeton and two years of research in Paris, he joined the Berkeley faculty in 1978. He received his department's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1985. He is known for his work in number theory and algebraic geometry. Dr. Ribet played a prominent role in the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem by showing that this statement was a logical consequence of a conjecture about elliptic curves. (Andrew Wiles proved this conjecture in 1995, thereby obtaining Fermat's Last Theorem as a corollary.) Ribet is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics at UCLA and a member of the editorial boards of three Springer book series. He also serves on the editorial boards of Mathematische Annalen, the Annales de l'Institut Fourier, the Journal of Number Theory and Mathematics Research Letters. He was awarded the Fermat Prize in 1989 and received an honorary Ph.D. from Brown University in 1998. Ribet was inducted as a Vigneron d'honneur by the Jurade de Saint Emilion in 1988. He studied at Brown University and Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1973. Back to Table of Contents

We welcome the following new members: Thomas J. Casadevall, U.S. Geological Survey, USNC/GS Jonathan Fink, Arizona State University, USNC/GS Jill McCarthy, U.S. Geological Survey, USNC/GS Nafi Toksöz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USNC/GS We also thank those members who have recently completed their service: E. Dwight Adams, University of Florida, USLC/IUPAP Barry Barish, California Institute of Technology, Chair, USLC/IUPAP Kate Beard, University of Maine, USNC/CODATA Lynn Boatner, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USLC/IUPAP Jennifer Chayes, Microsoft Corporation, USLC/IUPAP Federico Capasso, Harvard University, USLC/IUPAP Valery Godyak, OSRAM Sylvania, Inc., USLC/IUPAP Kristi Hathaway, Office of Naval Research, USLC/IUPAP Pierre Hohenberg, New York University, USLC/IUPAP David Jackson, University of California, Los Angeles, USLC/IUPAP Philip Marston, Washington State University, USLC/IIUPAP Rey Morales, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USNC/CODATA William Reinhardt, University of Washington, USLC/IUPAP Burton Richter, Stanford University, USLC/IUPAP Morton Roberts, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USLC/IUPAP Chandra Roychoudhuri, University of Connecticut, USAC/ICO Mary Beth Ruskai, University of Massachusetts, USLC/IUPAP Paul Schenker, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, USAC/ICO James Stith, American Institute of Physics, USLC/IUPAP Alex Szalay, The Johns Hopkins University, USNC/CODATA Antoinette Taylor, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USAC/ICO Michael Zeller, Yale University, USLC/IUPAP We would like to announce the following changes in committee leadership: Robert Austin of Princeton University is the new Chair of USLC/IUPAP; he was formerly Vice Chair. Farouk El-Baz of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University is the new Chair of the USNC/GS, replacing Grant Heiken, Los Alamos National Laboratory, retired. USAC/ICO Member James Harrington of Rutgers University, is the new Chair of USAC/ICO. Susan W. Kieffer of the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign is the new Vice Chair of the USNC/GS. Vera Luth of the Stanford Linear Acceleration Center, joins USLC/IUPAP as the new Vice Chair. Back to Table of Contents

This spring has seen many changes in BISO’s staff. We miss those who have left and wish them well in their new ventures. At the same time, we are pleased to have our new staff members on board. We hope that you will enjoy working with them! As was mentioned in our last newsletter, Mariza Silva, who had been managing the International Visitors Office (IVO) since 2003, moved to Hawaii. We are pleased to announce that Kofi Kpikpitse has taken on the role of program associate for the IVO. Kofi has been with BISO since the fall of 2004 as program assistant for several national committees. He will continue with a few of those committees—soil science, math instruction, radio science, optics, theoretical and applied mechanics, and Pacific science—while working on the IVO. This spring saw the departure of both Valerie Theberge and Laura Sheahan. Valerie had been our communications associate and also worked with the national committee for chemistry. She left us in March to become a full-time artist and has since been featured on Home and Garden Television. For more about Valerie’s artwork, visit her website at www.valerietheberge.com. Laura, who staffed the national committees in the biosciences and chemistry, left BISO in May to take on new challenges at the J. Craig Venter Institute, a not-for-profit research institute dedicated to the advancement of the science of genomics; the understanding of its implications for society; and the communication of those results to the scientific community, the public, and policymakers We are pleased to announce that Lisa Bevell has joined the BISO staff our communications associate. Lisa began her career at the National Academies as a program assistant with the National Science Resources Center in 1995. Prior to joining BISO, she was a Program Associate with the Research Associateship Programs and served as an administrative liaison to postdoctoral researchers at several federal laboratories. She received her B.A. in Spanish: Language and Civilization from the University of Mary Washington and is currently pursuing a graduate certificate in linguistics at George Mason University with a focus on second language acquisition. We are equally pleased that Katherine Bowman, who had joined BISO this spring as a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow working on biosecurity issues, has agreed to become the program officer for the bioscience national committees. In addition to her work with the National Committees, Katie is particularly interested in emerging biological and chemical technologies and responsible use of scientific research. She received her B.A. in Biology from Amherst College and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Between college and graduate school, Katie worked as a legal assistant in both Washington, D.C. and Boston. In her free time, she enjoys kayaking and hiking.

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