Washington, D.C. office of the Association

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the betterment of all humanity. It is the world's largest general scientific society, with 126,995 individual and institutional members at the end of 2008,^[1] and is the publisher of the well-known scientific journal Science, which has a weekly circulation of 138,549.^[2]

History[link]

Creation[link]

The American Association for the Advancement of Science was created on September 20, 1848 in Pennsylvania. It was a reformation of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists. The society chose William Charles Redfield as their first president because he had proposed the most comprehensive plans for the organization. According to the first constitution which was agreed to at the September 20 meeting, the goal of the society was to promote scientific dialogue in order to allow for greater scientific collaboration. By doing so the association aimed to use resources to conduct science with increased efficiency and allow for scientific progress at a greater rate. The association also sought to increase the resources available to the scientific community through active advocacy of science.

There were only 87 members when the AAAS was formed. As a member of the new scientific body, Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN was one of those who attended the first 1848 meeting.

At a meeting held on Friday afternoon, September 22, 1848, Redfield presided, and Matthew Fontaine Maury gave a full scientific report on his Wind and Current Charts. Maury stated that hundreds of ship navigators were now sending abstract logs of their voyages to the United States Naval Observatory. With pride he added, "Never before was such a corps of observers known." But, he pointed out to his fellow scientists, his critical need was for more "simultaneous observations."

"The work," Maury stated, "is not exclusively for the benefit of any nation or age." The minutes of the AAAS meeting reveal that because of the universality of this "view on the subject, it was suggested whether the states of Christendom might not be induced to cooperate with their Navies in the undertaking; at least so far as to cause abstracts of their log-books and sea journals to be furnished to Matthew F. Maury, USN, at the Naval Observatory at Washington."

William Barton Rogers, professor at the University of Virginia and later founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered a resolution: "Resolved that a Committee of five be appointed to address a memorial to the Secretary of the Navy, requesting his further aid in procuring for Matthew Maury the use of the observations of European and other foreign navigators, for the extension and perfecting of his charts of winds and currents." The resolution was adopted and, in addition to Rogers, the following members of the association were appointed to the committee: Professor Joseph Henry of Washington; Professor Benjamin Peirce of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Professor James H. Coffin of Easton, Pennsylvania, and Professor Stephen Alexander of Princeton, New Jersey. This was scientific cooperation, and Maury went back to Washington with great hopes for the future.

Growth and Civil War dormancy[link]

By 1860 membership increased to over 2,000. The AAAS became dormant during the American Civil War; their August 1861 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee was postponed indefinitely after the outbreak of the first major engagement of the war at Bull Run. The AAAS did not become a permanent casualty of the war.

In 1866, Frederick Barnard presided over the first meeting of the resurrected AAAS at a meeting in New York City. Following the revival of the AAAS, the group had considerable growth. The AAAS permitted all people, regardless of scientific credentials, to join. The AAAS did, however, institute a policy of granting the title of "Fellow of the AAAS" to well-respected scientists within the organization. The years of peace brought the development and expansion of other scientific-oriented groups. The AAAS's focus on the unification of many fields of science under a single organization was in contrast to the many new science organizations founded to promote a single discipline. For example, the American Chemical Society, founded in 1876, promotes chemistry.

In 1863, the US Congress established the National Academy of Sciences, another multidisciplinary sciences organization. It elects members based on recommendations from colleagues and the value of published works.

Advocacy[link]

Since 2006, AAAS's CEO Dr. Alan I. Leshner has published many op-ed articles discussing how many people integrate science and religion in their lives. He has opposed the insertion of non-scientific content, such as creationism or intelligent design, into the scientific curriculum of schools.^[3][4][5][6]

In December 2006, the AAAS adopted an official statement on climate change in which they stated, "The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society....The pace of change and the evidence of harm have increased markedly over the last five years. The time to control greenhouse gas emissions is now."^[7]

In February 2007, the AAAS used satellite images to document human rights abuses in Burma.^[8] The next year, AAAS launched the Center for Science Diplomacy to advance both science and the broader relationships among partner countries, by promoting international scientific cooperation.^[9]

Governance[link]

The most recent Constitution of the AAAS, enacted on January 1, 1973, establishes that the governance of the AAAS is accomplished through four entities: a President, a group of administrative officers, a Council, and a Board of Directors.

Presidents[link]

Individuals elected to the presidency of the AAAS hold a three-year term in a unique way. The first year is spent as President-elect, the second as President and the third as Chairperson of the Board of Directors. In accordance with the convention followed by the AAAS, presidents are referenced by the year in which they left office.

Nina V. Fedoroff is the President of AAAS; Alice S. Huang is the Chair person; and William H. Press is the President-Elect.^[10] Each took office on the last day of the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting, February 21, 2011.^[11][12] On the last day of the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting, February 20, 2012,^[13] Fedoroff will become the Chair, Press will become the President, and a new President-Elect will take office.

Past presidents of AAAS have included some of the most important scientific figures of their time. Among them: explorer and geologist John Wesley Powell (1888); astronomer and physicist Edward Charles Pickering (1912); anthropologist Margaret Mead (1975); and biologist Stephen Jay Gould (2000).

Administrative officers[link]

There are three classifications of high-level administrative officials that execute the basic, daily functions of the AAAS. These are the Executive Officer, the Treasurer and then each of the AAAS's section secretaries. The current CEO of AAAS and executive publisher of Science magazine is Alan I. Leshner.^[14]

Sections of the AAAS[link]

The AAAS has 24 "sections" with each section being responsible for a particular concern of the AAAS. There are sections for agriculture, anthropology, astronomy, atmospheric science, biological science, chemistry, dentistry, education, engineering, general interest in science and engineering, geology and geography, the history and philosophy of science, technology, computer science, linguistics, mathematics, medical science, neuroscience, pharmaceutical science, physics, psychology, science and human rights, social and political science, the social impact of science and engineering, and statistics.^[15]

Affiliates[link]

AAAS affiliates include 262 societies and academies of science, serving more than 10 million members, from the Acoustical Society of America to the Wildlife Society, and including, for example, the Parapsychological Association.^[16]

The Council[link]

The Council is composed of the members of the Board of Directors, the retiring section chairmen and elected delegates. Among the elected delegates there are always at least two members from the National Academy of Sciences and one from each region of the country. The President of the AAAS serves as the Chairperson of the Council. Members serve the Council for a term of three years.

The council meets annually to discuss matters of importance to the AAAS. They have the power to review all activities of the Association, elect new fellows, adopt resolutions, propose amendments to the Association's constitution and bylaws, create new scientific sections, and organize and aid local chapters of the AAAS.

The Board of Directors[link]

The board of directors is composed of a chairperson, the president, and the president-elect along with eight elected directors, the executive officer of the association and up to two additional directors appointed by elected officers. Members serve a four-year term except for directors appointed by elected officers, who serve three-year terms.

The current chairman is Peter Agre, director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute^[17][18] and a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry for his discovery of aquaporins.^[19] Agre will serve in the post until the end of the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting,^[20] 21 February 2011.^[21] (The chairperson is always the immediate past-president of AAAS.)

The board of directors has a variety of powers and responsibilities. It is charged with the administration of all association funds, publication of a budget, appointment of administrators, proposition of amendments, and determining the time and place of meetings of the national association. The board may also speak publicly on behalf of the association. The board must also regularly correspond with the council to discuss their actions.

See also[link]

• SAGE KE, Science of Aging Knowledge Environment, provided by AAAS
• Science's STKE, Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment, provided by AAAS
• British Association for the Advancement of Science
• United States National Academy of Sciences
• National Science Foundation
• AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility
• Science Signaling (journal)
• Renaissance, sculpture outside the AAAS headquarters.
• National Postdoctoral Association

References[link]

External links[link]

• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 1973 Constitution of the AAAS
• EurekAlert! – an online, global news service operated by the AAAS

Jennifer J. Wiseman is an American astronomer. She received her bachelor's degree in physics from MIT and her Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1995. Wiseman discovered periodic comet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff while working as an undergraduate research assistant in 1987. She is currently chief of the ExoPlanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory in the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Wiseman is a Christian and a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation.^[1] On June 16, 2010, Wiseman was introduced as the new director for the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.^[2]

References[link]

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Diane Rehm ( /ˈriːm/; born Diane Aed on September 21,^[1] 1936) is an American public radio talk show host. Her program, The Diane Rehm Show, is distributed nationally and internationally by National Public Radio. It is produced at WAMU, which is licensed to American University in Washington, D.C.

Personal life[link]

Diane Rehm was born in Washington, D.C. to Wadie Aed and Eugenie Zouekie, ethnic Assyrian/Syriac Christians from Mersin, Turkey. She attended William B. Powell Elementary and Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C.^[1] Upon graduation, she was employed by the city's highways department, where she became a radio dispatcher.^{[citation needed]} She never attended college.

Diane married John Rehm, her second husband, in 1959. She has two grown children, David and Jennifer.^[2]

In her autobiography, Rehm said she had been molested at the age of nine by a congressman whose identity she has not revealed.^[1]

A voice problem led Rehm to take a hiatus from broadcasting in 1998. She was found to be suffering from spasmodic dysphonia. Rehm sought treatment which allowed her to resume doing her show.

Career[link]

Rehm began her radio career in 1973^[2] as a volunteer for WAMU's The Home Show. In 1979, she took over as the host of WAMU's morning talk show, Kaleidoscope, which was renamed The Diane Rehm Show in 1984.

Rehm has interviewed many political and cultural figures, including John McCain, Barack Obama, Madeleine Albright, and others. She has said that her most touching interview was with Fred Rogers of the PBS program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, conducted just before his death.^[2] Rehm considers her interviews with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton to be "amazing experiences."^[3]

She has written two autobiographical books. The first, Finding My Voice, dealt with her traditional upbringing in a Christian Arab household, her brief first marriage and divorce, her 50-year marriage to John Rehm, raising her children, the first 20 years of her radio career, and her battles with depression, osteoporosis, and spasmodic dysphonia.^[4] Together with John Rehm she co-wrote Toward Commitment: A Dialogue about Marriage, which was published in 2002.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting report[link]

In 2005, a private study funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said Rehm booked 22 liberal guests for every 5 conservative guests. The study was criticized as a politicized attempt to, in Rehm's word, "scare" journalists with the accusation of liberal bias. One criticism of the study concerned its criteria of what constituted "liberal" – a category which seemed to include moderate Republicans such as Senator Chuck Hagel and former Representative Bob Barr.^[5] The study was commissioned by Kenneth Tomlinson, whose appointment to the chairmanship of the CPB by George W. Bush had been criticized by liberals as politically motivated. Tomlinson hired Indiana consultant Frederick W. Mann, a conservative thinker previously associated with the Young America's Foundation, which has described itself as "the principal outreach organization of the Conservative Movement".^[6] A report on the study by the CPB's Inspector General, Kenneth Konz, criticized Tomlinson's methods; the report led to Tomlinson's immediate resignation in November, 2005.^[7] According to the Washington Post, Diane Rehm herself "called Mann's findings 'unprofessional and simplistic.' [and] added 'I've been booking shows for 25 years. I don't think they have any idea what it takes to achieve the professionalism and expertise and the right people to express a variety of points of view. . . . What [Kenneth Tomlinson]'s doing, I think, is trying to scare public broadcasters.' "^[5]

Honors and awards[link]

A partial list of Rehm's honors and awards:

• 1999 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine.
• 2000 Fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, honoring extraordinary contributions to journalism.
• 2003 Calvary Women's Services Hope award, honoring her volunteer and professional work for women in need.
• 2003 Montgomery County Chapter of the National Organization for Women's Susan B. Anthony Award, honoring her advocacy of women's right in the community.
• 2006 Urbino Press Award
• 2009 Peabody Award (presented in 2010)^[8]
• 2010 Foremother Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Research Center for Women & Families

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Diane Rehm Show official site
• Diane Rehm at the Internet Movie Database

Zachary "Zack" Kopplin is a student at Rice University in Houston.^[1] As a senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, in Louisiana, he launched a campaign to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act, which has been described by the international science community as a creationism law.^[2] Kopplin ran his campaign through his RepealCreationism website.^[3]

Kopplin joined with Senator Karen Carter Peterson, a Democrat from New Orleans and Chairwomen of the Louisiana Democratic Party who sponsored two attempts to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act. Peterson vowed to keep sponsoring bills, “until we defeat this law.”^[4]

With the help of Nobel laureate chemist, Harry Kroto, Kopplin gathered the support of 78 Nobel laureate scientists, who endorsed the repeal effort.^[5] The repeal is also supported by many other prominent scientists including Kenneth Miller.^[6]

Kopplin gathered the support of major science organizations behind the repeal including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest science organization in the world with over 10 million members. He also gathered endorsements from the Clergy Letter Project and the New Orleans City Council.^[6]

Over 70,000 people signed a Change.org petition in support of the repeal bill.^[7]

Kopplin also played a role in convincing the Louisiana State Board of Education to adopt new Life Science textbooks.^[8] He helped prevent an attempt by Louisiana Legislators to reverse the Board’s decision.^[9]

Kopplin also had a part in the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary and made evolution an issue in the 2012 elections.^[10] Congresswoman Michele Bachmann had claimed that “there is a controversy over evolution" and "hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel prizes, believe in intelligent design.”^[11] Given Kopplin’s background with Nobel Laureates supporting evolution, he called on the Congresswoman to match his Nobel Laureates with her own.^[12] When given the opportunity to respond to Kopplin, she did not name a single laureate.^[13]

Kopplin also challenged Senator Rick Santorum on creationism shortly before he won the Louisiana Republican Presidential Primary.^[14]

By putting evolution into the national spotlight with Congresswomen Bachmann, Kopplin sparked a larger national debate about evolution, a debate that eventually caused other Republican candidates like Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman to air their views on the issue. When Kopplin was interviewed by Michael Smerconish on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Smerconish joked, “is there any rumor that your bus is headed to New Hampshire this weekend?”^[15]

Kopplin is the National Center for Science Education’s 2012 Friend of Darwin Award Winner with Judy Scotchmoor and also the winner of the 2012 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award in Education.^[16][17] The New Orleans Gambit named him the 38th largest newsmaker in New Orleans of 2011.^[18] Kopplin even helped inspire a Doonesbury cartoon about Louisiana’s law.^[19][20]

His father is Andy Kopplin, who is currently the First Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer for the city of New Orleans. Kopplin was Chief of Staff for Governors Blanco and Foster and created the Louisiana Recovery Authority under Blanco.

See also[link]

• Louisiana Science Education Act
• Academic Freedom bills
• Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
• Critical Analysis of Evolution
• Academic Bill of Rights
• Edwards v. Aguillard
• Dover v. Kitzmiller
• Barbara Forrest

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (September 2011)

Michael Rothschild (born August 2, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is an American economist; he is visiting professor at the Department of Economics of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and a former dean at Princeton.

Education[link]

Rothschild holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Reed College (1963), and a Master of Arts in International Relations from Yale University (1965). He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1969).

Academic career[link]

He was the William Stuart Tod Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He was dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University from 1995 through 2001. Rothschild has written on asymmetric information, decision-making under uncertainty, demography, investment, taxation, finance, and jury-decision processes.

He co-authored one of the most important papers in economics, Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information,^[1] with Joseph Stiglitz. This paper gives the first systematic exposition of the problem of cherry picking when insurance companies compete for customers. In Increasing Risk I: A definition,^[2] Rothschild and Stiglitz introduced the important decision theory concept of the mean-preserving spread, which leads to a partial ordering of probability distributions according to degree of risk.
In 2001, the laureates of the Nobel Prize in Economics were George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence as well as J. E. Stiglitz "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information". So one could say, Rothschild contributed to these prize.^[3][4]

External links[link]

• Official homepage at UCLA, CV
• Website at Princeton

References[link]

1. ^ M. Rothschild, J. E. Stiglitz: "Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 90, 1976, 629–649.
2. ^ M. Rothschild, J. E. Stiglitz: "Increasing risk I: A definition", Journal of Economic Theory, 1970, 225–243.
3. ^ Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Economics, J. E. Stiglitz, 1st paragraph.
4. ^ Advanced information on the 2001 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (PDF file; 358 kB).

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