[DIALOGnews] DIALOG and DISCCRS News Dec. 10, 2004
Susan Weiler
weilercs at whitman.edu
Fri Dec 10 13:52:57 CST 2004
DIALOG and Disccrs News
Resources
BALANCING FACULTY CAREERS AND FAMILY WORK
AAAS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY FELLOWSHIPS,
News
NETWORK OF OCEAN ROBOTIC INSTRUMENTS COVERS MOST OF THE GLOBE
CORAL REEF DAMAGE RISING WORLDWIDE
STUDENT'S SEA-ENERGY DEVICE WINS $100,000
ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERY MANAGEMENT PUBLICIZED IN D.C.
Forum
ASLA 04-16: National Science Foundation Funding in FY2005
Meeting
First DIVERSITAS Open Science Conference -
Integrating biodiversity science for human well-being
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Resources
BALANCING FACULTY CAREERS AND FAMILY WORK
Taken from Ecolog-L at listserv.umd.edu
The current issue of Academe, the Bulletin of the American Association of
University Professors, has a series of articles about balancing faculty
careers and family work that might be of interest to ECOLOG-L
subscribers. They're available through the AAUP web site, at
http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/index.htm.
AAAS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY FELLOWSHIPS, 2005-2006
APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 10, 2005
LOCATION: Washington DC, USA
Scientists and engineers are invited to apply for one-year Science and
Technology Policy Fellowships, which begin in September 2005. These 10
fellowships, administered by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS), are designed to provide a unique public
policy learning experience and to bring technical backgrounds and
external perspectives to decision-making in the U.S. government.
Fellows serve in the Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the
National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the
Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Agency for
International Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and other
federal offices. Applicants must be U.S. citizens with a PhD or an
equivalent doctoral degree by the application deadline from any
physical, biological or social science, any field of engineering or any
relevant interdisciplinary field. Federal employees are not eligible.
For more information, go to:
http://fellowships.aaas.org
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Science News
Check out this section both for news tidbits, and for
examples of how to communicate science to a non-scientist audience
Watch your local newspapers next week--the Press
always picks up stories from the AGU meeting.
NETWORK OF OCEAN ROBOTIC INSTRUMENTS COVERS MOST OF THE GLOBE
Provided by Pew
Scientists have crossed an important threshold in an international
effort to deploy a global network of robotic instruments to monitor and
investigate important changes in the world's oceans. Researchers with
the international Argo program announced they have reached the point
where 1,500 ocean-traveling float instruments--half the target
3,000-float array--are now operating. This marks an important milestone
in the program's mission to capture valuable data around the globe. The
Argo floats, which are robotically programmed to record and transmit
data, are uniquely positioned to provide important information about
climate and weather phenomena. Other applications of Argo information
include ocean heat storage and climate change; ocean salinity changes
due to rainfall; ocean-driven events such as El Niño; impacts of ocean
temperature on fisheries and regional ecosystems; interactions between
the ocean and monsoons; and how the oceans drive hurricanes and
typhoons. For more information, go to:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/uoc--ari120104.php
---SOURCE: EurekAlert, December 6, 2004.
CORAL REEF DAMAGE RISING WORLDWIDE
from Associated Press via Sigma Xi Science in the News
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Only about 30 percent of the
world's coral reefs are healthy, down from 41
percent two years ago, according to a study
released Monday that lists global warming as the
top threat.
The study found as many as one-fifth of the
world's coral reefs have been destroyed. Another
half are damaged but could be saved, it said.
Coral reefs are among the oldest and most diverse forms of life. They
provide food and shelter to fish and protect shores from erosion.
http://snipurl.com/b6lp
STUDENT'S SEA-ENERGY DEVICE WINS $100,000
from The San Diego Union-Tribune via Sigma Xi Science in the News
Encinitas high school student Aaron Goldin
has parlayed some old appliance parts plucked
from his garage into a $100,000 college
scholarship, the top prize in one of the
country's most prestigious science and math
competitions.
Yesterday, the San Dieguito High School
Academy senior won the national Siemens
Westinghouse contest. During a two-year period
using the scavenged parts, Aaron built his
device, which can convert ocean energy into
electricity in a method that doesn't harm the
environment. His entry was narrowed down from
1,250 in the competition sponsored by Siemens
Foundation, an extension of the international telecommunications and
engineering conglomerate.
"Wow, my heart just skipped a beat when I
found out I had won," Aaron said yesterday from
Washington, D.C., in between interviews with CNN,
NPR and The New York Times. "When I started
working on this out of my garage, I had no idea
this would even be part of a competition. Coming
from wondering if this thing would even work to
here in such a short time span is kind of
amazing."
http://snipurl.com/b6ig
ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERY MANAGEMENT PUBLICIZED IN D.C.
In the Washington Post, Michelle Boorstein reports on a growing
movement toward managing fisheries as an ecosystem rather than species
by species. "Government regulators had set population targets for each
species and type separately, aiming only to maintain certain numbers.
But now regulators say they want to manage the nation's fisheries as
one big ecosystem, basing their targets on many elements, including the
diet of water birds, the quality of the water and whether predator fish
have enough prey," writes Boorstein. The epicenter of the movement is
the Chesapeake Bay, where federal regulators are launching a test case
for "ecosystem-based management." At issue are two of the nation's most
important fish: the striped bass and the Atlantic menhaden. According
to Duke University’s Michael Orbach (PF Advisor), "Many people feel
fisheries management has generally failed to preserve fish, and they're
looking to a new holy grail." To read the story (free registration
required), go to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33743-2004Dec3.html
---SOURCE: Washington Post, December 4, 2004, Page B01, via Above The
Fold, a news service provided by www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org.
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Forum
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ASLA 04-16: National Science Foundation Funding in FY2005
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NOTE: This is the first in a series of ASLAs outlining the FY2005 federal
budget for specific agencies and programs supporting Earth and space
sciences. All figures indicated below take into account a 0.80 percent
rescission, which applies to all non-defense and non-homeland security
agencies and programs for FY2005.
On 20 November Congress passed the omnibus appropriations bill, H.R.
4818, which provides the National Science Foundation (NSF) with $5.47
billion for FY2005. This amount represents an overall decrease of $107
million, or 1.9 percent, compared to FY2004.
President Bush had proposed boosting NSF spending
by 3 percent in FY2005.
The Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account, which funds most of
NSF's Earth and space science research, would receive $4.22 billion for
FY2005, down $32 million, or 0.8 percent, from FY2004. Funding levels
for specific directorates were not included in the report accompanying the
funding bill. However, the report language states that "the Foundation is
urged to maintain the proper balance between interdisciplinary research and
single-issue research in core disciplines." The report does specify funding
for the Office of Polar Programs, which will receive $347.2 million, an
increase of $5.1 million, or 1.5 percent over last year.
The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC)
account would receive $18.7 million over last year's levels, a 12.1%
increase. Congress funded EarthScope at $47 million, matching the
President's request. Scientific Ocean Drilling will receive $14.9 million in
FY2005, well short of the $40.9 million requested by the White House.
Other large facilities funded include the Atacama Large Millimeter Array
and the IceCube neutrino observatory, funded at $49.3 million and $47.6
million, respectively.
Funding for the Education and Human Resources (EHR) account declines
$97.6 million, or 10.4 percent, to $841 million. The bill provides $79.4
million for the Math and Science Partnerships (MSP) program and keeps
the program in the EHR directorate. The Bush Administration had proposed
funding MSP at $80.0 million and moving it to the R&RA account. The
Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), a
program to boost research dollars to states that have historically received
lesser amounts of funding, received a cut only because of the rescission,
from $94.4 million to $93.7 million.
After Congress passed the omnibus appropriations bill, Rep. Vernon Ehlers
(R-MI), a member of the House Committee on Science, said his vote for
the bill was "under protest," and that his "most serious concern with the
omnibus bill is the appropriation for the National Science Foundation." He
continued "I do not see the wisdom in putting science funding far behind
other priorities. We have cut NSF despite the fact that this omnibus bill
increases spending for the 2005 fiscal year, so clearly we could find room
to grow basic research while maintaining fiscal constraint. But not only are
we not keeping pace with inflationary growth, we are actually cutting the
portion basic research receives in the overall budget."
Congress passed the NSF Doubling Act in 2002, an authorization bill that
laid out a path of steadily increasing NSF funding leading to a doubling of
the agency's budget in 5 years. This year's NSF budget falls $1.9 billion
short of the target envisioned in the Doubling Act.
A detailed table of FY2005 NSF appropriations is available at
http://www.osa.org/publicpolicy/current/
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Summer Programs, Courses, Internships, Meetings
First DIVERSITAS Open Science Conference - DIVERSITAS: OSC1
0-12 November 2005
Hotel Mision de Los Angeles
Oaxaca, Mexico
Integrating biodiversity science for human well-being
Bringing together experts from biological,
ecological and social disciplines, DIVERSITAS:
OSC1 offers a unique opportunity to explore
recent advances and probe pressing issues across
the breadth of biodiversity science.
Plenary, parallel and poster sessions will be
complemented by a Round Table on future trends
and field trips that highlight biodiversity in
the Oaxaca region.
Registration available in January 2005
Abstract Due in 31 March 2005
For more information, access http://www.diversitas-osc1.org
Or send an e-mail to info at diversitas-osc1.org
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Jobs for PhDs
http://www.higheredjobs.com/about/
**************************************************
This newsletter has been developed by C. Susan
Weiler for the purpose of distributing
information of potential interest to recent PhDs
engaged in interdisciplinary aquatic science or
climate change research, and to build an
international sense of community among recent
grads. It provides an international forum for the
exchange of information and opinions regarding
research, professional and social issues.
The views and opinions expressed are strictly
those of C.S. Weiler or of the individual who has
submitted a particular item for distribution. The
opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect
those of the funding agencies or sponsoring
societies. Dr. Weiler serves as producer and
editor and reserves the right to edit or reject
material submitted to the list.
Please submit announcements of interest to recent
PhDs to phd at whitman.edu or weiler at whitman.edu.
For ease of transmission, please do not send
attachments. Send a short message in the body of
an e-mail message, and link to any appropriate
websites.
--
C. Susan Weiler, Ph.D.
Biology Department Tel: 509-527-5948
Whitman College Fax: 509-527-5961
Walla Walla, WA 99362
weiler at whitman.edu
Programs for Recent PhDs http://aslo.org/phd.html
Minorities in the Aquatic Sciences http://www.aslo.org/mas.html
DIALOG poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/dialogposter.pdf
DISCCRS poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/disccrsposter.pdf
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