Newsletters
President's Letter 2007
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to serve as president of the Academy this year. I have seen many changes in the Academy during the 30 plus years since I became a member. Today, however, when science and technology play such a critical role in the daily affairs of our state and nation we face some of our greatest challenges.
As scientists and public minded citizens we have both the opportunity and the obligation to contribute our knowledge and understanding of the science relevant to public discussions of issues such as global warming, air quality, ecological impacts of coastal development, maintaining a safe and adequate water supply, future energy sources and many other vital issues. Our fellow citizens and our leaders in business and government need our knowledge and insights about the scientific foundations on which rational solutions to all of these critical issues must be based.
With these important challenges in mind, I have identified the following three main goals for the Academy for the coming year:
1. Continue to focus our efforts on Science in the Public Interest of North Carolina. We should follow up on the excellent program on this topic at our last annual meeting at East Carolina University in March. We need to find additional ways to give the Academy greater visibility in public discussions and to provide accurate and relevant information on science to the public, industry, and government policy makers.
2. Strengthen our membership base beyond the faculty and students of those academic institutions that have been active in the Academy in recent years. We need to reach out to additional academic institutions, but in addition, we need to recruit new members from scientists in business, industry, and governmental agencies in our state. A broader membership base would enable the Academy to better represent the voices of North Carolina scientists on matters of scientific and public interest. We can look to several other state academies of science for successful models for providing input on important public issues.
3. Participate in a new national initiative launched by the National Association of Governors and the National Association of Academies of Science to help state academies become more effective in speaking out on public issues involving science and technology. To aid us in this endeavor we will be represented at the initial meeting of this group in California this October. The focus of this meeting is on: STATE S&T POLICY ADVICE: ISSUES, ASSETS, AND OPPORTUNITIES.
The Academy has taken several important steps during the past two years toward a more prominent role in communicating with the public and making our scientific expertise available to our political leaders and other policy makers. At our last annual meeting in March 2007 we hosted a very successful session on Science in the Public Interest of North Carolina that featured a panel discussion by a group of legislators, prominent scientists, and a public policy expert. The speakers conducted a lively discussion of interactions between scientists and policy makers and explored some ways members of the Academy could better assist in formulating rational decisions on matters related to science and technology.
We have recently launched an initiative to provide more public information on science through a project to develop and disseminate a series of popular articles on “How Science Helps Our State”. These articles are being written by North Carolina scientists and teachers and will be directed to middle and high school students, pre-college teachers, legislators, and interested citizens without professional training in science and technology. After field testing and review these articles will be disseminated widely to schools, teachers, public officials, business and community leaders via internet and other means of communication. We are grateful for the hard work of Past President Karen Katula and to Jeff Coker for leading this project. We are currently seeking grant support for this initiative.
I want also to commend Gerhard Kalmus, Jean-Luc Scemama and the local arrangements committee for their work in arranging an outstanding meeting at East Carolina University. We had an excellent program including sessions for both the senior and the collegiate academies. We were also pleased to have a special poster session featuring several of the Student Academy projects and opportunity to discuss the projects with the students. Special thanks are due to Karen Katula and Phillip Gibson for arranging the panel on Science in the Public Interest of North Carolina.
We will continue to seek ways the Academy can contribute to public discussions of issues related to science and technology. I will welcome your suggestions on our programs and initiatives and hope that you will take an active role in the affairs of the academy. We need your help and support in these endeavors
Charles Lytle
President 2007-2008
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