Thursday, December 8, 2011

22nd Annual Water Quality Workshop, Feb 2012


ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

22nd Annual Water Quality Workshop: Monitoring, Assessment and Management
February 7-9, 2012

The 22nd Annual Water Quality Monitoring Workshop will be held February 7-9, 2012, at Boise State University, Student Union Building, Jordan Ballroom. The purpose of the workshop is to share results of water quality monitoring, assessment, and management efforts throughout Idaho.

The workshop is an annual event hosted by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Boise State University Biology Department, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Idaho Power Co., U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Department of Agriculture, HACH Hydromet, Electronic Data Solutions, TerraGraphics, and the Lower Boise Watershed Council.

Featured Topics:
Topics to be covered at the 2012 workshop will include:
• Idaho total maximum daily load (TMDL) schedule and programmatic status
• “SPARROW” model for phosphorus and nitrogen loading in the Pacific Northwest
• U.S. Forest Service national forest system land management planning – status of the proposed rule and comments received
• U.S. Forest Service geomorphic road analysis and inventory package (GRAIP)
• U.S. Forest Service watershed condition framework

In addition, proposals for regional, statewide, watershed, and project-specific presentations that deal with water quality monitoring, assessment and management are being accepted.

Location: Boise State University, Student Union Building, Jordan Ballroom, Boise, ID

Parking: BSU Lincoln Parking Structure, entrance located on Belmont Street. No charge. Note parking space number and enter it in the payment machines along with the workshop coupon code: 20113796.

Registration fee: none

Presentations: oral presentations (30 minutes in length) and poster presentations. Please submit presentations by January 15, 2012.Please submit your presentation title, abstract and your contact information to the meeting web site.

Questions: Don Zaroban, IDEQ, 208-373-0405, email: Don.Zaroban@deq.idaho.gov ,
Linda Smith, IDEQ, 208-373-0423, email: Linda.Smith@deq.idaho.gov , or
Brenda Valverde, IDEQ, 208-373-0522, email: Brenda.Valverde@deq.idaho.gov.

[Posted as a courtesy to our members and other interested parties.]

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Historic Link with the Past: the Passing of Physicist Larry Johnston

Last Sunday (December 4), University of Idaho Emeritus Physics Professor  Lawrence H. “Larry” Johnston passed away in Moscow. “One of the last survivors of the Manhattan project,” Larry “is believed to be the only eyewitness to all three 1945 atomic explosions – at White Sands, New Mexico, and in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki … ”

A full obituary is available from the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Although not an active member of the Idaho Academy of Science, Professor Johnston had two close links to our organization. Our recent President from the College of Southern Idaho, Mark Daily, said Johnston “was my first physics professor at the U of I and I did my senior project under him, building a spark arrestor for his HCN laser. Larry had a profound effect on me as a young man.”

There are, no doubt, other members of the Academy who likewise remember Johnston with respect and affection. His obituary spoke of him as a “natural teacher,” who looked for “teachable moments” in the most unlikely settings.

It is with some pride, that I – alerted by Mark – also mention that the Academy made Larry the 2010 recipient of our Distinguished Scientist Award. While, on paper, we honored him, it is equally true that he added luster to the Academy, and the teaching profession in Idaho.

The Journal of the Idaho Academy of Science described the many accomplishments for which Johnston received his Award. The item noted that, “His work on proton-proton scattering is still the definitive work on the subject.” It also points out that, “Dr. Johnston’s invention of the Exploding Bridge Wire Detonator continues to save lives today, since this detonator is now used to activate automotive air bags.”

Although Dr. Johnston attained many other fine achievements, interviewers inevitably returned to his link with the atomic bomb. Again quoting the Journal, “Dr. Johnston flew in observation planes during the the testing at Trinity site in New Mexico, and both delivery missions of bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Since this issue receives so much attention, let me digress a bit. Reporters almost invariably asked Johnston if he had any regrets about the bomb. Larry – a thoughtful, and deeply religious man – always said he felt “privileged” to help end the war quickly and save many more deaths, on both sides. (Your “blogster,” having studied that issue at some length, whole-heartedly supports that view.)

Beyond the war context, air bags continue to save lives, as do Dr. Johnston’s contributions to nuclear medicine. The Journal article also said, “When he was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, part of his treatment was irradiation from medical accelerators, which were great grandchildren of Larry’s early devices.”

The item commented that it was “not possible to hear Dr. Johnston speak and not think long and hard about the joys and duties of citizen scientists and engineers.”

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Upcoming Educational Activities at McCall Outdoor Science School

University of Idaho News Release.

The University of Idaho McCall Outdoor Science School  will host two winter events for outdoor enthusiasts at the McCall Field Campus.

A Wilderness First Responder (WFR) recertification course is scheduled December 9-11. The three-day course is sponsored by the nationally recognized National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Medicine Institute.

Experienced instructors will refresh participants on the current techniques, protocols and controversies in the wilderness medicine field. Participants will review and practice evacuation and decision-making guidelines. Additionally, participants will have opportunities to ask questions based on real life experiences and practice challenging wilderness scenarios and case studies.

The WFR recertification course also includes adult and child CPR. This course is the most popular recertification program in wilderness medicine and is ideal for current wilderness first responders and wilderness emergency medical technicians. The WFR recertification course is pre-approved for 18 hours of EMT continuing education units by the Continuing Education Coordinating Board for Emergency Medical Services.

Tuition for the course is $255; the room and board option is $345. To register, contact Sacha Jackson, MOSS registrar, at (208) 634-3918


"North Pole" Trek
Kids and adults may experience a free, virtual trek to the North Pole on December 10 during a mini-orienteering snowshoe activity in Ponderosa State Park.

Participants will follow maps and clues to the “North Pole” to find Santa. The snowshoe excursion will be followed by hot chocolate and photos with Santa. Snowshoes will be provided. Pre-registration is required, and all children must be accompanied by an adult. To register, call (208) 634-4061 extension 180.

Sponsors include the St. Luke’s McCall Center for Health Promotion, the McCall Outdoor Science School, and Ponderosa State Park.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

News: Bimetallic Complexes, Prosthetics, Interim Dean, Award, and Grant

Dr. Cheng-Hung Chen
I’m busy collecting items for the next full issue of The Retort, and have come across several items. These are really too small for the full newsletter, but still worth publicizing.

From Idaho State University
Seminar on Prosthetic Hands
On October 28, the Idaho State University Department of Electrical Engineering presented the electrical engineering seminar "Intelligent Control Systems in Prosthetic Hand Applications" by Cheng-Hung Chen, ISU Department of Biological Sciences.

The seminar highlighted the latest research in intelligent control systems for a smart prosthetic hand. The author conducted his doctoral studies in these emerging areas under the guidance of D. Subbaram Naidu, ISU electrical engineering professor and ISU School of Engineering director.

In the United States, there are approximately 1.9 million people living with limb loss, due to conflicts, wars, accidents or birth defects. By the year 2050, the projected number of Americans living with limb amputation will become 3.6 million. Reproducing the human hand in all its various functions is very a challenging task.

Interim Dean for College of Technology (Link to full item, with photo).

ACS Student Chapter Receives Award
Idaho State University American Chemical Society Student Chapter was selected to receive a Commendable Award for its activities conducted during the 2010-11 academic year.
More than 330 reports were submitted and American Chemical Society Committee on Education presented 36 outstanding, 89 commendable and 107 honorable mention awards. Lists of award winning chapters will be published in "Chemical Engineering News" and in "inChemistry," the student member magazine.
Award-winning chapters will also be honored at the 243rd ACS National Meeting in San Diego on March 25.

ISU Student Wins Research Grant
(Link to full item, with photo).

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

New Director – Environmental Science, Water Resources, and Professional Science

Professor Boll
From the University of Idaho News Center:
Jan Boll has been named director of the Environmental Science, Water Resources, and Professional Science Masters programs at the University of Idaho. His appointment follows an internal search conducted over the summer. He started in the new position on September 4, 2011.

Boll joined the university in 1996 in the biological and agricultural engineering department, where his research and teaching focus has been hydrology and water quality.

Prior to his appointment, Boll served as the director of the Waters of the West program, which leads the way in interdisciplinary water resources research and establishing the water resources graduate program.

“Our university has tremendous strengths in the areas of water and the environment,” said Boll. “This appointment is exciting for me as it gives me the opportunity to get to know and work with a lot of students and faculty, and continue to help lead the university towards interdisciplinary efforts in education, research and outreach.”

In leadership and academic roles at the university level, Boll has received several awards related to teaching, research and interdisciplinary activities.

Additionally, Boll has a very active and productive career at University of Idaho. He is a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award, in which he conceived the ideas leading up to the Waters of the West program.

Boll has received national grant awards from the USDA in the Conservation Effectiveness Assessment Program by leading teams of interdisciplinary scientists from across the country. He has built international connections in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Indonesia and the Netherlands and has a great publishing record in leading journals in his field.

Boll earned his doctorate in agricultural and biological engineering from Cornell University, master of science and bachelor of science degrees in land use planning at the Agricultural University of Wageningen, the Netherlands, and a master of science degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Idaho.

Contact the University of Idaho for further information.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Founding Member Don Obee No Longer With Us

Dr. Obee
We recently received news that IAS Charter Member Donald J. Obee passed away last August 19th. A full obituary appeared in the Idaho Statesman and is posted online.  A brief item, with a link to the same obit appears on the Boise State University web site, which includes a nostalgia-inducing photo of Dr. Obee as a young professor.

The obituary provides a nice overview of Don’s life, mentioning his wife Doli, who died in 2005. The remembrance includes the sentence: “In 1946 Don and Doli and their two children relocated to Boise, Idaho, where Don began a thirty year teaching career at what was first Boise Junior College, later Boise State College, and finally Boise State University – serving most of that period as Chairman of the Life Sciences Department.”

That simple statement perhaps downplays the significant role Don Obee played in the growth of that Boise institution from a struggling junior college to thriving university. Even with the huge influx of veterans attending under the G. I. Bill, enrollment was only around a thousand during Obee’s first years at the school. In 1975, two years before he retired, the school topped 10 thousand students for the first time.

The obituary also said, “He loved to dance – both square dancing and ballroom – literally dancing into the last months of his life.”  Glen Barrett’s history of Boise State has a passage about when the school began growing its intramural sports program. It’s cool that, in 1984, Barrett wrote, “Biologist Donald Obee assisted with dancing as well as tennis.”

Don’s legacy at BSU carries on today with the “Donald J. Obee Biology Scholarship.” The BSU Annual Report for 2006 noted that Dr. Obee had added another $25,000 to that endowment during the year. We are also pleased to report that Don left a generous bequest to the Academy among his final wishes. (Executive Director Gene Stuffle received the check this week.)

In fact, Professor Obee played a major role in the birth of the Idaho Academy of Science. More than just a Charter Member, Don must be considered a “Founding Member.” According to the Academy history compiled by Professor M. Jerome Bigelow, the idea for a state science academy was literally “in the air” during the spring of 1958. Bigelow wrote, “Accordingly, an organizational meeting was called for May 10, 1958, Donald Obee kindly offering the hospitality of Boise Junior College (now Boise College) for the meeting.”

Obee, of course, attended that meeting, and was among the Charter Members enrolled when the Academy became a reality. (Not everyone who attended that first meeting became members, by the way.) Don continued to help during this formative stages and, for many years, chaired the Botany section for the Annual Symposium.

In 1962, Don became President of the Academy. The Retort contained a message to the membership that’s worth repeating:
“Not too many decades ago, it was the custom for trappers and Indians from miles around to congregate at some previously selected trading post for an annual 'rendezvous'. Everyone came, even though it often entailed traveling long distances on horseback over rough and hostile terrain. At the rendezvous, they exchanged furs, tall stories, firewater, etc., and then departed their respective ways, looking forward to the following year when they would convene again.
“Today, through our Idaho Academy of Science, a similar opportunity is afforded in this state, for those interested in scientific endeavor, at our fourth annual spring meeting. Ours is the only organization in the state that provides this rare opportunity of meeting our colleagues for an exchange of papers, ideas, and good fellowship. As was the case in olden times, some of us will have to travel some distance to reach the campus of the University of Idaho, but today we don't have to rely on horseback as our only means of transportation.
“It is my fervent hope that the entire membership of the Idaho Academy of Science will make a concerted effort to attend the coming meeting, April 27-28, at Moscow. The Program Committee under Dr. Malcolm Renfrew has lined up an excellent program for us, and I am sure the time and effort expended to attend this ‘I. A. S. Rendezvous’ will be more than well repaid.”

Three years later, The Retort reported that the Annual Meeting “is scheduled to be held at Boise Junior College, Boise, on Friday and Saturday, April 23 and 24, 1965.” Obee worked diligently on the organizing committee for that meeting, and again chaired the Botany sessions. It seems somehow fitting that by the time of the meeting, BJC had become “Boise College,” authorized to offer a full four-year curriculum. (Four years later, it became Boise State College.)
Summer Biology Workshop, 1970. Obee standing at far right. BSU photo.

Over the next several years, Dr. Obee served on the Executive Committee of the Academy, and contributed to various Academy initiatives on science education, and conservation and the environment. That included running a summer Outdoor Education Workshop.

He was also the “Academy representative on the Advisory Committee to the State Department of Education on Conservation and Outdoor Education.” In 1970, the Academy President appointed Don to be Chairman of a “Committee on Environment.”

Records show that, in 1974, Professor Obee brought his interest in a better environment close to home: He helped manage a major campus cleanup program at Boise State using student volunteers. He retired in 1977. In 1986, he first endowed the Obee biology scholarship, whose fund had grown to $125 thousand by 2006. As noted in his obituary, he and Doli “traveled extensively” before relocating to Colorado Springs.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Science Academy Publication Options

As noted in the blog on October 6 (Associations = Dinosaurs?), publishing and mailing the Journal of the Idaho Academy of Science consumes most of our annual budget. We are therefore considering electronic publication as an option. In that context, I thought it would be worthwhile to see what other state Academies are doing.

Be aware that academies publish refereed documents under a variety of names: journal, proceedings, transactions, and so on. Thus, for simplicity, when I say “journal” below, I could be referring to any of the above.

“Executive” Summary
I found that 41 academies produce some sort of journal. Most, if not all of them generate printed and bound copies that are mailed to their members, and subscribers. For some, like Idaho, this probably represents a substantial fraction of their annual budgets.

Journals are mostly produced the “traditional” way, with printed manuscripts and review copies. Four use a commercial electronic submission and tracking system; how the final journal-assembly steps are handled is unclear. With so few examples, the electronic route to publication will require further study.

Over half (23) of the 41 academies make their journals available online. (Five others display just the table of contents.) Of the 23, nine post only their older issues. The cut-off is from one to five years back. However, this seems to be changing rapidly, probably as they get more of their archives scanned into PDF files.

With perhaps one or two exceptions, academies use PDF documents for their online content. Of the 14 who allow access to their current issues, half seem to be Open Access … anyone can download the files. The other seven academies restrict access, usually to members and paid subscribers. (Most of these restricted-access systems work through a commercial service.)

Only 24 Academies provided data on fees charged to authors who publish in their journals. Ten charged none if the authors were members and the paper stayed within a set page limit. One charged a one-time fee of $100, while one used a more complex formula. The other twelve imposed a range of page charges, averaging about $55 for members and $98 for non-members.

Unfortunately, this assessment leaves open the question: Can, and should, the Idaho Academy “go electronic” with its Journal? The crucial issue is: Will it save money? That will require further study.

–    –    –    –    –    –    –    –

Analytical Basis
The list of “Affiliated Academies” posted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) identifies those organizations that are more or less equivalent to the Idaho Academy of Science. (Some entities on that list are not state-based, but their structures and purposes are similar.)

I then did a search for states not included on the list and turned up several oddities. First, the “Washington Academy of Science” listed by the AAAS is not for the state … it represents the District of Columbia. The state of Washington, which does have its own Academy of Science, does not appear on the list. Two other states – Connecticut and Massachusetts – also have Academies that are not listed by the AAAS.

Four states have no Academy of Science: Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. (New Hampshire had an Academy, but it disbanded in the 1970s.)

Disclaimers: Some web sites contained material that, from context, was clearly out of date. Others explicitly stated that they were in the midst of a revision. (In a couple cases, a Google search turned up an older web site as well as a new one.) With such a “moving target,” what follows simply represents an overview of general practices.

Production and Accessibility
(web-based or not)
Seven states do not seem to offer a regular refereed publication: Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. (There are city academies in Chicago and St. Louis, and they don’t offer journals either.)

That leaves 41 academies that produce some sort of journal. Not all of them are states: Four states pair up into two dual entities (Arizona-Nevada and Colorado-Wyoming). That situation is more than offset by four “extra” academies: the Northwest Scientific Association, Rochester, Southern California, and Washington, D. C.

With a couple of possible exceptions, all of these organizations produce print copies of their journals. As in Idaho, these hardcopies are touted as a “member benefit.” The academies therefore incur the kind of printing, binding, and mailing costs that have a substantial impact on our budget here.

Most Academies produce their journals “the old fashion way.” That is, authors submit printed manuscripts and copies go out to reviewers. The reviewers compile lists of questions or issues, or mark up a manuscript copy, and the author(s) revise as they see fit. (This cycle can be repeated several times.) Some academies, like Idaho, require/allow electronic submission of the final version, but even that is usually accompanied by a hardcopy. The final manuscripts, along with any graphic images, then go to a compositor for creation of the final journal.

At least four academies – Michigan, Missouri, the Northwest SA, and Tennessee – handle manuscripts online using a proprietary package called PeerTrack™ from the Allen Press.

Authors submit their papers to the online system, and the editors set up for peer review. The system then apparently automatically “oversees” the review process, with timely reminders and so on. Costs and user experiences with PeerTrack are not readily apparently from web sources – this would require further evaluation. Nor is it clear that the process interfaces smoothly with the journal production steps. (The vendor web site says the system has that capability, but it’s not clear whether or not their Academy customers are using it.)

One alternative to this commercial approach could be the “Open Journal System,” an Open Source software package meant to handle the process all the way from submission through production and indexing of the online publication. (I am currently evaluating this approach and will report those results in another blog.)

Of the 41 academies with refereed publications, 28 provide some form of information online. The others have no purposeful online presence for their journals. Like Idaho, these organizations mail the printed copies out to their members. Most, if not all, sell subscriptions to libraries and other interested customers. I applied the term “purposeful” here because it appears that some academy journals are made available in electronic format by outside content providers. (It is not clear what financial arrangements are made in those cases. One presumes that some consideration is provided to the copyright holder.)

However, five of the 28 display just the Table of Contents (TOC) for their journals on their web sites: Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. There are no restrictions on printing or downloading that information.

Still, while the online TOCs can be useful, potential readers must then request printed copies of specific papers they think might be useful. Thus, in reality, only 23 out of 41 academies make their refereed content available online.

Nine of these provide online access just to older issues: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. These documents are all held as downloadable, and searchable PDF files. However, some of these archives are not very complete. All but one seem to be Open Access, in that anyone can download them. The time when recent issues are moved from a members-only access category to open access varies (near as I can tell) from one to five years. This feature seems to be changing almost in “real time,” depending perhaps on how quickly older issues can be scanned into searchable PDF files.

Seven states are, or seem to be, open access: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oregon. I say “seem to be” because in some cases the content cannot be downloaded directly. You may need to register before downloading content … and I did not work through that process far enough to see if there might be restrictions buried in the details. California makes individual papers available this way, but apparently not the entire issue.
   
Seven other academies offered tightly-controlled online access through a commercial partner or the academy itself: Arizona-Nevada, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and the Northwest Scientific Association. Again, I did not work all the way through the subscription processes – there may be categories (academic faculty, society “partners,” etc.) that receive free or deeply-discounted subscriptions.

Thus, there is no dominant model by which Academies make their refereed content available on the web. The one common denominator is the use of downloadable PDF files to hold that content. Only a handful seem to use HTML (web-coded) documents, or some other online viewing system.

There is no way to tell whether or not enough members “opt out” of the mailed hardcopy to provide worthwhile cost savings. (We will need to obtain that information by writing directly to the organizations involved.) In Idaho, many members do choose the online PDF of The Retort, our newsletter. This provides a substantial savings in printing and mailing costs.

Fees and Page Charges
For the Idaho Academy, financial considerations will be a major factor in deciding on a possible new approach to handling our Journal. As noted above, there are 41 relevant examples. Unfortunately, the web sites for 17 of them do not provide any information about a fee structure. If they provided “Instructions for Authors,” and those instructions did not mention page charges, I assumed none were imposed.

Ten academies (less than half the remaining 24), charge no fees on papers authored by their members. For some, only one of the authors need be a member; a few are more restrictive. Six of these have no explicitly-stated page limits: Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwest SA, and Utah. The other four – Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia – set an upper length limit, after which page charges are imposed. The limits are 10 or 15 pages, and they charge $35 to $50 for each page over their limit. (Georgia has a $35 per page charge for non-member papers.)

The other fourteen academies charge some sort of fee on papers authored by members or non-members. Alabama imposes a one-time processing fee of $100. New Jersey charges a $25 processing fee, but members get up to 12 pages before an unspecified page charge is added. Non-members pay a $100 per page charge for papers in the New Jersey journal.

Twelve academies impose page charges on all papers: Arizona-Nevada, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. Arizona-Nevada charges $15 per page up to 8 pages, then doubles to $30. For all but one or two of these academies, page charges for non-members are substantially more than for members. Member page charges, not including Arizona-Nevada, range from $25 to $100 per page, with an average of $56. Charges to non-members range from $50 to $120, with an average of $98.

Several academies make provisions to waive their page charges under a variety of circumstances.

Correlation?
I next examined this information to see if there was any connection between journals being available online (or not) and the fee structures. Of course, with data for only 24 of 41 cases, any conclusions must be considered only tentative at best.

Still, all the categories of online presence – from no online access to online open access – except one had basically a 50-50 split: Nine of the 17 charged some sort of fee or page charges, the others did not. The exception was the set of academies that worked through a commercial service or had tight members-only subscription access. Four out of those five imposed page charges. This may or may not be significant.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

IAS Charter Member Duane LeTourneau Still with Us

Dr. LeTourneau. UI photo.
I had a note Friday afternoon from the daughter of Dr. Duane LeTourneau asking us to no longer send The Retort to her father. That triggered the thought that news about one of our few surviving Charter Members would make a perfect item for this blog. Dr. LeTourneau began his long career at the University of Idaho in 1953, when he was 27. He also served the Academy over a span of almost a half century.

He was, in fact, among those who first got the Academy up and running. The second edition of the IAS newsletter, in February 1959, listed the members of the organizing committee for the very first Annual Meeting of the Academy. Duane LeTourneau was identified as being in charge of Housing for the meeting in Moscow. (The newsletter became The Retort for the February 1960 issue.) Duane later served as Program Chair for Physical Science papers for the 1966 Annual Meeting held in Moscow. He was also the UI Trustee around that period.

LeTourneau seems to have focused on his teaching and research for a number of years after that. The October 1972 Retort noted that he planned to spend the spring semester on sabbatical at the University of Sheffield, in England. He appeared in the Retort again in 1975 for his leadership of an Undergraduate Research Program at the University of Idaho.

For a couple years after 1980, Duane acted as a UI “correspondent” to the Retort, providing tidbits about new faculty, grants won, and so forth. Then, in 1983, Dr. LeTourneau became Editor of the IAS Journal. The following year, The Retort carried the announcement of one of numerous awards Duane would receive during his career: a Presidential Citation for Distinguished Achievement at the University of Idaho.

In 1987, IAS President Duane LeTourneau presided over the Annual Symposium and Meeting in Moscow. He continued to also act as Journal Editor, leading the quality upgrade implemented in 1987-1988. The publication now included the (then) new “spectrum” logo, and text was thereafter typeset for copy production. He relinquished the Editor’s position two years later.

The Academy’s annual meeting was again scheduled for Moscow in 1996, when Art Gittins was our President. Dr. LeTourneau was a member of the organizing committee. Then, in February, Art suffered a stroke that forced him to cut back his activities. Duane and the other committee members “stepped into the breach” and pulled off, in Phil Anderson’s words, “one of the most ambitious meetings in IAS history.”

Ten years later, biochemistry Professor Emeritus Duane LeTourneau again served on the organizing committee for an Annual Meeting in Moscow. In fact, not until the last year or so did Duane – and his wife, Phyllis – begin to cut back on their schedule of helping numerous organizations.

When I “googled” his name, I got a remarkable number of hits: He had a finger in so many pies, won so many awards, generated so much affection, I can’t begin to list them all here. In 2009, he and Phyllis apparently moved into an assisted living apartment. They could thus no longer provide “a home away from home” to introduce female exchange students from the Isle of Man to life in Moscow, U. S. A. They had been doing that since 1984.
August 2010: Duane and Phyllis receive Certificate of thanks
from the Isle of Man government.

Three years after he arrived in Moscow, “Doc” LeTourneau was “the driving force” for organizing a chapter of the Farmhouse International fraternity at the University. Quoting a 2011 alumni news item: “Earlier this year, Doc concluded 53 years of service to the Idaho Farmhouse Chapter as adviser.” The same article noted that he had received an “Outstanding Adviser” award from the International, and that he and his wife would be similarly honored here in Idaho at the end of April.

Sadly, Phyllis did not live to see that occasion; she passed away early that month. They had been married for 63 years. The ceremony did proceed, and you can view a YouTube video of it here.

Although age has finally crept up on Charter Member Dr. Duane LeTourneau, it’s good to know that such a stalwart Academy supporter is still with us.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Are Old-Style Associations Dinosaurs?

Note: Some of what follows is based on our discussions during the last Executive Committee meeting. However, these are my views and do not necessarily reflect an overall Committee position. Consider it a Retort editorial.

I recently had occasion to correspond via e-mail with staff members of the Idaho State Historical Society. I have been a member of the Society for a number of years and continue with the organization because I want to support their mission. Their basic mission is to preserve Idaho’s historical resources (physical as well as informational) and to help educate people about our history and those resources. The ISHS is an agency of the state, unlike the Academy, which simply has a charter on file with the state. The state provides about half their budget; the rest comes from memberships, donations, and grants. (As most IAS members know, the Academy receives no state funding.)

I stepped back from my “approval” of the Historical Society mission and asked a simple question: What exactly do I get for my membership in that organization?

As noted in my Profile, I produce the Academy’s newsletter, The Retort. I am also a member of the IAS Executive Committee. So I am objectively interested in the question both as a member of an organization and as one of its leaders. We on the Committee have been asking ourselves: What is it, exactly, that we offer our members? Why should they renew their enrollment? Why would new members sign up? Our answers, with the proliferation of online social networks, have frankly been somewhat depressing. It’s not clear that the Academy can continue to be financially viable.

So how does the ISHS stack up?
The first listed benefit is their Histor-e bi-monthly electronic newsletter, which I receive automatically. But the same information is available on the web site, and you do not need to become a member to sign up for the automatic transmission.

They also have a print newsletter, the Mountain Light, which describes various Society programs and upcoming events. Again, that information is available on their web site. Moreover, the events page and online calendar provide more detail, is more timely, and is always available. Still, there is some benefit to having the hardcopy arrive in our mail … and it only comes to members.

We get free admission to the Historical Museum and other historic sites around the state. We also receive a 10% discount at the Museum Store and at the ISHS Library. That looks promising. However, the closest places where we can take advantage of the freebies/discounts are two or three hours driving time away. Most are even farther away, in Boise. Not much of a benefit for us.

The next benefit is “invitations to special events,” including an annual membership meeting. Most of those are in Boise too, and many are publicized to the general public anyway. Not much of a return for my membership “investment.”

The final “benefit” is free online access to Idaho Yesterdays, the peer-reviewed historical journal produced jointly by the Society and Idaho State University. This is a fine publication, but, being Open Access, anyone in the Internet world can read it … and they don’t even have to register with the site. There’s no reason, aside from “general benevolence,” to become a member of the Society.

Fortunately, ISHS dues are not excessive, so our desire to support their mission is enough to keep us writing checks.

The mission of the Idaho Academy of Science is to “stimulate,” “disseminate,” “promote,” and “unify” science, and science education, in the state. How do the Academy’s benefits stack up?

Members receive the peer-reviewed Journal of the Idaho Academy of Science as their primary benefit. It is the only publication dedicated to publishing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) results that are specifically relevant to Idaho and Idahoans. The Journal is supported entirely by membership fees … and devours something like three-quarters of our overall budget. (I’ll return to this point in another blog.)

Members also receive The Retort … but that’s available at our web site to anyone with an Internet connection. About a third of our members still receive a printed copy, which adds another expense. (We’re working to reduce the number of hardcopies required.)

Members can also submit papers for our annual Technical Symposium. This provides another (generally low-stress) forum where people can present their work to a knowledgeable audience. The fact that the Academy welcomes all technical and science-education disciplines (the only one that does) provides a unique benefit in this day of inter-disciplinary research. This venue also provides a special reason for our academic colleagues to join. (See Dr. Janney’s added input below.)
Poster Session Discussions, 2011 Annual Symposium

The Academy has other programs – many suspended due to budget constraints – but these are not benefits that specifically accrue to our members.

Are these benefits worth our relatively small dues? On the fiscal evidence, only enough to barely hold our own … not enough to grow the organization. I suspect that, like the objective look at the ISHS situation, many people sign up simply to support our mission, not for any specific tangible benefits.

Can the Academy survive, given this overall situation? The jury is still out, but it’s clear that some changes will be needed. Should the Academy – and other member-based associations – survive is a much stickier question.

Not surprisingly, some people say: No, the future belongs to the new online social-media environment.

These venues certainly have their place. However, even the best technology offers only a rather sterile, arms-length range of interactions. Granted, smart phones can transmit a speaker’s tone of voice and a (limited) view of his/her expression. But no technology can easily replace millennia of face-to-face social development, where body language and physical proximity choices convey as much meaning as what you say and how you say it.

So, to answer the question posed at the start: Person-to-person associations do still matter. The challenge is to adapt to the new environment and yet to also bend the new milieu to better meet real human needs.
* * * * * *
[Later add from Dawn Janney, IAS Secretary]:
The Idaho Academy of Science conferences are Student-friendly! Not only are there cash prizes for best oral and poster presentations, but the Judges are expected to discuss their scoring and their impressions of the presentations with student presenters, and to make suggestions about how the presentations might be improved. In my experience, no other conference does this.

Conference presenters – Students and full-time professionals – are also welcome to submit short papers based on their conference presentations. These papers are peer-reviewed and considered for publication in the Journal of the Idaho Academy of Science. Because the conference welcomes preliminary results, the proceedings papers can give students early experience with the peer-review process, even before their research is completed.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Online List of Job and Service Opportunities




Gleaned from North Idaho College
New online service available to job seekers/employers
 (Posted at NIC on Sept. 29, 2011)
North Idaho College’s Career Services recently unveiled its updated online job listing, internship and volunteer opportunities program.

“Since the program serves both students and the community, the online listing program will be a valuable service to both those who seek opportunities and to employers,” said NIC Career Services Assistant Director Gail Laferriere.

Employers can post job listings, internships and volunteer opportunities directly to the website; anything from entry-level student positions to those requiring education and experience. Employers must also accept the liability statement, then choose to post opportunities to the site. After the information is entered, click “Post” and the announcement will be reviewed and submitted by the NIC Career Services Office for posting the following day.

The service is free and open to all employers and those seeking paid and unpaid opportunities. Go to NIC Careers Services and click “View or Post Jobs, Internships or Volunteer Opportunities.” Those seeking opportunities must read and accept the liability statement to view listings.

Information: NIC Career Services at (208) 769-3297.
NIC Career Services Assistant Director Gail Laferriere, (208) 769-7700 or gail_laferriere@nic.edu

Monday, September 26, 2011

Welcome to the New IAS Blog Spot



[Edit: Some of the text originally posted here has been added to the "About" page.]

As an example of the material likely to appear on this site, we offer this note from Boise State University:
Uwe Reischl, professor of health sciences, presented a research paper at the 55th annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society held Sept. 19-23,in Las Vegas, Nev. The paper, titled “Thermal Properties of Reflective Helmet Exposed to Infrared Radiation,” was based on research conducted in the Public Health-Ergonomics Laboratory using a novel thermal manikin technology developed at Boise State. The paper was co-authored with Prof. Ravindra Goonetilleke of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong.

From Idaho State University:
Beginning Sept. 29, the Idaho Museum of Natural History will hold docent training classes for individuals interested in working with the museum.
A docent is a volunteer teacher who learns about the museum's exhibits and presents the information to visitors and school groups. Docents at the Idaho Museum of Natural History will learn about Idaho's past through the rocks, landscape, fossils, prehistoric peoples and wildlife.
The docent training is scheduled 1-4 p.m. Sept. 29; Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27; Nov. 3, 10 and 17; and Dec. 1 and 8.
… Specific themes that will be covered in these training sessions include "Welcome to the Museum! Docent Orientation," "Geologic Formation of Earth: Getting the Ball Rolling," "Kingdoms of Life: A Who's Who of Living Things," "Geologic Building Blocks: Minerals and Gem Stones," "Designing Effective Docent Tours," "Heliocoprion: The Sharks Amongst Us," "Utahceratops and Dinosaur Cousins," "Process of Fossilization and the Pleistocene Mammals," "Masks and Shamanism in South American Native American Cultures," "Native Plants of Idaho" and "Small Mammals of Idaho: Owl Pellets."
For more information, contact Thorne-Ferrel at (208) 282-2195 or thorrebe@isu.edu.

In Academy business, this past Saturday (the 24th), the IAS Executive Committee met at the College of Southern Idaho. Many important issues were discussed, and you’ll be seeing the complete meeting minutes in the next Retort. Our discussions were basically what instigated this blog, as you probably guessed.

One of the more important decisions was to seriously study what needs to be done to “go electronic” with the Journal of the IAS, and circumstance where it might become “Open Access” on the web. We hope to have a report ready by the end of the year and absolutely before the next Annual Meeting. The Journal is now by far our largest expense, and IF significant cost savings can be realized, our aim is to make the transition by the end of next year. We urgently invite members and outsiders to comment on this matter.

As suggested by that invitation, we also see this blog as a possible extended forum to discuss Academy business and other matters of interest to our membership. Anyway … more to come.