Jones County Junior College Instructor Elected as Director of the American Junior Academy of Sciences.

The National Association of the Academy of Sciences (NAAS) has chosen Dr. Joan McCoy-Messer from Jones Junior College as the new director for the American Junior Academy of Sciences (AJAS) and appointed her to the national NAAS board. Dr. Messer is the first person from Mississippi to serve as a national director of the sciences. A bill recognizing her accomplishments has been recently been passed in the Mississippi legislature.

Dr. Messer serves as the youth activities chairman for the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, and was for a number of years the director of the Mississippi Junior Academy of Sciences. She has worked tirelessly to advance the interest of high school students in science through these scientific academies. She says "submitting a high school research paper to the academy is probably one of the most important goals for a student to have. Higher education institutions interpret this accomplishment as the student will be a successful learner. This will be a deciding factor in scholarship awards, and selection to the more prestigious appointments such as the summer research program at MIT."

While working on her PhD in biochemistry, she became involved in Mississippi's Academy of Sciences. She says "many native Mississippians do not realize just how much basic scientific research is done here in our state. Because of my involvement in the academy, I know many of the scientist that are currently working on their research. Our state has lots to be proud of."

The mission of the academies of science is to introduce, encourage, and accelerate precollege students into the world of science, engineering and technology by enabling and integrating their participation in the social, cultural and scientific activities on both the state and national level. At the national meetings these students are able to attend meeting that set the direction of science around the world. For example, Dr. Ian Wilmut's sessions in which the scientists with the expertise to clone a human were debating on whether or not to reach a "gentleman's agreement" not to do so. High school students could attend and be a part of these historical sessions.

Originally from Shubuta, Dr. Messer is the daughter of B.R. and Eloise McCoy. She attended Waynesboro-Central High School, Jones Junior College and the University of Southern Mississippi. She is presently a biology instructor at Jones County Junior College. Currently living in Sumrall, she is in the board of directors of the Forrest-Lamar County Forestry Association, and an active member of the Sumrall's Lion's Club and Methodist Church.

American Junior Academy of Sciences

This year the national conference in Washington DC had the highest number of students to submit abstracts (153) with the highest number of presenters (133) in the history of the Junior Academy. What a tribute to our outgoing AJAS President Gloria Takahashi! What footsteps to follow! The only way for me to begin is to ask for the help of our membership to continue to work together based on the groundwork laid out by Gloria.

Some basic goals that will be important for AJAS include:

1. Improved communication with the state academies. Twenty seven state academies were represented in Washington. Obviously there are states that were not represented and there are some states with no organized Junior Academy. We need to address this so that more states participate in the future.

2. More student participation. We need to look at new ways to increase student participation. As one example, the Mississippi Junior Academy increased its delegation from one to five this past year by splitting the travel funds between the six first place divisional winners instead of completely funding the overall winner. The divisional winners were given a letter of support enabling them to raise the remainder of their own travel funds.

3. Publicity. Contacts with local, state & national press should be initiated in order to inform the public at large about AJAS.

4. More student participation in AAAS sessions. The AJAS conference schedule could be such that especially significant AAAS symposiums could be attended by the AJAS membership.

To accomplish these goals, AJAS needs the help of its membership, teacher supporters, and state academy members across the nation. It takes just the little part each of us can do to achieve much more than what only one officer can do. I am open to new ideas, rethought old ideas, and improvements in the current methods.

The 2001 AJAS/NAAS conference in San Francisco promises the AJAS members exposure to AAAS symposiums on the role of environmental major events in the origins of the eukaryotic cell lines; the interactions of atoms, cells, organisms, chemicals, planets, & stars; plus much more. The Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods, and Chinatown will add to an environment of learning as the delegates attend both cultural and scientific events. The AJAS abstracts will be due Friday, October 13th.

As the details of the first conference during my tenure as AJAS director are worked out, I would ask the help of all. The people that will benefit most from the spirit of cooperation will be the outstanding youth of the AJAS/NAAS and their contributions will impact the future of science in this country and the world. Thanks to each of you.