Report from the Mississippi Academy of Sciences Delegate to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Association of Academies of Sciences Annual Meetings, February 16-22, 2000 in Washington, DC.

While many of you are familiar with the Mississippi Academy of Sciences (MAS), you may not be aware of our relationship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). It therefore seems worthwhile to outline the relationship and stated mission of the various organizations involved.

Two types of groups comprise the AAAS. First there are the Affiliates; 238 professional scientific and engineering societies plus 44 state Academies of Science, including the MAS. The National Association of Academies of Sciences (NAAS) is an umbrella organization for state Academy of Science Affiliates. Second, there are 24 Sections based on scientific disciplines. Collectively, through the NAAS, all state Academy Affiliates belong to Section Y: General Interest in Science and Engineering.

The Mississippi Academy of Sciences and NAAS sponsor parallel organizations promoting research by high school science students. The MAS sponsors the Mississippi Junior Academy of Sciences (MJAS) and the NAAS sponsors at the American Junior Academy of Sciences (AJAS). Winners of our statewide MJAS annual research paper competition travel to national concurrent meetings of the AAAS and NAAS to present their research results at the annual AJAS meeting.

The mission of each organization is summarized below and further details can be found at the web sites. Before summarizing several noteworthy items, it seems worthwhile to outline the relationship and review the stated mission of various organizations involved.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS) Fostering scientific freedom and responsibility, improving the effectiveness of science.

URL: http://www.aaas.org 

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES (NAAS) Designed to foster the goals held in common by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and its member [state] academies in accomplishing their own purposes. Sponsor of the American Junior Academy of Sciences (AJAS).

URL: http://astro.physics.sc.edu/NAAS/NAAS.html

AMERICAN JUNIOR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (AJAS) Sponsors national meeting of student representatives from state academies of science at which results of their high school science research projects are presented.

URL: http://astro.physics.sc.edu/NAAS/AJAS/start.html

MISSISSIPPI ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (MAS) An organization of scientists, engineers, technicians, science educators and others from schools and universities, government, industry and business. These individuals, joined by the state's academic institutions and other MAS institutional members, support science in our state. Sponsor of the Mississippi Junior Academy of Sciences (MJAS).

URL: http://www.msstate.edu/Org/MAS/MAS.HTML

MISSISSIPPI JUNIOR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (MJAS) Sponsors annual statewide scientific paper competition. A member and active participant in American Junior Academy of Sciences activities.

URL: http://mssci.org

ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM THE AAAS AFFILIATES MEETING

Update on Court Appointed Experts Project: Federal Judges should be gatekeepers of scientific information and its use in court. The AAAS is helping to shape policy and provide a mechanism for selecting experts appointed for the benefit of the court rather than the prosecution and defense. For details and updates, see AAAS website: http://www.aaas.om

Actions Regarding OMB Circular A-110: Congress passed legislation, under an amendment sponsored by R. Shelby (R-AL), requiring government agencies to make federally funded research and data available to the public. The AAAS is concerned about broad definition of "data" and unfettered public access. Court test likely now as US Chamber of Commerce has filed three Freedom of Information Act request with the Environmental Protection Agency. For details and updates, see AAAS website: http://www.aaas.org

ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM THE NAAS DELEGATES MEETING

Scientific Society Responses to Evolution Controversy in Kansas: To become informed and responsible citizens in our increasingly technological world, students need to study and judge for themselves the empirical evidence and concepts central to current scientific understanding. In an attempt to side-step court-supported inclusion of teaching evolution, the Kansas State Board of Education voted to remove references to evolution and cosmology from its state education standards and assessments. The American Association for the Advancement of Science deplores this decision.

The NAAS sponsored a workshop: "Will Kansas be Cloned? Strategies for Acceptance of Evolution in Public School Science Curricula." Ideas were exchanged on how individual scientists (for example, at church group discussions) and state Academies (via prepared statements, access to knowledgeable speakers) can be prepared in advance to address future incidents on this topic. The AAAS will consolidate this information on their website.

The AAAS and NAAS request State Academies support for the teaching of evolution. For background information and updates on this subject, see websites for the National Center for Science Education (http://natcenscied.org) and AAAS (http://www.aaas.org)

Among many items, the National Center for Science Education maintains a list of scientific, professional and religious organizations that support the teaching of evolution (http://natcenscied.org, select "What We Do", then "Voices for Evolution"). It is noteworthy that MAS is not among the state academies listed as having endorsed this policy.

Election of AJAS Director: Dr. Joan Messer, outgoing Director of the MJAS, was elected to a three-year term as the AJAS Director. Her primary responsibility is organizing the annual national AJAS meeting including scientific (poster/oral presentations), educational (related sightseeing tours) and social programs in San Francisco (2001), Boston (2002), and Denver (2003).

MAS Representation at NAAS: Over 120 students and 30 chaperones from 25 state academies typically attended this event. MAS had the largest delegation in its history: Emily Almas, Alexander Clark, and Amit Goel gave excellent student poster and oral presentations, Mrs. Victoria Clark volunteered as a parent/chaperone, Dr. Messer represented MJAS and Dr. Case represented MAS.