Email list hosting service & mailing list manager


"On Being a Scientist" Terry A. May 13 Feb 1995 11:33 EST

 I am passing on the attached announcement from the National Academy of
Sciences about their updated version of "On Becoming a Scientist".  The
original document is available at a minimal cost; however, it is also
available on-line from the NAS.  The address is as follows:
 <URL:GOPHER://xerxes.nas.edu:70/11/nap/online/obas>

 I am including the entire announcement for proper acknowledgement!

Terry A. May, Ph.D.                       Voice:    602-523-6788
 Director of Research Administration     FAX:      602-523-1075
 Office of Grant & Contract Services     INTERNET: xxxxxx@nauvax.ucc.nau.edu
 100 Babbitt Admin. Ctr., Box 4130
 Northern Arizona University
 Flagstaff, AZ  86011-4130

******************************************************************************
 Date:   Jan. 13, 1995
 Contacts: Barbara J. Rice, Media Relations Associate
 George Georgountzos, Media Relations Assistant
 (202) 334-2138; Internet <xxxxxx@nas.edu>

 Publication Announcement

 SCIENCE ETHICS GUIDE UPDATED,
 EXPANDED FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

 Better ways to teach the ethics of research to graduate students and
 junior scientists have evolved in recent years.  The National Academy of
 Sciences has drawn on these new developments in revising its 1989 landmark
 publication, On Being a Scientist, so that the ethical foundations of
 scientific practice can be strengthened further.

 This new version was prepared under the auspices of the Committee on
 Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP), a joint committee of
 the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and the Institute of
 Medicine.  The publication reflects suggestions from readers and
 instructors who used the original booklet and from graduate students and
 professors who critiqued drafts of the revision.

 "Young scientists still learn about ethics in the traditional way --
 from experienced scientists in the research lab and in the classroom,"
 said Phillip A. Sharp, head, department of biology, Center for Cancer
 Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and leader of
 the COSEPUP group that revised the booklet.  "This publication supplements
 these traditional, informal interactions and provides a basis for more
 in-depth discussions among junior and senior scientists.  One of its
 primary goals is to encourage researchers to talk about the core values of
 science."

 The research enterprise is based on core values -- honesty, skepticism,
 fairness, collegiality, and openness.  "These values have helped produce a
 research enterprise of unparalleled productivity and creativity," the
 booklet says.  "So long as they remain strong, science -- and the society
 it serves -- will prosper."

 Since On Being a Scientist was first published, 200,000 copies have been
 distributed to graduate and undergraduate science students to acquaint
 them with the ethical obligations of scientists.  The expanded version
 includes hypothetical scenarios for "collective deliberation," which the
 booklet says "is the best procedure to apply in using this booklet."
 Group discussion can show how different people would react in specific
 situations, often leading to conclusions no one would have arrived at
 individually.  The scenarios will help science students address industrial
 sponsorship of academic research, the sharing of research materials,
 credit for work where it is due, fabrication in a grant application, and
 plagiarism, among other topics.

 "It is incumbent on all scientists and all administrators of science to
 help provide a research environment that, through its adherence to high
 ethical standards and creative productivity, will attract and retain
 individuals of outstanding intellect and character to one of society's
 most important professions," said Bruce Alberts, president, National
 Academy of Sciences (NAS); Kenneth Shine, president, Institute of
 Medicine; and Robert White, president, National Academy of Engineering, in
 the booklet's preface.

 To encourage discussion of these issues in the nation's science and
 engineering graduate schools, the NAS -- in concert with scientific
 disciplinary societies -- is distributing more than 70,000 free copies to
 graduate students nationally.  Institutions may photocopy the document for
 educational purposes without obtaining permission from NAS.  The new
 edition also is available on the Academy's Internet server to permit
 easier international access.

 On Being a Scientist:  Responsible Conduct in Research is available from
 the National Academy Press at the mailing address in the letterhead; tel.
 (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242.  The cost of the 40-page booklet is
 $5.00 (prepaid) for the first copy, $4.00 each for two to nine copies, and
 $2.50 each for 10 or more copies, plus shipping charges of $4.00 for the
 first copy and $.50 for each additional copy.  Reporters may obtain copies
 from the Office of News and Public Information at the letterhead address
 (contacts listed above).

 #      #      #

 [Internet availability:  This publication announcement and an online
 version of the booklet are available on the WorldWide Web at
 http://www.nas.edu; via Gopher at gopher.nas.edu; and via FTP at
 ftp.nas.edu/pub/]

 br:a,b,c,d,e,g,h,i,j,k,l,n,o

 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
 INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE

 Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy

 Phillip A. Griffiths(1) (chair)
 Director
 Institute for Advanced Study
 Princeton, N.J.

 Robert McCormick Adams(1)
 Secretary Emeritus
 Smithsonian Institution
 Basalt, Colo.

 Bruce M. Alberts(1)
 President, National Academy of Sciences
 Washington, D.C.

 Elkan R. Blout(1,2)
 Harkness Professor
 Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
 Harvard Medical School
 Boston

 Felix E. Browder(1)
 University Professor
 Department of Mathematics
 Rutgers University
 New Brunswick, N.J.

 David R. Challoner(2)
 Vice President of Health Affairs
 University of Florida
 Gainesville

 F. Albert Cotton(,1)
 Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
 Texas A&M University
 College Station

 Ellis B. Cowling(1)
 Director, Southern Oxidants Study, School of Forest Resources
 North Carolina State University
 Raleigh

 Bernard N. Fields(1,2)
 Adele Lehman Professor and Chair
 Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
 Harvard Medical School
 Boston

 Alexander H. Flax(3)
 Senior Fellow, National Academy of Engineering
 Washington, D.C.

 Ralph E. Gomory(1,3)
 President
 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
 New York City

 Thomas D. Larson(3)
 Consultant
 Lemont, Pa.

 Mary J. Osborn(1)
 Head, Department of Microbiology
 University of Connecticut Health Center
 Farmington

 C. Kumar N. Patel(,1,3)
 Vice Chancellor for Research Programs
 University of California
 Los Angeles

 Phillip A. Sharp(1,2)
 Head, Department of Biology
 Center for Cancer Research
 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 Cambridge

 Kenneth I. Shine(3)
 President, Institute of Medicine
 Washington, D.C.

 Robert M. Solow(,1)
 Institute Professor, Department of Economics
 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 Cambridge

 H. Guyford Stever(,1,3)
 Member
 Carnegie Commission on Science and Technology
 Washington, D.C.

 Morris Tanenbaum(3)
 Vice President, National Academy of Engineering
 Washington, D.C.

 Robert M. White(3)
 President, National Academy of Engineering
 Washington, D.C.

 COMMITTEE STAFF

 Lawrence McCray, Executive Director
 Deborah D. Stine, Project Director
 Steve Olson, Consultant and Writer

       ___________________________________
       () term ending June 1994(
       (1) Member, National Academy of Sciences
       (2) Member, Institute of Medicine
       (3) Member, National Academy of Engineering