Supporting the Nexxt Generation Female STEM Professionals Help Undergrads Plan for Future Career Success
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Supporting the NeXXt Generation Female STEM professionals help undergrads plan for future career success. A Renowned Businessman The Scary Side of Astronaut Charlie Camarda’s Tackles Alzheimer’s Disease Science Education View from Space www.nyas.org • Summer 2013 Board of Governors Chair Vice Chair Treasurer NANCY ZIMPHER KENNETH L. DAVIS ROBERT CATELL President [ex offi cio] Secretary [ex offi cio] ELLIS RUBINSTEIN LARRY SMITH Governors LEN BLAVATNIK JAY FURMAN BETH JACOBS JOHN E. SEXTON MARY BRABECK ALICE P. GAST JOHN E. KELLY III GEORGE E. THIBAULT NANCY CANTOR BRIAN GREENE MEHMOOD KHAN PAUL WALKER MARTIN CHALFIE THOMAS L. HARRISON JEFFREY D. SACHS IRIS WEINSHALL MILTON COFIELD STEVE HOCHBERG KATHE SACKLER FRANK WILCZEK MIKAEL DOLSTEN THOMAS C. JACKSON MORTIMER D.A. SACKLER MICHAEL ZIGMAN ELAINE FUCHS International Governors Chairman Emeritus Honorary Life Governors SETH F. BERKLEY TONI HOOVER TORSTEN N. WIESEL KAREN E. BURKE MANUEL CAMACHO SOLIS RAJENDRA K. PACHAURI HERBERT J. KAYDEN GERALD CHAN RUSSELL READ JOHN F. NIBLACK S. KRIS GOPALAKRISHNAN PAUL STOFFELS President’s Council PETER AGRE AARON CIECHANOVER GREGORY LUCIER ELLIOTT SIGAL Nobel Laureate & Univ. Nobel Laureate & Chairman and CEO, Life CSO, Bristol-Myers Squibb Prof. and Director, Johns Distinguished Research Prof., Technologies Corporation MICHAEL SOHLMAN Hopkins Malaria Research Tumor and Vascular Biology RODERICK MACKINNON Former Exec. Director, The Inst., Dept. Molecular Research Center, Faculty of Nobel Laureate & John Nobel Foundation On the cover: Microbiology and Medicine, Technion-Israel D. Rockefeller, Jr. Prof., PAUL STOFFELS Jason V / iStockphoto.com Immunology, Bloomberg Inst. of Tech., Haifa, Israel The Rockefeller Univ.; CSO, Johnson & Johnson; School of Public Health PETER DOHERTY Investigator, HHMI Worldwide Co-Chairman, RICHARD AXEL Nobel Laureate & GERALD J. MCDOUGALL Pharmaceuticals Group Nobel Laureate & Researcher, St. Jude National Partner, Global MARC TESSIER-LAVIGNE Professor, Columbia Univ.; Children’s Research Pharmaceutical & Health President, The Rockefeller Univ. Investigator, HHMI Hospital, Memphis, TN; Sciences Practice, MARY ANN TIGHE DAVID BALTIMORE Univ. of Melbourne PricewaterhouseCoopers CEO, New York Tri-State Nobel Laureate & President MIKAEL DOLSTEN LLP Region, CB Richard Ellis Emeritus, Caltech President, Worldwide RICHARD MENSCHEL SHIRLEY TILGHMAN ETIENNE-EMILE BAULIEU Research and Development; Sr. Director, Goldman Sachs President Emerita and Former President, French Sr. VP, Pfi zer Inc RONAY MENSCHEL Prof. of Molecular Biology, Academy of Sciences MARCELO EBRARD Chairman of the Board, Princeton Univ. PAUL BERG CASAUBÓN Phipps Houses; Board of FRANK WALSH Executive Editor Nobel Laureate & Prof. Mayor, Mexico City Overseers, Weill Cornell CEO, Ossianix, Inc. Diana Friedman Emeritus, Dept. of EDMOND H. FISCHER Medical College GERALD WEISSMANN Biochemistry, Stanford Univ. Nobel Laureate & Prof. HEATHER Prof. of Medicine, NYU LEN BLAVATNIK Emeritus, Dept. of MUNROE-BLOOM School of Medicine Art Director Chairman, Access Industries Biochemistry, Univ. of Former Principal and Vice- JOHN WHITEHEAD GÜNTER BLOBEL Washington Chancellor, McGill Univ. Former Chairman, Lower Ash Ayman Shairzay Nobel Laureate & Director, JEROME I. FRIEDMAN FERID MURAD Manhattan Development Laboratory for Cell Biology, Nobel Laureate & Institute Nobel Laureate & Director, Corp.; former Co-Chairman The Rockefeller Univ. Prof. & Prof. of Physics, IMM Center for Cell of Goldman Sachs Contributors IRINA BOKOVA Emeritus, MIT Signaling, The University of GEORGE WHITESIDES Director General, United JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN Texas at Houston Woodford L. & Ann A. David Alvaro, Douglas Braaten, Nations Educational, Nobel Laureate & Chairman, JOHN F. NIBLACK Flowers Univ. Prof., Harvard Meghan Groome, Azra Jaferi, Scientifi c and Cultural Molecular Genetics, Univ. Former President, Pfi zer Univ. Organization (UNESCO) of Texas Southwestern Global Research & TORSTEN N. WIESEL Tamara Johnson, Noah Rosenberg SYDNEY BRENNER Medical Center Development Nobel Laureate & former Nobel Laureate & S. GOPALAKRISHNAN PAUL NURSE Secy. General, Human Distinguished Prof., Salk Inst. Exec. Co-Chairman of the Nobel Laureate & President, Frontier Science Program Editorial Offi ce MICHAEL S. BROWN Board, Infosys Technologies The Royal Society; former Organization; President 7 World Trade Center Nobel Laureate & Prof. of Limited President, The Rockefeller Emeritus, The Rockefeller Molecular Genetics, Univ. PAUL GREENGARD Univ. Univ. 250 Greenwich St, 40th Fl of Texas Southwestern Nobel Laureate & Prof. RICHARD ROBERTS FRANK WILCZEK New York, NY 10007-2157 Medical Center of Molecular & Cellular Nobel Laureate & CSO, Nobel Laureate & Herman LINDA BUCK Neuroscience, The New England Biolabs Feshbach Professor of Phone: 212.298.8645 Nobel Laureate & Rockefeller Univ. EDWARD F. ROVER Physics, MIT Fax: 212.298.3655 Investigator for HHMI; GLENDA GREENWALD President, The Dana ERNST-LUDWIG member of the Fred President, Aspen Brain Foundation WINNACKER Email: [email protected] Hutchinson Cancer Forum Foundation F. SHERWOOD ROWLAND Secy. General, Human Research Center PETER GRUSS Nobel Laureate & Prof. of Frontier Science Program; KAREN E. BURKE President, Max Planck Chemistry & Earth Science, former Secy. General, Membership & Annals Orders Dermatologist & Research Gesellschaft, Germany Univ. of California, Irvine European Research Council; Phone: 212.298.8640 Scientist WILLIAM A. HASELTINE BENGT SAMUELSSON former President, Deutsche MARCELO EBRARD President, The Haseltine Nobel Laureate & Prof., Forschungsgemeinschaft, Fax: 212.298.3650 CASAUBON Foundation for Medical Medical & Physiological Germany Former Mayor, Mexico City Sciences and the Arts; Chem., Karolinska Inst.; ANDREW WITTY Email: [email protected] THOMAS R. CECH Chairman, Haseltine Global former Chairman, The CEO, GlaxoSmithKline Nobel Laureate & Health, LLC Nobel Foundation DATO ZAKRI ABDUL HAMID Distinguished Prof., Univ. of ERIC KANDEL IVAN SEIDENBERG Science Advisor to the Advertising Inquiries Colorado, Boulder Nobel Laureate & Prof., Advisory Partner, Perella Prime Minister of Malaysia Phone: 212.298.8636 MARTIN CHALFIE Physiology & Cell Biology, Weinberg Partners LP; former ELIAS ZERHOUNI Nobel Laureate & William Columbia Univ. Chairman of the Board, Verizon President, Global Email: [email protected] R. Kenan, Jr., Prof. of KIYOSHI KUROKAWA ISMAIL SERAGELDIN Research & Development, Biological Sciences; Former Science Advisor to Director, Bibliotheca Sanofi -Aventis Chair, Dept. of Biological the Prime Minister of Japan; Alexandrina, The Library of AHMED ZEWAIL Visit the Academy online Sciences, Columbia Univ. Prof., National Graduate Alexandria, Egypt Nobel Laureate & Linus www.nyas.org CECILIA CHAN Institute for Policy Studies PHILLIP A. SHARP Pauling Chair of Chemistry Managing Director, Gold (GRIPS) Nobel Laureate & Director, and Physics, Caltech Avenue Ltd. LEON LEDERMAN McGovern Inst., MIT Center GUANGZHAO ZHOU Nobel Laureate & Pritzker for Cancer Research Former Chairman, Chinese Prof. of Science, Illinois Association of Science & Inst. of Tech.; Resident Technology Scholar, Illinois Math & Science Academy SSummerummer 22013013 ccontentsontents Columns Op-Ed 2 Letter from the President 6 Curiosity Expelled the Kid? Rather than punishing students for scientifi c experimentation, teachers and A landmark award for young parents can proactively provide outlets for inquiring minds. scientists Academy Interview 4 Inside the Academy News about Academy programs 1100 From T Cells to Therapies and activities Following a new award, renowned immunologist Dan Littman explains his fascination with the immune system, as well as his hopes for the future of 7 Academy eBriefi ngs molecular medicine. Summaries of recent eBriefi ngs Cover Story 2211 Annals Highlights Recent and upcoming Annals 1122 Supporting the NeXXt Generation Professional role models help undergraduate women turn STEM aspirations volumes into reality. Member News 2244 Donor Profi le Awards, appointments, and announcements about Academy 1166 Changing the Game members George Vradenburg and the Academy team up to end Alzheimer’s disease. 2266 Calendar S&C Corner Upcoming Academy conferences and meetings 1188 Space Talk NASA astronaut Charlie Camarda chats with Science & the City about his experiences in space. Last Look 2288 Sustainable Technology, Past to Present Wind pumps and modern wind turbines are both examples of environmentally sustainable technology. Letter from the President A Landmark Award For Young Scientists n June 3, the Blavatnik Family Valley pioneers. Th e Breakthrough Prize’s the support the most.” As it turned out, Foundation announced the na- website says that it aims to provide recipi- Len’s vision was completely in sync with O tionwide launch of the Blavatnik ents with “more freedom and opportunity that of the Academy staff and members of Awards for Young Scientists, an extraor- to pursue even greater opportunity.” its Board of Governors. dinary expansion of the program your From my point of view, however, a Len tested his theory, with help from New York Academy of Sciences has been perhaps greater contribution implicit in the Academy, for 7 years, by funding a administering for 7 years. Th e program this award—and that of many other re- prize that was not for world-renowned has identifi ed and supported some of the cent prizes—is the message it can send scientists but for the most promising most brilliant and promising postdoc- to young, brilliant,