Bulletin Summer 2001 Volume 47 Number 2
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BULLETIN SUMMER 2001 VOLUME 47 NUMBER 2 Ethics in Science: Preparing Students for their Career ..........................................................................42 News from the Society Botany 2001 Plenary Lecture: Dr. Gary Nabhan........................................................................................48 Symposia................................................................................................................................49 Young Botanist Awards.............................................................................................................49 The McIntosh Apple Poster......................................................................................................49 Botanical Society of America needs a new Webmaster.............................................................50 Announcements In Memoriam Dr. Elisabeth (Beth) E. McIver (1941-2001)........................................................................50 Personalia University of Florida and Monsanto Honor Indra K Vasil...................................................53 New York Botanical Garden, Director, Institute of Systematic Botany, Dennis W. Stevenson .........................................53 Symposia, Conferences, Meetings Chicago Botanic Garden hosts Plant Conservation Conference ..........................................54 Second International Conference on Plants & Environmental Pollution .............................54 Position Available Conservation Horticulturalist.................................................................................................54 Special Opportunity David Starr Jordan Prize.........................................................................................................55 Other News Hunt Institute Launches Databases on Website....................................................................55 Missouri Botanical Garden Establishes Center for Conservation & Sustainable Development.......................................................56 New York Botanical Garden Scientists Probe Rain Forests of Belize..................................57 The Botanical Society of America: for ALL Plant Biologists Tropical Ecology Course in Australia....................................................................................58 “To the Editor”.......................................................................................................................58 Book Reviews..........................................................................................................................................59 PLANT SCIENCE Books Received........................................................................................................................................81 BSA Logo Items......................................................................................................................................84 Editor: Marshall D. Sundberg Department of Biological Sciences Emporia State University 1200 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS 66801-5707 Telephone: 620-341-5605 Fax: 620-341-5607 Email: [email protected] ISSN 0032-0919 I’m sure that all of you are familiar with the recent ETHICS IN SCIENCE: PREPARING STUDENTS controversy concerning the intention of a few FOR THEIR CAREER. scientists to clone a human in the near future. The scientific community, as well as the general public, expressed immediate and vocal concern over the INTRODUCTION ethics of performing such a procedure. (Imagine In 1932, at the 6th International Congress my surprise when I learned that one of these of Genetics held in Ithaca New York, R. A. Emerson, scientists was an alumnus of my department - Chair of the Department of Plant Breeding at Cornell receiving his BS here in Kansas some 30 years University, gave an opening address titled “The ago!) Luckily such ethical dilemmas are restricted Present Status of Maize Genetics.” In his introduction primarily to the biomedical sciences - - or are they? he declared “I cannot refrain from noting here a very What about genetically modified crops? What real advantage experienced by students of maize about collaborating on a manuscript? What is genetics ... I am aware of no other group of scientific misconduct and what is our responsibility investigators who have so freely shared with each if we perceive it in our lab or in another? other not only their materials but even their In this issue Dr. Lee Kass, Associate unpublished data. The present status of maize Professor of Botany and Curator of the Elmira genetics, whatever of noteworthy significance it College Herbarium and Adjunct Associate presents, is largely to be credited to this somewhat Professor at the L.H. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell unique, unselfishly cooperative spirit of the University, provides some perspective on how we considerable group of students of maize genetics. might better prepare our undergraduates for the In this connection I want gratefully to acknowledge ethical situations they might encounter in graduate the help of many persons who have contributed school and beyond. And yes, ethics in science also directly or indirectly to this summary statement of is a concern for botanists! If you’re not familiar with the status of maize genetics.” our Botanical Society of America Guidelines for Professional Ethics, enacted in 1997, you can find Shortly before that conference Emerson them at http://botany.org/bsa/membership/ notified maize geneticists of his plan to establish a ethics.htm. Cooperation of Maize Geneticists. Soon after the Congress Emerson and his student Marcus -editor Rhoades issued what is considered to be the first ”Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter” (October,1932), in which unpublished data were freely shared among the members. Future Nobel laureates George Beadle, Emerson’s student, and Barbara McClintock, Beadle’s collaborator, freely submitted their results to this communication, which continues to be published annually. This model laid the groundwork for a similar publication for the ”Drosophila” geneticists in 1933, and more recently for the “Worm Breeders Gazette,” the community newsletter of the roundworm biologists (Cohen 1995). PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN ISSN 0032-0919 Published quarterly by Botanical Society of America, Inc., 1735 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 The yearly subscription rate of $15 is included in the membership dues of the Botanical Society of America, Inc. Periodical postage paid at Columbus, OH and additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Address Editorial Matters (only) to: Kim Hiser, Business Manager Marsh Sundberg, Editor Botanical Society of America Dept. Biol. Sci., Emporia State Univ. 1735 Neil Ave. 1200 Commercial St. Columbus OH 43210-1293 Emporia, KS 66801-5057 Phone/Fax: 614/292-3519 Phone 620-341-5605 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] 42 The current discussions in the popular regarding ethics in science. Second I discuss and academic press concerning ethics in science some of the realities our students face in graduate lead us as teachers to think about our role in school. Finally, I suggest ways that we may better educating students in ethical behavior, both as prepare undergraduate students for the challenge individuals and as research collaborators. Through they may face if they do choose an ethical career in the years we have encouraged students to pursue science. careers in science. After completing their undergraduate work some students who do go to UNDERGRADUATE PERCEPTIONS graduate or professional schools write, phone or In a paper published in Research in Higher visit and tell us stories of their disappointment with Education, Anderson and Louis (1994), remind the some of the choices they made. Often this reader of “Robert Merton’s 1942 classical analysis disappointment stems from their idealistic vision of of scientists’ behavior, [identifying] the four norms what they expected their graduate experience to be of [academic] research that are fundamental to the like. The incidents they report often concern scientific ethos.” These norms are: Universalism, perceived misconduct in research, employment Communality, Disinterestedness and Organized practices or personal interactions; areas recently skepticism (Table 1). These they tell us “are not so examined by the Acadia Institute’s (1994) Project much ideals as shared working assumptions about on Professional Values and Ethical Issues in the the way research should be conducted” (Anderson Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers. and Louis 1994). Some students are so disillusioned by their experiences that they leave graduate school, sometimes after they have completed their research Table 1. Robert Merton’s four norms of research and have begun writing their dissertations. Over the fundamental to the scientific ethos (Anderson and past few years reports have appeared alerting Louis 1994). faculty and administrators to the perceptions held by both graduate students and faculty of misconduct 1. UNIVERSALISM: the separation of scientific in the academic community (Swazey, Anderson knowledge from the personal characteristics of and Louis, 1993). Anderson and Louis (1994) scientists. reported that entering graduate students held views 2. COMMUNALITY: the shared ownership of all about ethics that did not differ substantially from scientific knowledge, and the full and open those who had been in their program for several communication of all findings. years. This result, they imply, indicates that “the 3. DISINTERESTEDNESS: