News

Sigma Xi honors college and students for research

In print | November 15, 2007

Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, has recognized Swarthmore College for its achievements in encouraging undergraduate research and membership in the society. According to the mission statement on the Web site of Swarthmore’s Sigma Xi chapter, “Sigma Xi is a national organization devoted to promoting scientific research. It has chapters at numerous college and university campuses, including Swarth-more’s.”

The society presented the award to the Swarthmore College chapter of Sigma Xi through associate professor of biology Colin Purrington, Swarthmore’s official delegate, at an annual international conference in Orlando, Florida that lasted from Nov. 1-4. Other institutions recognized by Sigma Xi included M.I.T., the Claremont Colleges, Brown University, Carleton College and Smith College.

According to Cheryl Grood, President of Swarthmore’s chapter of Sigma Xi and associate professor in the department of mathematics and statistics, Swarth-more has about 40 new members of Sigma Xi this year.

“We hope to have a lot more over the course of the year for students completing their honors projects and the people applying for membership belatedly for research they did last summer,” Grood said.

In addition to representing the college, Purrington also served as a poster judge at the conference, gave a workshop on how to present scientific research in informative and interesting ways and voted for the next leader of Sigma Xi in the Atlantic region. Purrington’s four days at the conference were packed from morning to evening with lectures, exhibits, receptions and networking breaks.

“I enjoyed the talks and the posters, but probably the biggest part of the conference was the conversations outside the events,” Purrington said. “Networking with other scientists is a lot of fun, and you can’t do it through e-mail, so going to a conference is very valuable.”

Purrington said that both full and associate members of Sigma Xi attended, including professors, independent scientists and students from mostly the Mid-Atlantic region.

Associate members, usually students, are individuals who have conducted or are conducting research and who have submitted a poster or project to the society. Full members are those who have demonstrated “noteworthy achievement as an original investigator in a field of pure or applied science,” according to the Sigma Xi Web site.

Nathan La Porte ’08 was inducted into the honor society in September. “Everyone who does research and writes up anything or does a poster or something like that can get inducted [as an associate member],” La Porte said.

While the Sigma Xi award does not include any monetary or otherwise tangible benefits, it holds a symbolic meaning for the scientific environment of the college. “The award shows that scientific research is a valued endeavor at Swarthmore College,” Grood said. “It’s most meaningful to me because the reason we have so many members each year is because of all the students involved in scientific research and it’s wonderful to be in an environment where the students have the curiosity and the intelligence and the perseverance to carry out significant research.”

“We have a pretty active local chapter,” said professor Tom Stephenson, James Hammons Professor of Physical Chemistry. According to Stephenson, several speakers per year deliver lectures accessible to people with broad scientific backgrounds.

Professors encourage students who have conducted research to apply for membership. The application process requires filling out a form and getting a nomination from two full members of Sigma Xi.

The next event hosted by Sigma Xi at Swarthmore will be a lecture by Jean-Claude Bradley, associate professor of chemistry at Drexel University, titled “Open Notebook Science: Research in Real Time.” It will take place on Nov. 27 in Science Center 101, and is open to the entire Swarthmore campus community.