NEWSLETTER

of the

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

VOLUME 31 NUMBER1                                                           FEBRUARY/MARCH 1989

DORMER TO COUNCIL; LINDQUIST PRESIDENT

Kenneth J. Dormer, associate professor of physiology & biophysics at the U. of Oklahoma, has been elected to a five-year term on the ASA Executive Council, replacing retiring Council member Ed Olson.

For 1989, psychologist Stanley Lindquist (Link Care Center, Fresno, CA) will serve as president of the Council and of ASA, physicist Howard Van Till (Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI) as vice-president, and biologist Gerald Hess (Messiah College, Grantham, PA) as secretary-treasurer. Engineer Charles Hummel (IVCF Faculty Representative, Grafton, MA) provides continuity as immediate past president in his final year on the council.

Ken Dormer has a B.S. in marine biology from Cornell and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physiology from UCLA, with postdoctoral work at the U. of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. His 40 or so publications deal with neural control of the cardiovascular system and auditory implantable prostheses. A departmental colleague of the late Kurt Weiss, Ken has been a stalwart behind the Federation Christian Fellowship at the annual FASEB meetings and has recently sparked formation of a Neuroscience Christian Fellowship in conjunction with the Society for Neuroscience.

One new Council member is elected annually by the ASA membership, after two Fellows of the Affiliation have been nominated by a committee and approved by the Council. Both nominees are usually so well qualified that the vote tends to be very close. It was particularly close this year, with biologist Ray Brand of Wheaton College (IL) coming in second. At its December 1988 meeting, the Council discussed the need for a long-range planning committee and has since asked Dr. Brand to chair it.

Planning by the Commissions has given ASA Annual Meetings a distinctively interdisciplinary cast. In December the Council heard initial plans for the 1989 ANNUAL MEETING to be held AUGUST 4-7 at INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, MARION INDIANA. James Swanson of the Biological Sciences Dept. at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, chair of ASA's Commission on Bioethics, has lined up Dr. Howard Jones as one 1989 keynote speaker, his clinical colleague at East Virginia College of Medicine. Jones, who with his wife established one of the first in-vitro fertilization clinics, is a Christian physician at the forefront of human reproductive technologies. Jim Swanson is now seeking another distinguished keynoter to discuss the many ethical concerns surrounding those technologies.

The Council heard executive director Bob Herrmann's report on the first two months of his pseudo-sabbatical, spent at Oxford, England, and his plans for spending January and February at the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton. Bob proposed dropping to three-quarter time (and three-quarter salary) in 1989 to scratch his writing itch. Here's the story of another proposal in his own words:

HERRMANNEUTICS: THIRD-WORLD R&D

The involvement of the Christian missionary community in Third World education and health care has been a major benefit for countless millions in developing countries. 

Last year we began to put together a proposal for a formal program for Third World research involvement by ASA. The basic concept is to direct the Affiliation's expertise in research and development toward Third World needs, focusing on individuals doing biomedical and nutritional research in universitities with developing research programs. We have current contacts with researchers at universities in Nairobi, Khartoum, Nigeria, Chad, Swaziland, Cyprus, Bangladesh, and Shanghai. We would like to network these and others in the Christian Third World research community with the goal of providing both monetary and training support for worthy programs. In this approach, ASA would act as the agency with funds provided by foundations interested in Third World Research and Development. We would set up an Advisory Board of peers analogous to an NIH Study Section, with representatives from the Third World and the West as members. Networking and training aspects would be facilitated by triannual research conferences in the Third World setting, the first to be hosted by Dr. George Kinoti, parasitologist at the University of Nairobi in 1990. Funding is presently being requested from the Pew Charitable Trust.

ASA seems to be worming its way into a thesis on "Stewardship and the Integrity of Creation" by (theology) Ph.D. candidate David K. Mensah at the U. of Toronto. He plans to devote a whole chapter to ASA/CSCA treatment of environmental issues, "as a model for the evangelical community to follow." ASA has generated some excellent papers by devoting at least three Annual Meetings ('78, '83, and '87) to ecological concerns. And our 1961 Annual Meeting drew attention to the world population problem-when there were 2 billion fewer people on the planet than now.

Fred Van Dyke chairs ASA's Commission on Global Resources and the Environment, which has been pondering ways to bring ecological issues before the evangelical public without duplicating efforts underway by the North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology. Two issues of NACCE's quarterly publication, Firmament ($12/yr. P.O. Box 14305, San Francisco, CA 94114), have now appeared.

Your thoughts on ASA's role in ecological stewardship would be welcomed by Fred Van Dyke (P.O. Box 1352, Red Lodge, MT 59068) or, for that matter, by David Mensah (RR #3, Hwy 47, Stouffville, Ontario, LAA 7X4, Canada).

2. Conrad Hyers has completed a project many other members will want to check out. He has produced a

3. Dr. David Allen, private-practice psychiatrist and chairman of the National Drug Council of the Bahamas, will be at Case Western Reserve University to speak to the psychiatric Grand Rounds on March 31. He will give a public lecture that evening on Christian perspectives on cocaine addiction at 8pni at the university. For more information, call Tom Hoshiko at (216) 932-4409 or Dr. Hollman at (216) 921-5350.

4. The Christian Medical & Dental Society is the now name for the Christian Medical Society. The CMDS Journal, now in its 30th volume, is edited by ASA member Sid Macaulay.

Frank Cassel wasn't the only expert missed at the 1988 Annual Meeting. Also missed was ASA's fire-science expert Marie Berg. It seemed for awhile that the annual ASA banquet would be held in the proverbial "smoke filled room." As the Weary Old Editor reached the buffet table, dark smoke began pouring into the dining room. As the crowd was being herded gently out onto an upper terrace overlooking the ocean, we scooped up a plateful of emergency rations and adjourned to dine alfresco. Having had the foresight to grab a fork from a table setting, we were in good shape compared to those who had been in line behind us.

As a matter of fact, dining with good friends in the cool evening air in that beautiful setting was a great experience. Nobody hurt, no damage done, and no after-dinner speeches.

Even so, the canyon on whose slopes Pepperdine College is laid out used to be "worthless" brush-covered desert. An elaborate computer-controlled system now waters the whole campus, with the water trickling hundreds of feet down to the mouth of the canyon before being collected again. Pipes warning "NO BEBA EL AGUA!" are reminders that the irrigation water is recycled, and that a largely Hispanic labor force keeps that oasis green. At times, ASAers had to scoot to stay dry when the system tamed itself on, muttering soggy comments like "Let us spray!" or "Those who can, dew. Those who can't, sprinkle."

The Newsletter editor spent a couple of hours mountaineering around the Pepperdine perimeter, trying unsuccessfully to capture the whole scene in a single photo. In the few flat areas, athletic fields were in use by a baseball camp, a basketball camp, a swimming camp, and a tennis camp. Some ASAers made use of a palm-tree-bordered Olympic swimming pool. Others jogged on a track near our dorm cluster. Eager young athletes occupied other dorm clusters. Everybody got a workout, since any place one wanted to go was either up or down a lot of steps, sometimes both. That tended to slow Stan Lindquist and Gordon Mills down a bit, but who cares how long it takes to get from one part of Paradise to another9

Closer at hand was the J. Paul Getty Museum, just off the Pacific Coast Highway in a wooded Malibu canyon. A number of ASAers visited the Roman-style villa housing a private art collection rich in Greek and Roman antiquities. Along the shore in the opposite direction was the Leo Carrillo State Beach, where several ASA families camped. Not far from there was a place where the winds must have been just right. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of windsurfers zipped back and forth at high speed like some giant demonstration of molecular motion.

On the campus, morning devotions and Sunday worship were held in Stauffer chapel, facing a huge, blue stainedglass wall of abstract design, visually striking if not acoustically enhancing. We bounced some great hymns off of it, led by Jerry Hess with Jack Haas, Russ Camp, or John Munday at the piano. On a softer note, Betty Zip and Lisette Rice sang to Lisette's guitar accompaniment.

For Saturday's devotions, nuclear engineer Dennis Smith of Sunol, California, a member of ASA's Commission on Arms Control, focused our attention on Jesus' words, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Dennis pointed out that, "1 making" is an active word and that "peace" or shalom means more than mere absence of conflict. It, too, is an active term, something like "harmony maintained against chaotic forces."

Monday's chapel speaker was Nancy Moore, wife of program chair Stan Moore, a Fuller Seminary graduate and "stated supply" at Faith United Presbyterian Church in Highland Park, California. She spoke of our accountability to God in our special roles as Christian men and women of science. When the public looks to science for its hope, we must declare "the hope of the world" living within us, the resurrected Christ.

If you missed the 1988 Meeting, be sure to put the 1989 ANNUAL MEETING at INDIANA WESLEYAN on your calendar: AUGUST 4-7.

Many mission agencies see the year 2000 as a kind of spur to evangelize the world. But the job can't be done with donor-supported missionaries alone, partly because that method is too slow and too expensive. Global Opportunities has placed something like 300 mission-minded Christians in jobs overseas without their having to raise a nickel of donor support. Further, many overseas jobs are in countries closed to regular missionaries (with about 70 percent of the world's population), and those jobs often pay the highest salaries.

Siemens estimates that about 4 million Americans are overseas today. Even if a tenth of them are evangelical Christians, few are tentmakers in the apostle Paul's bivocational sense. Yet 4,000 jobs open up overseas every month for Americans with marketable skills. Many are for people trained in science or technology. Education is the category most in demand. Why shouldn't witnessing Christians fill those jobs?

In one country a new ruler is vying to modernize, begging for faculty to staff a new national university, an agricultural college, and a medical school with fully equipped hospital. There are 800 openings for nurses, perhaps 1,100 for other skilled workers. In a few years, when local people have been trained to take over, those opportunities will have ended. Global Opportunities helps Christians find such opportunities, and offers advice and encouragement to bivocational missionaries. At present about 2.5 billion people live in "people groups" with no resident Christian witness among them.

Backing up Ruth Siemens's presentation was chemist Stan Anderson of Westmont College, who has taught in Iran and most recently in the Sudan. Together they made an exciting case for almost any technically trained Christian to consider. Language difficulties? Much of the world wants to learn English, which is an official language in 80 countries. Too old? In most of the world, age is respected. Too inexperienced? Go study in a foreign country and get your experience on the spot. Want more information? Write to Global Opportunities, 1600 Elizabeth St., Pasadena, CA 91104. In a hurry? Call (818) 797-3233.

Born in Adria, Washington, Don grew up in Fillmore, California. When he was fifteen, his mother and a sister were among the 600 flood victims when the St. Francis dam burst. Perhaps that influenced him to study geology. After a year at Biola he transferred to Wheaton College. In 1938, he graduated and married Betty Baillie, went on for an M.S. at the U. of Iowa and a Ph.D. at Wisconsin. Don was a member of many professional societies and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Don Boardman was a born teacher. He taught geology at Wheaton College from 1940 to 1979, with 1942-46 out for service in the Pacific in WWII. On Saipan he was " president" of "Saipan U.," teaching illiterate enlisted personnel to read and write despite opposition from bigoted Navy brass. Back at Wheaton, he chaired the Geology Dept. for many years and directed the Wheaton Science Station in South Dakota's Black Hills (where ASA held its Annual Meeting in 1952).

Don was active in the College Church and at times in Wheaton politics. In the late '60s and throughout the '70s the Boardmans threw their support behind inner-city LaSalle Community Church in Chicago. When Don retired in 1979, they moved to San Diego and became active in Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church. They celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary in England at the ASA Oxford Meeting, with the whole fwnily on hand. The family was together again at Lake Tahoe in August 1988 to celebrate their Golden Anniversary.

Don leaves three children: science teacher Ann Hein (Mrs. Robert H.), a second-generation ASA member; Barbara, married to Richard Herd, geologist and CSCA member, Donald, Jr.; and six grandchildren. The family asked that memorial gifts be sent to the LaSalle Community Church (office, 300 W. Hill St., Chicago, IL 60610).

The fact is that friends take a bit of our lives with them when they leave us. Writing obituaries reminds this editor of his own mortality, of the fact that he needs to be winding down, getting his house in order so it won't be such a mess for somebody else to clean up. For those whose trust is in Christ, that's not something to be dreaded, but it's something to be faced. So maybe we'll start a new series: at the end of the news stories we'll toss in THE EDITOR'S LAST WORDS.

After all, we're in our twentieth year of editing this Newsletter, and everybody knows that can't go on indefinitely. It's time to start thinking about finding a replacement, so why not begin saying our last words? Not morbidly, like writing our own obituary on the installment plan, but joyfully, to share what's on our mind while we have the chance. We usually have a lot on our mind, so delivering it in small doses isn't a bad idea. Call it a series of editorials, if that sounds better.

Remember the old gunfighter's wish, to die with his boots on? The computer age has put a new twist to that. This editor wants to go out "booted up."

Several factors seemed to point in the same direction. The importance of nurturing grad students was stressed by Ward Gasque in a July 15 Christianity Today article, "Give Us More Christian Professors." Grad school is where such professors come from. IVCF had just appointed its first Grad Student Representative, Randy Bare, who came to the Annual Meeting to see what ASA is doing and to consult with IFCF Faculty Representative Charles Hummel. Within the Bay Area are Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, and several other graduate-level institutions.

The council decided to devote this year's meetings to studying the possibilities. On October 29, a potluck supper meeting at Irvington Presbyterian Church in Fremont featured two seasoned experts. Gary Gates has reached out to university students for years, first with Campus Crusade for Christ, then with the Berkeley Christian Coalition, now with IVCF. While still with BCC, Gary was drawn into ministry to internationals by David Adeney, veteran missionary to students in China. Gary began coaching a few U.S. grad students to reach out to international scholars and grad students, whose number on U.S. campuses grew from about 30,000 in 1950 to over 400,000 today.

Jack Irvine, a member of the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs (NAFSA), followed Gary's talk with his own experience as foreign student advisor at Oakland's Merritt College. He explained the differences in non-immigrant visas (F-I for most undergrads; J-1 for most grad students; H-1 for most postdoctorals) and the problems of switching to immigrant ("green card") status. Evangelicals have earned a bad reputation with NAFSA professionals for a narrow "Love 'ern but leave 'em if they don't respond to the gospel" outlook. Jack's own lasting love for internationals, and his wisdom in witnessing to them through personal friendships, came through. He thinks that many would like to relate to professionals in their own field.

It's not clear yet what the section as a whole can do, but several individuals continued to explore possibilities with the speakers afterwards. Gary Gates thinks a section roster spelling out the areas of expertise of local members might open many doors to one-on-one friendships. Meanwhile, he welcomes ASA members at the Friday evening meetings for internationals he orchestrates in Berkeley. His phone is (415) 527-5554.

Richard P. Aulie of Chicago is a historian of science with a background in biology. For the 50th Anniversary Convention of the National Association of Biology Teachers in Chicago in November 1988, Dick organized several sessions. One symposium on "The Future of Food Production" marked the centenary of the Hatch Act (setting up agriculture experiment stations) and of the birth of Jean Baptiste Boussingault, discoverer of the nitrogen cycle. A dim-day symposium on "AIDS in American Society" covered every aspect of the topic. Intellitool's Marilyne S. Flora, a member of Dick's committee planning that one, moderated one AIDS session.

Charles F. Austerberry is in his second year as assistant professor of biology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He teaches molecular biology courses and a course in biology of the protists. Chuck finds that Creighton's Jesuit environment encourages students to integrate science and faith, enabling him to share articles from ASA's Perspectives with students on occasion. In July 1988 he and wife Gloria were in Bristol, England, where Chuck presented a paper to the Society of Protozoologists. It has since been published in Molecular & Cellular Biology (Sept 1988). Some capable undergraduates are helping him continue that research on developmentally regulated DNA deletion in the freshwater ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila.

Robert Bateman has become assistant professor of chemistry at the U. of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Bob edits the Newsletter of the Fellowship of Christian Biochemists. His research interests are in enzyme reaction mechanisms, particularly neuropeptide-metabolizing enzymes. He received his B.S. at LSU and Ph.D. at North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he worked with Richard Wolfenden and Steve Kizer. He moved to USM this fall after a postdoctoral stint with Lou Marsh at the U. of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

William C. Cobern is an assistant professor of teacher education at Austin College, Sherman, TX 75090. Bill has been studying the effects of worldview on interest and achievement in science. Several years ago he asked a sample of people chosen from the ASA directory to help validate his test instrument by completing the questionnaire. In April he will present a paper at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. A preliminary report, "World View Theory and Misconception Research," is available through the ERIC system (document # 292 676). Bill thanks all who participated and would be happy to communicate with anyone interested in his study.

Dennis L. Eggleston has left U.C. San Diego after five years of postdoctoral work on plasma physics to return to his "native land" of Los Angeles. He is now assistant professor of physics at Occidental College, where he has a research contract to set up a lab for studying non-neutral plasmas. Dennis was pleased to find a group of Christian faculty at Occidental. They meet for weekly Bible study and have also been studying Lesslie Newbigin's Foolishness to the Greeks, a Christian critique of modem western culture. Dennis is grateful for God's guidance in his life.

Robert B. Fischer of La Mirada, California, may have reached the Christian equivalent of Nirvana. That is, he has dropped all his administrative duties as Biola University's vice-president for academic affairs, while retaining his post as Distinguished Professor of Christian Thought. Now, Bob says, he may actually have time for some Christian thought-and for more active participation in ASA affairs. With a B.S. from Wheaton and Ph.D. (in analytical chemistry and electrical engineering) from Illinois, he arrived at Biola after being professor of chemistry at Indiana and then dean of Natural Sciences & Math at Cal State, Dominguez Hills. Many of us know him through God Did It, But How?, his fine little book on science/faith questions first published in 1981, now once again in print from Zondervan.

Owen Gingerich is professor of astronomy and the history of science at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Owen's Dwight Lecture in Christian Thought, "Let There Be Light: Modem Cosmogony and Biblical Creation," continues to find audiences. When he gave it as the Pascal Lecture at the U. of Waterloo in Ontario this winter, it was co-sponsored by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. CBC taped it for broadcast coast-to-coast across Canada on the evening of December 26.

Walter R. Hearn of Berkeley, California, makes his living as an editor (of this Newsletter, among other things) after an earlier career in biochemistry. Having at times compared research to detective work, Walt is amused at playing a minor role as a scientific consultant in a major piece of literary detection. A letter of his to Lewis-scholar Kathryn Lindskoog appears as a footnote in her fascinating new book, The C. S. Lewis Hoax (Multnomah, 1988. Cloth, $11.95). Lindskoog builds up a rather convincing case that there is something suspicious about The Dark Tower, purportedly written by Lewis, and the alleged bonfire of Lewis papers from which literary executor Walter

Hooper claimed (years later) to have rescued it. (See "Book Charges Fraud over C. S. Lewis," Christianity Today, 18 Nov 1988, p. 56.)

Larry F. Hodges of Decatur, Georgia, is assistant professor in the school of information & computer science at Georgia Tech.Larry recently completed his Ph.D. in computer engineering at North Carolina State.

Nicholas J. Longo now lives in Redondo Beach, California, working for the Los Angeles Division of Riedel Environmental Services as operations manager. Although Riedel has done such work for over 15 years, that's a new position in the L.A. Division, putting Nick in charge of handling emergency response to oil and hazardous material spills in southern CA, AZ, and NM. For the past six years, Nick has been doing the same kind of work in the six Great Lakes states, most recently as a federal onscene coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He says he welcomes the opportunity to protect our environment in a milder climate.

David G. Myers, professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, noted a Newsletter squib about Norm Geisler's efforts to foster Christian writing in areas "crucial to penetrating American culture." Dave's two popular textbooks reflect Christian values and both have over a dozen indexed references to religion, a topic commonly neglected in today's psychology texts. A new edition of Myers's Psychology (Worth Publishers) appeared early in 1989, and a third edition of his Social Psychology (McGraw-Hill) is scheduled for October.

Henry F. Schaefer, director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the U. of Georgia, made headlines again last fall. After announcing his acceptance of a "fantastic" offer to move to Vanderbilt, Fritz changed his mind and decided to stay in Athens. His family realized they were settled happily after all, and the university put in writing its oral promises to continue building up chemistry. In December, an ad placed in the student newspaper by the Christian Faculty Fellowship (inviting students to "drop in" to their offices to talk about Christian faith) put Fritz in the news again. As one of 38 signers, he defended the ad against critics who said professors should stick to their academic tasks, pointing out that his department had submitted 45 research communications in the past 15 months. Having survived these crises, the Schaefers took off in January for an extended lecture trip to Australia. Fritz was hoping to get more papers written at the Research School of Chemistry of the Australian National University in Canberra.

Mark F. Schult is now at Indiana U. in Bloomington to work on a Ph.D. in paleontology studying vertebrate trace fossils. He received his M.S. in geology from the U. of Florida in August 1988 for correlating uranium levels with the biostatigraphy of Florida phosphate deposits. Mark says he saw Jon Bryan this fall at the centennial meeting of the Geological Society of America.

Jack Swearengen has moved from Sandia Laboratories in Livermore, California, to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. He has a two-year assignment with the Department of Defense (DoD), in the office of Strategy, Arms Control, & Compliance, under the UnderSecretary of Defense for Acquisition. Jack is on loan from Sandia to help DoD acquire r the technical means to verify compliance with present and projected arms control treaties. (Even Jack's title is hard to verify. He seems to be on IPA-Interagency Personnel Agreement---as "Staff Specialist, Arms Control Verification"-Ed.) The Pentagon is scrambling to keep up with the INF treaty and be prepared for the expected START treaty. Jack diink3 treaties on conventional, chemical/biological, and space weapons control are on the horizon if the U.S. and Soviet Union don't blow it. He also thinks the U.S. is less likely to violate treaties than the Soviets because of the more open nature of our society. The Soviets probably agree, since they're placing less emphasis on verification. The DoD is very serious about being able to detect any Soviet noncompliance before it could become "militarily significant." In this high-stakes poker game, DoD "holds its cards close to its chest," so most of what Jack does will be classified information.

Kurt Wood and Debby spent their first Christmas in seven years in the U.S. this year, on a leave of absence from Arab World Ministries. Through May they'll be living in the Presbyterian Mission Houses in Berkeley. Debby is expecting Wood chip #3 to arrive in March. Kurt, a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, is looking for a job in the chemical industry to support the family and to give him experience that will later allow them to return overseas in a professional capacity.