AAAS Science and Human Rights Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Summer/Fall 2001 Vol XXI, No. 1

Jason Sanders joined the Science and Human Rights Program staff in January as a Project Coordinator. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Texas A&M University. While a student and later while working in a biotechnology research facility at Texas A&M, Mr. Sanders was a peace and social justice activist coordinating joint efforts with student and community organizations.

This summer, the Program benefited from the work of a number of interns. We are very appreciative of their contributions to our work.

Jennifer Gordon assisted in the research for the upcoming edition of the Directory of Persecuted Scientists, Engineers, and Health Professionals. Jennifer is in her final year of a M.A./J.D. program at American University.

Justin Van Fleet worked with Stephen Hansen on developing a new intellectual property project and wrote a research paper on patents and prior art regarding traditional ecological knowledge. Justin is finishing his last year at Frostburg State University with majors in international studies and Spanish.

Benjamin Krohmal researched the issue of racism and xenophobia in the national labs for the Scientific Freedom and National Security Project. Ben is a sophomore at the University of Virginia.

Anne Colvin researched case histories of scientific collaboration and travel restrictions for the Right to Travel: A Clearinghouse of Information on Scientific and Academic Travel between Cuba and the U.S. Annie is a senior at American University.

Neda Semnani and Natica Smith worked on a project to store and publish data electronically on human rights violations in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Kosovo. Neda scanned thousands of records from paper documents, while Natica wrote computer programs to process the data and transform it into a database. Neda attends the University of Maryland, and Natica is a computer science major at Tufts University.

Emmanuel Smadja, a computer science major at the University of Virginia conducted research on the open source software movement and its importance to human rights.

April Oliver analyzed transcripts from the amnesty hearings held by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission for a study of the relationship between truth and reconciliation that Science and Human Rights Director Audrey Chapman is co-directing. April is a third-year law student at George Mason University.