AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Summer 2006 Vol XXVI, No. 1

The Times they are a' Changin'

Program Director Departs

After 15 years at AAAS as the Director of the Science and Human Rights Program, Audrey Chapman left the Science and Human Rights Program in June to accept a position at the University of Connecticut Health Center. She is now the first holder of the Healey Memorial Chair in the Medical Humanities and Bioethics.

While the search for a new director continues, Mark S. Frankel has graciously agreed to act as Program Director for the near future. For two decades, Mark has been the AAAS Director of the Program on Scientific Freedom, Responsibility, and Law (SFRL). Upon joining AAAS in 1986, Dr. Frankel also directed the science and human rights activities of the Association for four years. Dr. Frankel is Editor of AAAS’ quarterly publication, Professional Ethics Report, as well as a Fellow of the Association. Currently, Mark serves on the editorial boards of Science and Engineering Ethics, Ethics & Behavior, Professional Ethics, and The Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics. Dr. Frankel holds a Ph.D. in Political Science.

Other Staff Changes

Both Victoria Baxter and Sarah Olmstead have also vacated full-time staff positions.

Victoria Baxter, Senior Program Associate (2000-2006), joined the United Nations Foundation in July of 2006 after five years as a SHR staff member. While at AAAS, she directed the SHR Program's casework activities on behalf of persecuted scientists, engineers, and health professionals through the AAAS Human Rights Action Network (AAASHRAN). Victoria was also the primary staff member on several SHR transitional justice projects. Victoria was particularly interested in the issue of memorialization or how societies choose to remember and interpret past violence, and served as the first SHR-AAAS representative on the steering committee of the African Transitional Justice Research Network. Victoria's position on the steering committee of that network has been taken over by Jana Asher, an incoming staff member. AAASRAN alerts and other activities that Victoria has so ably organized will be assigned to different staff members.

Sarah Olmstead, Project Coordinator (2004-2006), is leaving the Science and Human Rights Program to return to graduate school in September. She will be a graduate fellow at the Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS) located in Santa Monica, California. A slight departure from her masters work in physics, Sarah will be studying for a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis. PRGS was founded in 1970 and was, at the time, one of only eight public policy graduate programs in the country, and the only one based at a think tank (The RAND Corporation). The program combines advanced study in economics, statistics, political science, and the social sciences with on-the-job training as a member of RAND's interdisciplinary research teams. PRGS focuses on the quantitative side of policy analysis, making it a logical place to go after the Science and Human Rights Program. Sarah hopes to continue working on issues close to SHR's heart, such as the fulfillment of economic, social, and cultural rights and developing tools for quantitative policy analysis.

We wish Sarah and Victoria the best of luck in their future endeavors.