http://blogs.physicstoday.org/newspicks/2008/05/us_declares_mit_...
Posted by Physics Today on May 13, 2008 11:13 AM

US declares MIT science grad students are security threats
The Tech: Eight MIT graduate students with student visas were denied a key credential by the Department of Homeland Security. After their department appealed the decisions on their behalf, the DHS declared at least two of the students “security threats.”

The troubles stem from a new homeland security program called the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, a plastic card which, like an MIT ID, contains personally identifying information and can be read wirelessly. Without the credential, the students will soon have a harder time boarding and leaving ships at U.S. ports, including the three research ships at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, where the students work.

The situation was well-known to WHOI, but it only came to MIT’s attention yesterday, when a German student forwarded to colleagues in the Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences Department a letter from the Department of Homeland Security. The letter said in part: “I have personally reviewed the Initial Determination of Threat Assessment, your reply, accompanying information, and all other information and materials available to the TSA. Based upon this review, I have determined that you pose a security threat and you do not meet the eligibility requirements to hold a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).” A British graduate student received a similar letter, said James A. Yoder, dean of WHOI.

To whom are interested in publish papers on Genetics and related matter. This is a traditional scientific journal published by Brazilian Genetic Society - SBG

BASIC INFORMATION

Genetics and Molecular Biology ISSN 1415-4757 (formerly named Revista Brasileira de Genética/Brazilian Journal of Genetics - ISSN 0100-8455) is published quarterly by the Sociedade Brasileira de Genética (Brazilian Society of Genetics).

The Journal considers contributions that present the results of original research in genetics, evolution and related scientific disciplines.

Genetics and Molecular Biology begins with vol. 21, issue 1, of March 1998, following the sequence of numbering of its predecessor, which was published from 1978 to 1997, V. 1 to V. 20.

http://www.gmb.org.br/

To whom are interested to published results in Plant Breeding - this is a good option!
CBAB - CROP BREEDING AND APPLIED BIOTECHNOLOGY

General policy and scope of the journal

The CBAB – CROP BREEDING AND APPLIED BIOTECHNOLOGY (ISSN 1518-7853) – is the official quarterly journal of the Brazilian Society of Plant Breeding (www.sbmp.org.br/), abbreviated CROP BREED APPL BIOTECHNOL.
It is indexed in AGRIS of FAO, CAB International Abstracts, Periódica, Scopus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Agrobase and Acervo Documental of Embrapa. It publishes original scientific articles which contribute to the scientific and technological development of plant breeding and agriculture. Articles should be to do with basic and applied research on improvement of perennial and annual plants, within the fields of genetics, conservation of germplasm, biotechnology, genomics, cytogenetics, experimental statistics, seeds, food quality, biotic and abiotic stress, and correlated areas. The CBAB publishes, besides articles, other text forms, equally subjected to the discretion of ad hoc reviewers, such as Review, Notes, Plant breeding programs, Release of cultivars, Book review, Viewpoint and, Letters, all of them in English language.
Authors of articles in the journal CBAB - CROP BREEDING AND APPLIED BIOTECHNOLOGY profit from the following benefits:

Digital submission and revision of articles

Expeditious publication: average time of 4 months

Articles available in pdf on the WEB
Send your article to http://www.sbmp.org.br/cbab/index.htm clicking on menu Submission

Thank you for choosing the CBAB.

Contact us:
http://www.sbmp.org.br/cbab/index.htm or cbab@ufv.br

Details at
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/node2175.html .

The African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI), has established the Conference of Vice-Chancellors, Deans of Science, Engineering and Technology (COVIDSET) as a forum for University leaders responsible for Science and Engineering Education to meet and dialogue on strategic issues in Science and Engineering Education. COVIDSET is a forum both for the exchange of ideas and experiences as well for the sensitization of University Leaders on trends in science and engineering education in the region and globally.

Date: 5 - 27 Sept. 2007
Johannesburg,
South Africa

Have you ever wondered why most African bright minds who go to study in the west end up working there?
This is my simple analysis. When they land to Europe or America, African scientists work hard, sometimes harder than the "home-boys/girls". They are determined to reach the apex of science.
After completion of the training, they have "too much" knowledge that there are no labs available in Africa to accommodate them. So, instead of putting their knowledge to waste, they decide to stay in the west where they can be more useful with labs and equipment available.
Now it is a challenge for the African governments to set up high-tech labs so that they retain their "brains".

I (and supposedly many other who had written emails to ACS expressing their concerns regarding the expulsion of Iranian members) received the following letter from ACS a couple of days ago. It carries two main points with it:

1. That ACS will not be providing its members in sanctioned countries with two of the membership services (career development and subsidized attendance of ACS meetings)
2. ACS's future coordination with National Academies regarding scientific collaboration.

The PDF file was sent from ACS's president's email account and is password protected.

===============================================

[ACS Logo]
American Chemical Society
[ACS Address]

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Catherine T. Hunt
President-Elect, 2006
President, 2007
Immediate Past President, 2008

May 19, 2007

[Deleted Name]
[Deleted Address]

Dear [Deleted Name],

Thank you for your recent communication regarding the American Chemical Society's (ACS) action affecting its members residing in Iran. We have carefully reviewed all of the comments from concerned ACS members and others on this complex issue. In addition, our General Counsel and his staff have innitiated additional contacts with the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and have conducted a further legal review. We are pleased to inform you after considering all of these factors we have reinstated these chemists from Iran as ACS members.

The ACS will now be offering members in OFAC sanctioned countried our member benefits, with two main restrictions: these members will not have access to services relating to career development and they will not be able to register for ACS national meeting at discounted rates. As you may know, the ACS has for many years pursured policies to foster freedom of scientific exchange and collaboration. We are continuing our efforts, through an OFAC licensing application, to be able to provide these members with all ACS member services. In addition, we are coordinating with the National Academy of Sciences and other scientific societies on broader OFAC issues relating to scientific collaboration.

Again, thank you for your valuable input on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Caterine T. (Katie) Hunt

CTH:ds

ACS Vision: Improving People's Lives through the Transforming Power of Chemistry

The American Chemical Society -- with more than 160,000 members -- os the largest scientific society in the world. ACS is a nonprofit membership organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research.

After outcry, ACS restores members
36 Iranians and one Sudanese had been expelled

By Jonathan Zebrowski
Princetonian Senior Writer

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/05/16/news/18478....

In the wake of complaints from scientists worldwide, the American Chemical Society (ACS) announced Friday that it would reinstate chemists in Iran and Sudan whose memberships it had previously revoked on legal grounds.

The organization had initially barred 36 Iranian members and its one Sudanese member on the grounds that their membership violated U.S. trade sanctions on those countries. Of the Iranians, 22 did not receive membership renewal notices and the others, whose memberships were not up for renewal, were informed that their memberships had been terminated, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Monday.

But when ACS officials later consulted with the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees the enforcement of those sanctions, they decided to reverse the earlier decision, an ACS press release said.

After the expulsions took place, "the [ACS] board received a number of letters from concerned ACS members who wanted their Iranian colleagues reinstated," the press release added.

On campus, the news of the expulsions spread swiftly through the scientific community. An email, a copy of which was obtained by The Daily Princetonian, circulated among academic departments, criticized the organization's move and asked recipients to contact ACS officials and lodge complaints.

"It is understandable that the ACS's board of directors would try to protect the society against the fines predicted by the sanction laws, but the way the ACS has managed the issue is not what other societies have done in the past," the email said, adding that "the common procedure among scientific organizations" has been to ignore the provisions of sanction laws while applying for an exception in the meantime.

"I think that barring foreign members or any members from a society like this is outrageous," chemistry department associate chair Michael Hecht said in late April. "We don't penalize people for the opinions of their governments. Scientific or academic organizations should know better than to do this."

According to the latest ACS statement, the association will now offer memberships in all sanctioned countries, though it won't provide career development services and discount registration fees to national meetings.

The members who were barred were sent an email Friday inviting them to rejoin, and their membership fees and annual postage will be paid by an anonymous donor, ACS executive director Madeleine Jacobs told the Chronicle.

The ACS has over 160,000 members worldwide and provides "a broad range of opportunities for peer interaction and career development, regardless of professional or scientific interests," according to the organization's website.

Chronicle's coverage of the ACS incident is by far the most complete version of the story I know of. I expect it to have some inaccuracies though. read below:
http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/05/2007051403n.htm

American Chemical Society, in Reversal, Reinstates 36 Iranian Members

By BURTON BOLLAG

The American Chemical Society announced on Friday that it had reversed an earlier decision to expel its members in Iran and will allow all 36 scientists in that country to rejoin. The group had earlier said that having such members put the society in violation of U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.

The decision to remove the Iranians drew protests from academics, especially from Iranians living in the United States.

But a statement placed on the society's Web site on Friday said that, after further reviewing its legal options and after consulting with the federal agency overseeing the trade sanctions, the society's Board of Directors had decided to reinstate the Iranians.

They will, however, be denied two benefits that other members receive: the group's career-development services, and reduced-price admission to the society's twice-yearly national meetings.

The society's one member in Sudan -- another country under U.S. trade sanctions -- had also been removed and was being invited back with the same restrictions. The society, which has 160,000 members and calls itself the world's biggest scientific association, would not disclose whether its members in Iran and Sudan work for academic institutions, government agencies, or industry.

The society's executive director, Madeleine Jacobs, said the original decision to remove the Iranians and the one Sudanese had been made by midlevel staff members without her knowledge or that of the society's board. She said no employee would be penalized for the action.

"We had a snafu, a breakdown of communications," Ms. Jacobs said in an interview. "We would not have rescinded membership if it had come to my attention." Although the expulsions were carried out in January, Ms. Jacobs said she and the society's other senior officials had learned of the move from an article in the journal Science only at the end of March.

Ms. Jacobs said the whole affair started almost a year ago, when the unidentified member in Sudan inquired about his or her eligibility for all membership benefits despite the U.S. trade laws barring American organizations from doing business with people in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan, among other countries. The society's assistant general counsel, identified in the Science article as David T. Smorodin, conducted a review of U.S. government regulations and determined that the society was prohibited from having members in countries under trade sanctions.

The society then had an outside lawyer contact the agency overseeing the sanctions, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, and, without identifying the chemical society, inquire about restrictions on foreign membership. That inquiry appeared to confirm Mr. Smorodin's conclusion, Ms. Jacobs said, and the midlevel decision was made to rescind membership for the 36 Iranians and one Sudanese.

The decision harked back to a 2003 controversy in which the Treasury Department said it was illegal for American research journals to edit papers from scientists in countries under U.S. trade sanctions -- a policy that was latter rescinded. Since then, the chemical society appears to have been the only scientific group to drop members in those countries, Ms. Jacobs said. But another group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, cut off nearly all services to its Iranian members to comply with the trade embargo in 2002, leading all but a few hundred of its 1,700 Iranian members to quit (The Chronicle, October 17, 2003). Acting under guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the institute was later able to reinstate most of those services.

Ms. Jacobs said it was understandable that staff members at the society would be concerned about compliance with the law because her group offers a wider range of services than do most scientific societies.

Still, when the chemical society's senior officials and board members learned about the decision, at the end of March, Ms. Jacobs said, they immediately arranged to meet with representatives of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. From those contacts, they concluded that the Iranians and Sudanese could be members if they were denied the two membership benefits from which they are now excluded.

The society has now applied to the Treasury Department office for a license to extend full membership to scientists in countries under trade sanctions. "We want to obey U.S. law while promoting scientific cooperation," said Ms. Jacobs.

The society said it had joined other scientific associations in working with the National Academy of Sciences to try to get clarification from the U.S. government about "what is and what isn't allowed" in terms of academic cooperation with scientists in embargoed countries, said Ms. Jacobs.

As for the Iranians, 22 had simply not been sent membership-renewal notices this spring. But the other 14 Iranians, whose memberships were not up for renewal, had received notices of expulsion. As a gesture to make up for the "personal distress and hardship" that step may have caused, Ms. Jacobs said, the $136 annual membership fee and the $58 annual postage fee for the society's magazine were being paid by an anonymous donor for one year.

Ms. Jacobs said the Iranians and Sudanese were all invited to rejoin in an e-mail message sent on Friday.

http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2007/May/Chemical/index.html

May 1, 2007

Dear Members of the American Chemical Society:

On behalf of the Iranian academic community and the Iranian American Professional Associations we are writing you to ask your assistance in reversing the unilateral decision of the Board of ACS to terminate the membership of chemists living in select countries, mainly in Iran, and mostly university professors.

We are Iranian Americans adhering to moral and ethical values. We would like to offer our strong support to our colleagues in Iran who need our help, not punishment motivated by irrelevant and unjustified intentions.

We believe that this decision is ill-conceived and misguided, without justification, and is gravely undermining the integrity of ACS as a prestigious scientific organization that we have collectively worked very hard to achieve. In this regard please note the following:

ACS decided to not renewthe membership of its Iranian members starting January 2007 without disclosing it to the public. ACS Members heard of this decision only when it was reported in the March 30, 2007, issue of the Science Magazine (1).
On April 9, ACS decided to go public, and at the same time file for an Exemption License with the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) (2). In its News Release of April 16, 2007, ACS actually makes reinstatement of these members conditional to the approval of its application by OFAC (3).
We believe that termination of Iranian membership was against the ACS Bylaws (4) that provides dismissal of members only for:
Sec. 3- Article 4:

“A member may be dropped from membership for nonpayment of dues or for conduct which in anywise tends to injure the SOCIETY or to affect adversely its reputation or which is contrary to or destructive of its objects. No member shall be dropped except after opportunity to be heard as provided in the Bylaws. (1/1/63)”

None of the reasons stated above apply to this mass termination case, and due process was most certainly violated by this ACS decision.

ACS asserts that the dismissal was according to the advice of lawyers, both in-house and external, and intended to follow the rules governing the Sanction Law and Iran Trade Restrictions. ACS further claims that this decision was at the advice of OFAC (5).
Berman Amendment to the Sanction Law excluded Information Exchange from this law, and OFAC actually recognized this in its November 3, 2003 ruling (6), in which it makes a statement in favor of professional membership:
“The prohibition in ITR § 560.204 on exports to Iran or the Government of Iran does not apply to the exportation to any country of information and informational materials. ITR, § 560.210(c)...

The extension of membership to and acceptance of annual dues from Iran in connection with receipt by Iran of the U.S. Entity’s association publications and information would not be prohibited by the ITR.”

If ACS has a ruling by OFAC that explicitly prohibits the membership of Iranian nationals in US professional organizations, then it has the duty to disclose such document to its members.
Paradoxically, no other professional organization has terminated its Iranian members.

ACS Executive Director and CEO, Ms. Madeleine Jacobs, even in this week’s C&EN (7), emphasizes that she was made aware by the lawyers that not dropping Iranian members would result in heavy fines of $500,000, up to 20 years jail sentence for key officers, and the danger that ACS would lose its tax-exempt status. This advice that was also given to IEEE in 2001 appears to us more like ‘scare tactic’ and is unfounded.
OFAC does not prohibit Information Exchange and Membership of nationals from Embargoed Countries in U. S. Professional Organizations, and to our knowledge it has never prosecuted or penalized any US professional organization, or its Board members, for violating US Laws by having Iranian members.

After having Iranian members for many years since passing of the Sanction Law, if ACS was still concerned about legality of having Iranian members, it could have applied for Exemption and exclude its Iranian members if its application was rejected by OFAC, and not use the ‘Shoot first, ask later!’ strategy. This sort of action is not expected from a scientific Organization that believes in its own Constitution and the ‘Universality of Science.’
Many US professional organizations have not even applied for Exemption license with OFAC to have Iranian members, because they believe that Sanction Law does not require them to do so.

Since the disclosure of the ACS decision many members of ACS and concerned members of other professional organizations have written to ACS and have expressed their dismay about the exclusion of Iranian members.

Please contact the President and Board members of ACS via secretary@acs.organd ask them to repeal this unjust decision and reinstate the Iranian members. Comments

With best regards,

Fredun Hojabri
Professor of Chemistry & former Academic Vice-President of Sharif (Aryamehr) University of Technology,
hojabri@aol.com

David Rahni
Professor of Chemistry, Pace University
Adjunct Professor of Dermatology, New York Medical College
Former Chair of the ACS New York,

Prof. Fazlollah Reza
President and Founder of Iranian Academic Association of North America
dr.freza@sympatico.ca

Fariba Aria, Ph. D. in Chemistry
President, Sharif University of Technology Association (SUTA)
kimia@ix.netcom.com

Mohammad Behforouz, Professor of Chemistry
President, Shiraz University Association (SUA)
mbehforo@bsu.edu

Ali Banijamali, Ph. D. in Chemistry
Chair, Iranian Chemists' Association of the American Chemical Society (ICA-ACS),
banijamali@yahoo.com

Ali Akbari, Professor of Economics, California Lutheran University
President, Association of Professors and Scholars of Iranian Heritage (ASPIH)
akbari@clunet.edu

Hamid Javadi, Ph. D., Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Iranian-American Physicists (IrAP) Network Group
(c/o Hamid Javadi, IrAP Network Group President)
hamidhjavadi@sbcglobal.net)

References:

Science, Vol. 315, 30 March 2007, page 1777
Chemical & Engineering News, April 9, 2007, page 11
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i17/8517news1.html
http://www.chemistry.org/portal/resources/ACS/ACSContent/bulleti...
Flint H. Lewis, ACS Secretary and General Counsel, Letter to Prof. D. Rahni
http://treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac
Chemical & Engineering News, April 23, page 9