Rick Borchelt

OUR GANG

by Rick Borchelt

Time on his hands. Blake Powers is taking a hiatus from his post at Marshall Space Flight Center to work on some freelance projects, which at last check included making ham, chili, and Beef Wellington. Reach him at cbpowers@mindspring.com for cool recipes and job leads.

Once in a lifetime. Lots of NASW members, including yours truly, showed up in South Africa for the total solar eclipse in December. Okay, so we also had another reason to be there, the 7th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST), held in Cape Town, RSA. Holding forth at this biennial conference of science communication researchers and practitioners were Sharon Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, Margaret Corbit, Bruce Lewenstein, Judy Jackson, and Melissa Withers. From Cape Town, the mostly-total eclipse occurred on a beautiful sunny day, and was easily viewed from atop Table Mountain. Folks who went to Kruger National Park for the path of totality were mostly disappointed by rain and clouds, but managed a 90-second view of totality when the clouds parted. Next PCST is in Barcelona in 2004-no eclipse expected.

Woman of the hour. American Chemical Society Director of Communications Denise Graveline has been named the Public Relations Woman of the Year by Washington Women in Public Relations. The award is presented annually to a female PR practitioner in the D.C. metro area who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, integrity and community involvement. Denise specifically was cited for her “outstanding achievements and visionary leadership in public relations and untiring contributions to the community.” Kudos and compliments to her at dgraveline@acs.org.

Time for a change. Larry Bernard has a new gig and e-mail. He’s the new communications manager for Amgen Inc., and will be headquartered at the pharma firm’s West Greenwich, R.I., offices. E-mail congratulations to him at bernardl@amgen.com.

Timely transition. Melissa Withers kicks off the New Year with a new post at the Whitehead Institute. The former publications manager has been promoted to manager of public outreach, where she’ll be running the public programs and education activities of the Institute. Same e-mail still works for Melissa, withers@wi.mit.edu.

Another time zone. International Science Writers Association president Jim Cornell was tapped during the opening ceremonies of the recent World Federation of Science Journalists as an “honorary guest” of the City of Sao Jose dos Campos and given both a certificate and medal signifying the title. The Federation was organized by the Brazilian Association of Science Journalism and held at the University of the Pariaba Valley in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, Nov. 24-27.

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Rick Borchelt is director of communications and public affairs at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass.

Editor’s Note: Rick Borchelt has announced his desire to step down as Our Gang columnist. His resignation is accepted with reluctance. ScienceWriters wishes to thank him for producing one of the best-read features in the newsletter.