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Where do scientists go when they leave the 9 to 5 world of the industrial laboratory? For a small, select group drawn from New Jersey's pharmaceutical and high tech industries, it's back to the lab, this time as volunteer educators. A physicist from Bell Laboratories, a microbiologist from Exxon, and a chemist from Novartis, are among eleven Fellows in a unique program at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Founded in 1977, The Charles A. Dana Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti (RISE) pairs scientists with upperclass undergraduates to conduct original research. The first of its kind, RISE has inspired a similar program for graduate students at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.
In exchange for their time, scientists get a modest supply budget, a laboratory where they can continue their research, and the opportunity to direct and mentor students. To be accepted into the program, students must have a 3.5 grade-point average. For many, like recent-graduate, Tarun Bhalla, the RISE program was a major factor in the choice of Drew University. RISE operates on "a shoestring" of $75,000 a year. Scientists are recruited by word of mouth and carefully screened. Those whose work is too ambitious or not a good fit with students are turned away. Since 1981, approximately 100 students majoring in biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics, have graduated from the program. In 1989, the program was awarded the Merck Innovation Award for Undergradate Science Education. Former Novartis biochemist, Barbara Petrack, is studying the possible role of nitric oxide in seizures and Alzheimer's disease with premed Colleen Khatiwala. Bill Houlihan, a chemist also from Novartis, is searching for a chemical compound that would counteract the craving for cocaine, research that has won him an National Institutes of Health grant. Former Bell Laboratories physicist Ashley Carter, who now directs RISE (see his True Story on 2young2retire.com soon), once studied the movement of sound through water, research that led to the Navy's submarine detection system. He is now mentoring students in research on scattering theory. "For the students, this in a unique opportunity to work with scientists from some of the top industrial laboratories," said Dr. Carter. "For the fellows, this is a chance to continue their work, maintain their contacts with industry, and pass along their unique perspective. Everybody benefits." Imagine, hundreds of programs modeled on RISE proliferating throughout academia, in the arts and sciences. Know anyone with a dot-com million or two to spare and an itch to give back?
==================================================================== Book Site Whether you are a master planner or prefer to wing it, here is a book that celebrates life as improvisation. Composing A Life by Mary Catherine Bateson (Plume 1990), daughter of eminent anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, examines the lives of five accomplished women (including her own), weaving together an affirming narrative with valuable lessons for everyone. "Constancy is an illusion," the author asserts, "fluidity and discontinuity are central to the reality in which we live." The examples of previous generations no longer serve and we must craft our own lives. How do we compose a life in a world where there are few certainties? We must learn, Bateson says, to reinvent ourselves "again and again in response to a changing environment." We may thereby become "models of lifelong learning and adaptation" for future generations. The lives of five mature women -- an anthropologist and writer, a psychiatrist with special interests in the homeless, an educator and president of Spelman College, an engineer and owner of her own company, and a dancer, artisan, and writer -- serve as models for richly improvisational living. Each has continued to evolve professionally, while juggling "a mosaic of activities and resolving conflicting demands on their time and attention" familiar to most women. By nature and by training, women are generally better adapted to life's discontinuities, Bateson says. Men, particularly those who follow the model of single-track ambition, are more vulnerable to the inevitable shifts of fortune. Because we can expect to live longer than previous generations, we have the opportunity to live many lives, Bateson concludes. As her examples show, improvisation is a life skill that serves up a rich stew of experience and achievement, both professional and personal. Passionately argued and eloquent, Composing A Life is a keeper in our library, and available through on-line book sources. Next time, It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now, Barbara Sher, Dell 1998.
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Media Watch Getting listed with the big search engines and indexes is the key to being found in an INTERNET search. So we were delighted to find www.2young2retire.com pop up in the top ten under keyword "retire" in one of the Big Kahunas. Thanks, Alta Vista! We're working on getting properly listed on the others, but in the meantime, you can go into Netscape and type either Marika Stone or Howard Stone and find the website. Neat, huh? Obviously a labor of love, www.20thcenturywomen.com is a new on-line journal of autobiography by 20th century women. You might want to print these longer pieces out and savor them at your leisure. It's official, the U.S. Census confirms (and USA Today reports) we'll live longer in the future, women still enjoying a six year advantage. In 1999, life expectancy for men was 74; for women, 80. In 2025, men can expect to live to 78; women to 84. In 2050, men live until 81; women, 87.
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Potpourri If you missed the Grammy-winning CD album, The Buena Vista Social Club, the first time around, it's not too late to add it to your collection. This remarkable album reintroduced Cuban musicians in their 60's, 70's and 80's to an appreciative audience, ending their long isolation. A documentary by the same name follows the musicians on a worldwide tour. Both were made possible by Ry Cooder. Look for them at your music/video outlet. Speaking of musicians who continue to evolve as performers past midlife, let's mention Bob Dorough and Dave Frishberg, two veteran jazz pianist/composers who are still on the road. We caught their act at the East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania recently. It doesn't get much better than that. Dorough is the creator of School House Rock, a popular television program, ("Conjunction junction, what's your function?"). Frishberg is the composer of Peel Me A Grape and other jazz standards. Becoming a father after age 50 is the subject of Spaulding Gray's latest monologue, Morning, Noon and Night. The master of the storytelling form was in top form the other night at the John Harms Center for the Arts in Englewood, New Jersey, by turns thought-provoking, touching, and very, very funny. Once again, Gray proves that real life is stranger -- and more entertaining -- than fiction. Can we quote you on that? Our friend, British actress Helen Ryan, turned 60 not long ago and continues her career in the theater. Actors don't retire, she says. Every role is an opportunity to create something new, an act of reinvention. Not that easy being green? Here are two sites that may help. Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement at www.easi.org is up and running and has a senior perspective. www.verde.com will be soon (we have it on good authority). You can register and they will notify you when they go live. Want to do some good while you surf the Web? Click on www.thehungersite.com Every time you do, you send a serving of food to a starving person, at no cost to you. According to The Washington Post, the site has sent enough money to the United Nations' World Food Program to purchase more than 4 million servings of dietary staples.
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