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19 October 2001

From the Executive Director

Hi all,

It's been a busy week, and a very big week for advancing the cause of amateur science. Haven't been around much. Sorry to everyone who's been waiting for a response from me on something. But I hope you'll forgive me when you read what I've been doing.

"Citizen Scientists" Garners Big Interest from Big Publishers

I've been out of the office most of the week meeting with publishers in New York about my book, now tentatively titled "Citizen Scientists." We've gotten a great response so far. I met with six publishers in two days including two of the most prestigious publishing houses in the industry. I'll give a full report later, but everyone we met with really liked the project. Right now let's just say that there is significant interest out there and I expect that my agent will complete negotiations soon, perhaps before the end of next week. But it's now a certainty that a capable publisher will publish the book. That means that for the first time the fantastic work of today's citizen scientists is going to be placed before the general reader (not just science geeks like us) through the medium of a popular book and, quite likely, a promotional tour.

A successful popular book could do much to advance our mission.

(As an aside, I had a meeting at ABC-- one of the "anthrax buildings." CNN had a truck outside just in case, and the security was, shall we say, tight. The new security procedures, through effective, had obviously been added hastily. A guard stopped us outside the building, checked our my agent's and my Ids, then leaned in through the door to shout the information to a uniformed receptionist at the real of the lobby who then called the publisher and shouted back the all clear. They issued us day badges while our contact came down to take personal charge of us. No one seemed to appreciate my pointing out that the pathogen got in through the mail-room and not the lobby. I'm keeping my temporary ID badge as a souvenir of our interesting times. )

 

Meeting with Ford Foundation President

Also, while in New York I had a wonderful meeting with Susan Berresford, the President of the Ford Foundation. What a delightful person! We spoke at length about SAS and what it will take us to grow into a large and well-run organization staffed with passionate and intelligent people all working hard to promote amateurs in science. She has agreed to become a personal advocate for us… to champion our case within her own organization and to other Foundations as well. She was quite intrigued by the Amateur Scientist's Workshop and referred to its $1.7 million per year price tag as "not a lot of money." I'm doing the follow up work she suggested this week and next. Then we'll see where things go. But over all, it could not possibly have been a better meeting.

I'll keep you posted.

Shawn Carlson