Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne, IL), Mathematics and Computer Science division, is advertising its Undergraduate Program in Computational Science, 30May-11Aug00. This includes research in numerical and non-numerical methods, parallel tools, scientific visualization, collaboration tools, distributed computing, computational science, and systems administration. . 01Feb00; Jan Griffin , (630) 252-7271, (630) 252-5676 fax. [jobs@cra.org, 21Dec99.]

ANL/MCS is also advertising its Summer Givens Associates appointments for graduate students beginning careers in numerical analysis of computational mathematics. . Apply by 10Feb00. [Ibid.]

Newt Gingrich is urging scientists to explain their work to the public. He suggests 1-2 hours per month participating in town hall meetings and on talk radio, as well as contacting members of Congress. "The fate of our country may depend on whether or not scientists recognize that they have real responsibilities as citizens." Too often they believe their work "is so obviously important that they should not have to explain it." "Do your duty and educate your fellow countrymen about the exciting world that awaits ... and we will help you find the resources to achieve these breakthroughs." [Boston Globe. Robert L. Park, WHAT'S NEW, 30Dec99.]

"When I was growing up, it was taken for granted that economists, physicists, psychologists -- leaders in any discipline -- would make themselves understood. Einstein spent years with three different collaborators to make his theory of relativity accessible to the layman. Even John Maynard Keynes tried hard to make his economics accessible. ... Knowledge is power, which is why people who had it in the past often tried to make a secret of it. In post-capitalism, power comes from transmitting information to make it productive, not from hiding it." -- Peter Drucker. [NewsScan, 15Dec99.]

----- "Socrates, Descartes, Bacon, Locke and Voltaire did not write in a specialized dialect. They wrote in basic Greek, French and English and they wrote for the general reader of their day. Their language is clear, eloquent and often both moving and amusing. The contemporary philosopher does not write in the basic language of our day. He is not accessible to the public. Stranger still, even the contemporary interpreter of earlier philosophy writes in inaccessible dialect. This means that almost anyone with a decent pre-university level education can still pick up Bacon or Descartes, Voltaire or Locke and read them with both ease and pleasure. Yet even a university graduate is hard pressed to make his way through interpretations of these same thinkers by leading contemporary intellectuals." -- John Ralston Saul, "Voltaire's Bastards." [NewsScan, 13Dec99.] -----