Re: George Maier Fund

[Barry Cooper <bjc3 at cornell_edu>]

I would like to comment on this issue. I applaud the renewal of the Maier 
fund to promote killie-related research. An interest in genuine scientific 
enquiry on various aspects of the biology of killies has always been part 
of the mission of the AKA and is something that has made the organization 
stand head and shoulders above others.

One way to fund such research is to provide small grants for students doing 
graduate studies. This is not a matter of creating "make work" jobs. These 
graduate student positions already exist and the incumbents are the 
ichthyologists of the future. People like Bruce Turner, Glen Collier and 
others were graduate students once and they've made huge contributions to 
the science of killies. I am willing to bet that much of the current DNA 
work being done on killies is being done by graduate students working in 
such labs. Also be aware that any funding that the AKA could provide will 
only be a drop in the bucket compared to the total cost of conducting such 
research. No way will we cover even the cost of a graduate stipend. 
Nevertheless, it would be a good indicator of the philosophy of the AKA and 
would win us friends in the scientific community and would pay off in the 
future in good will.

Reference has also been made to the financial well-being of the AKA. Those 
figures, I think, are somewhat overstated, but we do have healthy reserves. 
However, you should be aware that money did not come from membership dues. 
The latter barely covers annual costs of providing JAKA etc. As I 
understand it most of that money came from some very successful AKA 
projects, in particular the Wildekamp volumes. A considerable reserve needs 
to be kept in hand if we are to fund large projects like that in the 
future, and I hope we do, because the startup costs are high. Nevertheless, 
I would be in favor of the AKA diverting more that the $2000 already 
diverted, into the GM fund for research grants.

Barry

At 09:27 AM 7/31/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> HI,
>
>     I have to say I find it a little surprising that some members would not
> want to provide funds for grad students' research. I think that is part of 
> our
> responsibility to the study of killies and I think it is a small thank you 
> for
> ALL the scientific community over 80 years has given us and our hobby. I have
> no problem with "make work" jobs as those jobs are everywhere in our society
> and they have been a great benefit at times to the growth and health of our
> society. The grants we are talking about would be small but no doubt 
> helpful in
> some way. I say let's do it. It's the right thing to do.
>
> Bobby
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Barry J. Cooper, Prof. Emeritus, Dept. Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University
Adjunct faculty, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University
Home address: 27505 Riggs Hill Rd., Sweet Home, OR 97386 (bjc3 at cornell_edu)


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