Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies (ISIS)

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ISIS co-sponsored well attended excellent seminar April 30th

"The Human Cost of War and Chemical Weapons: Focus on Iran"

Hampshire College 893 West Street, Amherst MA, 6:00PM April 30th 2008

Over sixty people crowded the East Lecture Hall of Hampshire college for an ISIS co-sponsored illustrated talk, exhibition, and question-answer discussion with two distinguished Iranian physicians against Chemical Weapons. As part of a national physician tour, Dr. Shahriar Khateri and Dr. Mohammad Soroush, founders of The Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support in Iran, brought a traveling exhibit to Hampshire College's Franklin Paterson Hall on Wednesday April 30th. Dr. Khateri presented his historical and scientific talk about chemical weapons, eventually including very touching details of their use and effects in Iran during the Iraq-Iran war. The exhibit will accompany all their scheduled public and medical talks in America. The goal is to help bridge the gap between Iran and the US and to offer the opportunity of a civilian diplomatic series. The same traveling exhibit has been shared in Hiroshima, Japan, and many other places to heighten awareness of the devastation of weapons of mass destruction and to remind everyone that we must work to abolish these weapons. There were also two Iranian survivors of chemical weapons present at the exhibit, as there will be during all the talks and stops in America.

SIS joined the national Physicians for Social Responsibility -- whose repreentative Jill Parillo introduced the speakers and moderated the discussion -- and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII), in co-sponsoring this event which was FREE and open to the public.

........... ........ To ensure maximum accessibility, all ISIS programs are smoke- & fragrance- free. ........ ...........

New publication by longtime ISIS collaborator

Professor Tom Roeper of the University of Massachusetts has been a long time ISIS collaborator, from our earliest day almost two decades ago. He was the convenor of a year-long series of seminars on Cognitive Sciences and the morality of modern science and technology, put on before ISIS was incorporated under joint auspices with the UMass's Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities.

MIT press has now publised Roeper's book "Prism of Grammar: How Child Language Illuminates Humanism," which makes clear connections between values of human dignity and the research he and colleagues have done in language acquisition. The Columbia Teacher's College Record, widely regarded as the leading Education Journal for 100 years has an excellent review which you may read on the Amazon.com page for this new book.

Earlier Items

On December 3rd, 2007 at Hampshire College, ISIS sponsored a brilliant talk on "Iran's nuclear Program" by Dr. Fariborz (Hadi) Ghaemi. Remarkably, that very afternoon the Intelligence community had released the National Intelligence Estimate report which made headline news all over the world by discerning that Teheran had suspended the MILITARY nuclear program four years ago. Hadi referred to this report in his talk, having downloaded the first copy of it only two hours earlier, while visiting the ISIS office.

Here's the `official' ISIS announcement of this second event in the Seymour Melman Memorial lecture series, dedicated to the memory of the great Engineering professor who served anti-nuclear, pro-peace causes so well for so many years at Columbia University and in the world at large: Born in Iran, Dr. Fariborz (Hadi) Ghaemi is an excellent speaker,scientist, and policy analyst. He is a human rights activist, a physicist --former professor-- and an independent film-maker. His talk reviewed what is known about the true state of Iran's nuclear technology, the likely effects of the Bush Administration's policy, and connections to the morality of modern science and politics. Hadi has served for many years as chief analyst on Human Rights Watch's Iran Desk.

He has worked on many Iranian issues, and is a frequent commentator on rights, rights violations, and the politics of current Iranian policies. Hadi was the first to pinpoint how Iranian-Americans and exiles visiting Iran were being harassed by government officials there.

Dr. Ghaemi is one of distinguished small group of Hampshire "physics major" graduates who worked both with ISIS President, Herb Bernstein as well as Professor Eqbal Ahmad. Dr. Ghaemi spent many years in physics, pioneering what is now known as nanoscience. He eaerned the best young researcher of the year award for a paper presented in the major international physics conference in his field, then followed that continuous career through to a professorship in the City University of New York; all before winning a MacArthur foundation writing fellowship to transition back into his second specialty of middle east politics. He eventually became a Rockefeller Foundation consultant on Iran before joining Human Rights Watch.

An enthusiastic open discussion followed the talk.

Sponsored by the Hampshire College Seymour Melman Memorial lecture Fund, this event was free and open to the public. It was co-sponsored by as well by the Five College Peace & World Security studies program, in supplement to the Seymour Melman bequest to Hampshire college. That recent grant is dedicated to promoting wider understanding of the current issues and risks posed by nuclear weapons; and their relation to science, technology and society studies, & especially the concerns of science, values and morality investigated by ISIS with an integrated approach involving sciences, scientists, community members and social studies of the sciences.

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Last April, ISIS co-sponsored a wonderful talk and discussion led by two famous fascinating war-tax resisters, Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner.

This event was open to the public and attracted a "full house" on Wednesday April 25th, in the Small Sanctuary of the Jewish Community of Amherst, 742 Main Street. With co-sponsorship with the JCA's Spirituality and Social Change Interfaith Study Group this most informative and pertinent FIRST event in the series dedicated to the memory of Seymour Melman was a great success.

The husband and wife team of Kehler & Corner have always withheld their tax moneys from the US government, dedicating them instead to contributions for peaceful non-violent purposes. The movie "Act of Conscience" was made about the struggle to prevent their eviction and loss of their house, when the government went after this major asset, to pay back taxes. Through thirty-one years of marriage, including Randy's two incarcerations in both federal and state prisons, their efforts have been a beacon and model for non-violent approaches to bringing about peace. Daniel Ellsberg's biography cites their example as one motivation for him to release the Pentagon papers, a crucial act that hastened an end to the Vietnam War. The couple each presented their separate takes of "Spiritual Reflections on a Life of Social Action," connecting their political work with deeper moral values. They led a stimulating open discussion following their two talks; in the question and answer period they showed how each has spoken truth to power, opposing the violent use of human ingenuity, science and technology to produce rampant horror, violence & death.

This was the first in a series of events commemorating the life of Seymour Melman, supported by a grant from his estate. Dr. Melman was a Columbia University engineering professor, anti-nuclear activist and expert on technical and economic conversion of war industry to peaceful uses.

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With great respect and sadness we are sorry to report that Marion Wadsworth died on January 22 2007, after a lengthy period of declining health. Marion was a fine champion of cleaner environments and a founder and sparking spirit of the ISIS work -- in collaboration with concerned citizens -- on military waste cleanup centered around Westover Air Reserve Base. It was a pleasure and honor for ISIS staff, scientists, volunteers and students to work with her over the years. With her passing, Valley Citizens for a Safe Environment lost one of its founders and certainly its best organizer. Click here to read about her amazing accomplishments. To ensure maximum access, all ISIS events are smoke- & fragrance-free. Check out our other news in our News Archive @ http://isis.hampshire.edu/

''Scientists -- whether or not we know it, like it, or admit it -- are agents of social change. From the first posing of a question to the appearance of new technologies and policies in society, scientists shape every part of our world. ISIS's diverse projects address the powerful and complex ways, whether direct or subtle, in which the sciences affect society and vice versa. Through democratic coalitions of scientists, citizens, and science analysts, ISIS is pioneering a new kind of scientific inquiry for the 21st century. Changing our world with science demands, in turn, changing the sciences themselves to meet that awesome responsibility.''

Information Quoted From: http://isis.hampshire.edu/