Dr. Edward O. Wilson is one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th
century. In his long career, he has transformed his field of research—
the behavior of ants—and applied his scientific perspective and
experience to illuminate the human circumstance, including human
origins, human nature, and human interactions. Wilson has also
been a pioneer in spearheading efforts to preserve and protect the
biodiversity of this planet. Wilson was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in
1929. Growing up in the countryside around Mobile, he was entranced
by nature and all its creatures. While still in high school, Wilson
discovered the first colony of fire ants in the United States. After
earning a B.S. and M.S. in biology at the University of Alabama, he
received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1955. In 1956 he joined
the Harvard faculty. He has written ground-breaking books and articles
on all of the above-mentioned subjects, and two of his non-fiction
books, The Ants (1990, with Bert Hölldobler) and On Human Nature
(1978), have won Pulitzer Prizes. His Letters to a Young Scientist will
be published in April. Wilson, who has a keen interest in seeing ASMS
students succeed, is planning to visit ASMS to hold an assembly and
book signing in April.

Why did you decide to write Letters to a Young Scientist?
EOW: I had the experience and could see that advice and
encouragement for your scientists are badly needed for the country.

This year, ASMS biology students are reading your book, The Diversity
of Life. Why is it so important for young people to understand more about
biodiversity?
EOW: Essentially, biodiversity is the rest of life. Every scrap of information
we can acquire on each one of the 1.9 million known species of plants,
animals, and microorganisms is valuable. And we need to discover the
estimated 6 million still unknown. Every species on Earth has been
adapted by thousands to millions of years of evolution to the particularities
of the environment in which it lives. Its genotype is different from that
of all other species. The traits its genes prescribe are also unique, in
biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, and behavior, and in the way it interacts
with other species, and serves the ecosystem it inhabits. Each species, in
short, is a living encyclopedia of how to survive on planet Earth.

By Congressman Jo Bonner

In 2007, Microsoft Founder Bill Gates sounded an alarm over America’s competitive future. Testifying before a Senate Committee, he warned, “America’s young people must come to see science and math degrees as key to opportunity. If we fail at this, we won’t be able to compete in the global economy.”

Over the following years, America has struggled to gain ground against other countries in math and science education. While his somber prediction has, thankfully, not yet come true, the need for high quality, technically-focused education has never been more critical.

I am completely confident that Mr. Gates would feel at home among the corridors of the Alabama School of Math and Science. In fact, over the past two decades, seven ASMS students have earned Bill Gates Millennium Scholarships and 130 were national merit finalists.

ASMS continues to lead as one of the top ten public high schools in Alabama and among the top 200 public high schools in the nation, as ranked by Newsweek Magazine.

Science and engineering jobs have likely never been more in demand. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal noted that science and math majors are sometimes receiving multiple job offers.

I have spent the last decade in office working with Governors Riley and Bentley – and other state and local officials – recruiting high tech industries to our state to bolster our workforce and provide careers for young professionals with degrees in math and science.

I am particularly proud of the recent announcement of Airbus to locate its first North American jet aircraft assembly plant in Mobile. Beyond the thousands of jobs the new Airbus facility will attract to our area, the Gulf Coast is poised to become a new aviation center of excellence that will attract thousands more high tech jobs to the region.

ASMS will play an important role in contributing to the pool of science and technology graduates who will build this new Gulf Coast aviation corridor and make Alabama and America more competitive in the future.

I am honored to give my support to the Alabama School of Math and Science as it continues to foster a rigorous and robust science and math education for our young people. The future indeed looks bright for the ASMS.

Class of 2002 graduate John Murray, recently recognized by Forbes Magazine for his research, is a Ph.D. candidate in Physics at Yale University.

After you graduated from ASMS, what was your educational path?
I went to college at Yale University, where I double majored in Physics and Mathematics. After college, I spent a year doing physics research in France on a Fulbright fellowship, before returning to Yale for graduate school. I am graduating this year with a Ph.D. in physics and will soon start as postdoctoral researcher at New York University.

What are you researching now?
My research is in computational neuroscience, a discipline that lets me apply my training in physics to important questions in biology. I build computer models that simulate how networks of neurons interact to support functions such as short-term memory. The hope is that computational modeling will help us to better understand not only how brains work, but also how processes break down in psychiatric disorders.

What is rewarding about conducting research?
I enjoy being active in a global community of scientists who are passionate about their work. It’s rewarding to engage in an ongoing dialogue about scientific ideas with colleagues.

How did ASMS help to prepare you for what you are doing now?
ASMS taught me how to approach problems in an open-ended way, through both science and humanities classes. ASMS also taught me how to write with clarity, a skill I did not realize at the time would be so important to my career in science.

Any advice for ASMS students?
I’d advise students to explore the wide range of academic opportunities available at ASMS. In my own case, the diversity of science classes helped me to find my academic passions, and the diversity of humanities classes gave me a broad foundation of a liberal arts education that continues to serve me well.

Published once a year, Angles Magazine is the annual report of the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science. This year, Angles features an interview with two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and native Mobilian, Dr. Edward O. Wilson, a world-renounded Harvard scientist and author. Dr. Wilson has taken a liking to ASMS and on April 12 will be delivering a talk about his most recent book, Letters to a Young Scientist, which features info about ASMS and a photo of two of our seniors in a bio lab. Angles also includes school news, an annual donors listing, last year’s graduating class, and reports from the Finance Office, the Development Office, the Parent Association, and the President. Enjoy!

Last Saturday, ASMS sent two teams to the Regional Science Olympiad Competition at The University of Alabama. Among them, they won 3 gold, 3 silver, and 6 bronze medals in the events. This qualified the BLUE Team to compete in the State Competition in March. The BLUE Team is James Alex, Angela Chieh, Nathan Gilbert, Christine Kallenberg, Jing Khoo, Jimmy Kim, Paul Laurisden, Feng Li, Tracy Lin, Jacqueline Ollison, Alexander Peeples, Liam Wood, Anna Word, and Eric Wu. The group’s sponsor is Dr. John Petty, chemistry instructor.

The Science Olympiad is a national nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. The Science Olympiad is also designed to encourage classroom teachers to explore new and challenging ways of teaching science. Students who participate in the Science Olympiad are taught advanced science through active, hands-on participation. All events involve teamwork, group planning and cooperation, and promote team spirit and good sportsmanship.

Photo by Allan Sells.