(Office of Naval Research) Senior officials from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) will join other industry leaders at the World Diversity Leadership Summit 2011 in New York City, Sept. 6-8. ONR Director of Research Dr. Michael Kassner and Dr. Anthony Junior, ONR’s education programs manager, will gather with influential representatives from across defense, public and private industry to discuss the implications of developing and maintaining a diverse workforce.

(Smithsonian) This book provides a comprehensive and in-depth documentation of how Native American societies met the challenges of adapting to the varied ecosystems of North America during the past 10,000 years. The contributors identify a number of recurrent themes and questions that have shaped debates regarding the nature of Native American interaction with and impact on their local environments throughout the Holocene.

(National Science Foundation) From educators to leaders in industry, there is broad agreement that US schools have a crucial challenge in improving teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among students from kindergarten through high school. A background in STEM is not only essential to many current and future careers; it is also a means for citizens to understand and participate in an increasingly complex world — from understanding the challenges of environmental sustainability to addressing the need for alternative sources of energy.

(European Space Agency) ESA’s Integral gamma-ray observatory has provided results that will dramatically affect the search for physics beyond Einstein. It has shown that any underlying quantum “graininess” of space must be at much smaller scales than previously predicted.

(American Society for Horticultural Science) Facing challenges such as maturing memberships and flat enrollment, arboreta and public gardens are exploring ways to sustain programming and activities. Researchers looking for strategies to recruit active members assessed arboreta members’ interest in programming, asked what motivated them to become members, and solicited information about what member services they valued. A companion survey of nonmembers focused on determining ways to augment flagging membership at arboreta. The study offers strategies for creating sustainable, profitable institutions.

(Centre for Global Sustainability Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia ) The success of world co-operation based on science and practiced since the Cold War by nations operating in Antarctica offers a model to humanity as it confronts challenges to common interests like climate change, biodiversity loss and overfishing, says the editor of a new book on science diplomacy.

The mission of the EnlightenNext women is to pioneer a new stage of human culture through transforming themselves and their relationships. For culture to change, the core dynamics that define who we are and how we relate need to evolve. While women and men have become social equals by law, we are all still deeply conditioned by ancient survival patterns in which women are subordinate and compete with one another for male attention and protection. To create a new ground of human relationship, the EnlightenNext women have been working with their spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen for twelve years to develop a field of liberated, enlightened consciousness between them that transcends the separation of egoic conditioning, individually and collectively. It is a delicate, difficult, and thrilling endeavor. The women at EnlightenNext have identified ten challenges—and the ideals they point to—facing a woman who wants to create an enlightened future.
1. Holding an Evolutionary Perspective
She strives to live in the knowledge that the creative intelligence that gave birth to the universe is not separate from her true self. She knows that all of the ways that she is conditioned—biologically, socially, and psychologically—are not personal to her, but are part and parcel of a universal developmental process.

3. Taking Responsibility for Evolution
Knowing that the entire developmental process is One, she endeavors to take full responsibility for evolving her own consciousness, realizing that her development moves the leading edge forward for all womankind.

4. Realizing Unity with Other Women
She relaxes more and more into a unity with other women as she refuses to act out of the nearly universal compulsion for women to separate from and compete with each other. She doesn’t deny that this compulsion, which has been key to women’s survival in the past, operates in her psyche, nor is she afraid or ashamed of it, but she works to keep her focus on evolving women’s relationships through trust, transparency, and a passion to create the future.

5. Being Emotionally Rational
Despite how overwhelming any emotional experience may be, she strives for objectivity and aspires to liberate her power of choice so that she is no longer trapped by fears and desires rooted in her biological and cultural conditioning. She is developing the emotional maturity to not dis-integrate and give in to ancient survival impulses when she finds herself under pressure.

6. Standing Autonomously and Not Wavering
Rather than gauging her responses by what she thinks others want and need, she is cultivating a radical autonomy, grounded in her longing for liberation and her passion for the evolution of consciousness. She increasingly finds manipulative game-playing distasteful, and craves being simple, straight, and clear in her relationships with others.

7. Relinquishing Sexual Power
She is awake to how deeply identified she is with her sexual power and how instinctive it is to use it to get what she wants. Aspiring to drop this fundamental identification, she finds that sexual relationships become more straightforward and less of a priority and marker of personal success. The more she succeeds in this aspiration, the more she discovers a profound intimacy with others that is not related to sexuality at all.

8. Leading by Example
Dropping the many masks of pretense and self-image, she strives for a rare vulnerability and authenticity that is not emotional but comes from being unafraid of the impulses and motivations that drive women. She is discovering a deep confidence that is not edged with hardness but founded in transparency and humility. She is willing to step forward and be a pioneer, and does not abuse the power that comes with leadership.

9. Being Trustworthy
Resisting the temptation to be dishonest or inauthentic under scrutiny, she desires to act with integrity so that her word is her deed. She aspires to be consistently true to a higher purpose no matter what personal challenges she faces.

10. Rejecting Victimhood
She recognizes that she has cocreated history with men and is not a victim of it. She seeks to take full responsibility for her own choices, past and present. Today, she stands side by side with men as an equal cocreator of an enlightened future.

Source: EnlightenNext