JAS

332

Volume 105

Number 4

Winter 2019

Journal of the

WASHINGTON pies.

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OCT 22 2029

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ISSN 0043-0439 Issued Quarterly at Washington DC

Washington Academy of Sciences

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Mina Izadjoo

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Editor of the Journal

Sethanne Howard

Journal of the Washington Academy of

Sciences (ISSN 0043-0439)

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Volume 105

Number 4

Winter 2019

Journal of the

WASHINGTON

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Editor's Comments S. Howard

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ISSN 0043-0439 Issued Quarterly at Washington DC

Winter 2019

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

Presenting the 2019 Winter issue of the Journal of the Washington Academy

of Sciences.

This issue of the Journal contains three papers. We start with an

interesting ‘history then and now’ of aviation weather forecasting from one

of our members. How did they do it before computers and satellites?

Close to Washington DC is the city of Baltimore. There are many

well-known people from Baltimore. One of them is Edgar Allen Poe, an

interesting character. The second paper describes his feelings about the

country in which he lived.

The third paper presents some effective ideas on how to encourage

participation in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics,

Medicine) in school.

Our Winter issue always includes a list of our members.

The Journal is the official organ of the Academy. Please consider

sending in technical papers, review studies, announcements, SciBites, and

book reviews. Send manuscripts to wasjournal@washacadsci.org. If you are

interested in being a reviewer for the Journal, please send your name, email

address, and specialty to the same address. Each manuscript is peer

reviewed, and there are no page charges. As you can tell from this issue we

cover a wide range of the sciences.

I encourage people to write letters to the editor. Please send by email

(wasjournal@washacadsci.org) comments on papers, suggestions for

articles, and ideas for what you would like to see in the Journal. I also

encourage student papers and will help the student learn about writing a

scientific paper.

Sethanne Howard

Washington Academy of Sciences

il

Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Editor Sethanne Howard showard@washacadsci.org

Board of Discipline Editors

The Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences has a twelve member

Board of Discipline Editors representing many scientific and technical

fields. The members of the Board of Discipline Editors are affiliated with a

variety of scientific institutions in the Washington area and beyond —

government agencies such as the National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST); universities such as Georgetown; and professional

associations such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

(IEEE).

Anthropology Emanuela Appetiti

Astronomy Sethanne Howard

Behavioral and Social

eappetiti@hotmail.com_

sethanneh(@msn.com

Sciences Carlos Sluzki csluzki@gmu.edu

Biology Poorva Dharkar poorvadharkar@gmail.com

Botany Mark Holland maholland@salisbury.edu_

Chemistry Deana Jaber djaber@marymount.edu_

Environmental Natural

Sciences Terrell Erickson terrell.ericksonl @wde.nsda.gov_

Health Robin Stombler rstombler@auburnstrat.com_

History of Medicine Alain Touwaide atouwaide@hotmail.com_

Operations Research Michael Katehakis mnk@rcirutgers.edu_

Science Education Jim Egenrieder jim(@deepwater.org_

Elizabeth Corona elizabethcorona@gmail.com

Systems Science

Winter 2019

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Winter 2019

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Washington Academy of Sciences

Affiliated Institutions

National Institute for Standards & Technology (NIST)

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

The John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress

Potomac Overlook Regional Park

Koshland Science Museum

American Registry of Pathology

Living Oceans Foundation

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)

Washington Academy of Sciences

Aviation Weather Forecasting, Then and Now

Elizabeth Haynes

Air Weather Service/retired

Abstract

On August 2, 2018 Elizabeth Haynes (Air Weather Service, USAF, 1951 —

1955) and Major Kimberly Meyers (USAF) made a presentation on aviation

weather forecasting to the Challenger-1 Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, in

Alexandria, Virginia. It was a ‘then and now’ presentation.

ELIZABETH HAYNES BEGAN BY DISCUSSING the history of meteorology.

Ancient civilizations had weather gods who were responsible for storms and

bad weather. Five thousand years ago Indian philosophers wrote in the

Upanishads about the processes of cloud formation and rain and the seasons

caused by the Earth orbiting the Sun. The ancient Greeks had several phi-

losophers who worried about the weather. Aristotle (350 BCE) wrote what

became the meteorological scientific standard for millennia. He coined the

term meteorology which comes from meta for ‘beyond’, and eora for ‘sus-

pension’ to get mefeoros for ‘high in the sky’. Centuries passed, inventions

came (e.g., thermometer by Galileo), and Benjamin Franklin asked all his

friends, whenever they wrote to him, to describe the local weather. He ob-

served that storms moved from Philadelphia to Boston but not Boston to

Philadelphia.

She mentioned Vilhelm and Jakob Bjerknes, father and son. Vilhelm

was born in Oslo, Norway in 1862 and died in 1938. Jakob was born in

Stockholm, Sweden in 1897 and died in 1975. Together in 1917 they devel-

oped the polar front theory (the Western Front was on everyone’s mind at

the time) as the battle of the air masses. In 1939 Jakob accepted a two-year

teaching assignment in Chicago and stayed to become an American citizen.

Jakob recognized the relationships between sea surface temperatures in the

northern South Pacific and weather systems across North America: El Nino

and La Nifia. Jakob lectured on these subjects to her class at MIT.

Then she described map projections: Mercator versus conic. There

is difficulty in depicting a spherical surface on a two-dimensional sheet of

paper. Forecasts were made for route shown in Figure I.

Winter 2019

bo

Figure 1: note how distances seem shorter in the northern latitudes in this

conic projection.

This map also shows the warm and cold ocean currents that collide in the

Davis Strait, west of Greenland, causing frequent severe storms. She also

displayed a long sheet of paper illustrating latitude vs. altitude along flight

routes with the weather systems and altitude of wing icing hand drawn in

colored pencil, which showed what the pilots could expect to meet at the

time they got there. Each pilot would then pencil in his flight altitude along

the way and write comments on what weather he met, and bring that scroll

back to the weather station. It might be ten or more days before they saw it

again, but they still could learn from it.

Figure 2 1s a photo Major William Haynes (Elizabeth’s husband)

took from the cockpit of his C-54 flying up Narsarsuak Fjord. It seems as if

taken from the bridge of a ship. He said that when the clouds were down on

the mountains it was like flying in a twisty tunnel. Beyond that last moun-

tain on the right, the passage turned right and split into two around another

Washington Academy of Sciences

eS)

mountain. The right side was the wrong side; it ended in a box canyon with

the face of the glacier at the end, quite literally, a dead end. Figure 3 shows

that the left passage led to a very short, uphill runway, with one chance to

land safely. The mountains were too close to allow a pull-up and go-around

to try again. Major Haynes landed here once every ten or twelve days for

six years. And they didn’t lose an airplane.

Figure 2: flying up Narsarsuak Fjord

The flat area just beyond and to the left from the end of the runway

filled with melt water in the summer and easily froze to a long-lasting sheet

of ice. Perhaps there is a blue puddle (of ice?) in this picture. That’s the

glacier behind the lowest hill. Not very welcoming, is it. . .

Winter 2019

Figure 3: the left passage up Narsarsuak Fjord

From Torbay, Newfoundland, these flights proceeded to Goose Bay,

Labrador, Narsarsuak, Greenland, Keflavik, Iceland, Prestwick, Scotland,

and on to Chateauroux, France, with two more fuel stops before reaching

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. (They returned through northern Italy, Portugal, the

Azores, Ascension Island, Bermuda, and home to Andrews AFB, Maryland,

using the prevailing westerlies and the northeast trade winds like the sailing

ships of yore.) Figure 4 shows the location of the stop in Italy.

Washington Academy of Sciences

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Bologna Bosnia and

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She described how they actually did the work in the weather station

before computers and satellites were available. She told the following anec-

dote and praised the skills of the pilots and ground controlled approach radar

operators.

One day walking on the base she ran into a newly commissioned

young second-lieutenant navigator, and greeted him with, “Hey, I hear you

nearly got lost the other day.” He answered, “What? Me? Nearly get lost? I

didn’t nearly get lost. I was lost!” His C-54 had taken off from Narsarsuak

Winter 2019

(downhill) to return to Torbay. A couple of hours into the flight, he radioed

to Weather Ship Baker, stationed halfway between the tip of Greenland and

Goose Bay, Labrador, for a position check. Weather Ship Able, stationed

halfway between the tip of Greenland and Keflavik, Iceland, answered the

call on Ship Baker’s frequency, and told him he was nearly over them and

to turn around and fly to Kefliavik to land. With a cruising speed of 180

mph, he was heading into a 260 mph jet stream, and apparently had flown

tail first back over the ice cap, clearing it by about 500 feet. Almost nobody

at that time had ever even heard of the jet stream. They landed safely in

Iceland, in record quick time, all thanks to the attentiveness and

professionalism of Able’s crew!

She then gave a brief overview of the specifications and capabilities

of the C-54 aircraft. Figure 5 is a C-54 that then-Captain Haynes flew in

North Africa in 1944-45, now beautifully restored and displayed at the Air

Force Mobility Museum, Dover AFB, Delaware. When it arrived at Dover

to be restored and added to the museum, he commented to her, “I really

loved that airplane...”

Figure 5: the C-54 aircraft

Its specifications are: Wingspan: 117 ft. 6 in. Length: 93 ft.10 in.

Height; 27 ft. 6 in.

Empty weight: 38,950 lbs.

Maximum take-off weight: 73,000 Ibs.

Four Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp R-2000 9-cylinder

engines, 1,450 hp. each

Maximum speed: 275 mph.

Cruising speed: 190 mph.

Range: 2,500 miles (empty, at 180 mph at

Washington Academy of Sciences

10,000 feet altitude)

Maximum altitude: 22,300 feet above sea level

Crew: Three officers: command pilot, co-pilot,

navigator

Three senior sergeants: crew chief,

flight engineer, radio operator

Total number built: 1,238

Major Kimberly Mevers, USAF, stationed at Andrews, picked up

the presentation. She was an Air Force weather forecaster for seven years,

then chose flying school and is now a full-time helicopter pilot.

She spoke of episodes in history where weather was crucial to the

outcome: Eisenhower’s D-Day decision, Napoleon’s and Hitler’s retreats

from Moscow with great loss of life due to the severity of the Russian win-

ter, the Allies’ advantages over ISIS because of their ability to forecast the

timing and severity of sandstorms. (To ISIS, weather forecasting is proph-

esy, and prophesy 1s heresy, and heresy is blasphemy, and all of the fore-

casters in their territories have been beheaded.)

She talked about how satellite data and computer analysis makes

forecasting simple and easy. The computer prints the maps and downloads

the pilots' flight plans right to the minute, saving a lot of time and human

labor. She gave an excellent lecture on the descriptions and properties of

clouds, how they formed and where and why, and what they portended, then

ended her talk with a demonstrative experiment that concluded—acci-

dentally—with a lot of water on the floor. No harm done. The cadets hopped

to with a bundle of paper towels and soon had it swabbed.

Figure 5 is another picture of Narsarsauk that was taken in July

2018. It’s high summer, the glacier is still looming, the water still has bergy

bits in it, and the runway doesn’t look a bit longer! Denmark is trying to

develop the area as a tourist destination these days. Where else can one start

at sea level, climb a 4,000-foot mountain, walk on a glacier, and return to

summer weather, all in one day on a twenty-mile hike?

The presentation was a great success.

Winter 2019

*

hd s *

Figure 5: photo of Narsarsauk taken in July 2018

Washington Academy of Sciences

Edgar Allan Poe and American Democracy

Dr. George S. Williams,

Concord University

Abstract

Edgar Allan Poe was certainly a man of letters. He is, of course, best known

for his macabre short stories and poems. Yet Poe wrote much more than just

spine-chilling fiction. His literary output includes one novel, one incomplete

novel, over 65 short stories, roughly 50 poems, and an extraordinary number

of literary criticisms, essays, lectures, and personal correspondences. In fact,

Poe’s contemporaries probably knew him best as a literary critic. However,

what may be less known of Poe is the fact that he was very much a man of the

sciences. The corpus of Poe’s works includes forays into the fields of

psychology, medicine, astronomy, physics, chemistry, aeronautics, geology,

meteorology, and biology. Poe often drew on the science of his time to inform

his stories, criticisms, and, to a lesser extent, his poems. Yet the areas in which

Poe has seemed to attract the most caustic criticism involve his unconventional

views towards American Democracy and, more generally, political science.

“Edgar Allan Poe and American Democracy” explores and seeks to understand

the complexities of Poe’s vision of Democracy and more generally politics.

Introduction

WITHOUT QUESTION EDGAR ALLAN POE was a man of letters. In his

relatively short adult life Poe managed to pen one novel, one incomplete

novel , over 65 short stories, roughly 50 poems, and an extraordinary

number of literary criticisms, essays, lectures, and __ personal

correspondences. In fact James Albert Harrison’s 1902 The Complete

Works of Edgar Allan Poe contains a whopping 17 volumes. A man of

letters indeed. However, what may be less known of Poe is the fact that he

was very much a man of the sciences. The corpus of Poe’s works include

forays into the fields of psychology, medicine, astronomy, physics,

chemistry, aeronautics, geology, meteorology, and biology. Poe often drew

on the science of his time to inform his stories, criticisms, and, to a lesser

extent, his poems. However, recent criticism has focused much more on his

visionary expedition into the world of cosmology.

In the year before his death in 1849 Poe wrote a long and somewhat

odd “epic poem” he entitled Eureka. However, the subtitle is much more

telling: An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe. The work, in

Winter 2019

10

which he designed “to speak of the Physical, Metaphysical and

Mathematical — of the Material and Spiritual Universe: — of its Essence,

its Origin, its Creation, its Present Condition and its Destiny,” was

dedicated to none other than Alexander Von Humboldt. Though this work

may seem somewhat bizarre to modern audiences, it was much more so to

Poe’s contemporaries. This is due, in large part, to the fact that the work

anticipates modern scientific thought: ideas that might have seemed absurd

in the mid 1800’s, when Darwin had yet to propose his theory of evolution

and cosmologists were, in large part, still working on the assumptions of a

Newtonian Universe. In Eureka Poe posits his own versions of “modern”

scientific thought: theories on evolution (a decade before Darwin’s), a time

and space continuum (a half century before Einstein), black holes, the “Big

Crunch,” and others. Poe also anticipates the Big Bang Theory which, of

course, is often credited to George Lemaitre’s theories concerning “single

quantum” or the “primeval/primordial atom” some 80 years after Poe wrote

Eureka. Poe’s term is “primordial particle.” Eureka, surprisingly, also

offers the first solution to Olbers’ Paradox, a physics problem put forth by

Heinrich Olbers in 1826. Olbers questioned why, in a static and infinite

universe replete with stars, the night sky was not completely bright, with no

dark regions. Poe theorized:

Were the succession of stars endless, then the background of the

sky would present us a uniform luminosity, like that displayed by

the Galaxy - since there could be absolutely no point, in all that

background, at which would not exist a star. The only mode,

therefore, in which, under such a state of affairs, we could

comprehend the voids which our telescopes find in innumerable

directions, would be by supposing the distance of the invisible

background so immense that no ray from it has yet been able to

reach us at all.!

As tempting as it might be to view Poe as a sort of “scientist,” there

is, however, little actual science in Eureka. Many critics dismiss the work

and suggest Poe was simply perpetrating yet another hoax on American

readers. Eureka has certainly almost always been ridiculed, a work too

unusual even for fans of Poe. In fact, Poe’s “science” in his other works has

generally been criticized as well.

Washington Academy of Sciences

Early Criticism of Poe

Science has certainly not been the only area in which Poe has

received caustic criticism. His legacy and his character have been attacked

on a variety of fronts, especially since his death. In fact, Poe’s body was

barely cold when the man he had chosen as his literary executor began his

ruthless attempts to destroy Poe’s reputation. Rufus Wilmot Griswold,

American poet, critic, editor, and Poe’s apparent choice to manage his

prolific creative corpus following his death, would write one of Poe’s first

obituaries, published in the Evening Edition of the New York Tribune of

October 9, 1849, one day after Poe’s untimely passing:

EDGAR ALLAN POE is dead. He died in Baltimore the day

before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few

will be grieved by it. The poet was well known, personally or by

reputation, in all this country; he had readers in England, and in

several of the states of Continental Europe; but he had few or no

friends; and the regrets for his death will be suggested principally

by the consideration that in him literary art has lost one of its most

brilliant but erratic stars.

Griswold’s attack, of course, was only beginning. Immediately

following Poe’s death, Griswold embarked on a campaign to destroy Poe’s

reputation and continued this attack until his own death eight years later.

Griswold is largely responsible for many of the myths that continue to haunt

Poe’s legacy. Even though Griswold’s attacks are personal and often based

on lies and half-truths, some critics and scholars, even during Poe’s lifetime,

have questioned the macabre writer’s commitment to American democracy

and his often confusing positions concerning political science, and

questioned apparently with good reason.

Poe’s Political Positions

Poe’s political position often appears vague and even self-

contradictory. He seems to have seldom supported or believed in

democracy, at least not in the same ways as most of his contemporaries.

There are numerous examples of Poe’s political views outside of his

fictions, and in those, he is often critical of the American political system.

It is, in fact, precisely the ways in which he criticized democracy and

American politics more generally that mark him as an easy target for

Winter 2019

12

censure. While many of his contemporaries were singing the praises of

American Democracy, Poe was often critical of American politics and he

offered a clear picture of some of the potential problems with such a form

of government. Commenting on political corruption in New York, for

example, Poe writes:

When the question is asked — ‘cannot these scoundrels be made

to suffer for their high-handed peculation?’ — the reply is

invariably — ‘oh no — to be sure not — the thing is expected, and

will only be laughed at as an excellent practical joke. The comers-

in to office will be in too high glee to be severe, and as for the

turned-out, it is no longer any business of theirs.”*

This, of course, is only one of many examples of Poe’s criticism of

American politics and democracy. In fact, so critical was Poe of the

American political system that he has been labeled an anti-American and

has been accused of being “bitterly hostile’* towards democracy.

F. O. Matthiessen’s formative work American Renaissance (1941)

provides an excellent example of how critics have approached Poe’s stance

towards early American concepts of democracy. Matthiessen’s work has

been extremely influential and a critical study of American literature and,

in many ways, has been instrumental in the formation of an American

literary canon. Recent editors of the Norton Anthology of American

Literature suggest:

The 1941 publication of F. O. Matthiessen’s American

Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and

Whitman helped to establish the writers in this volume as pioneers

of American literary nationalism who helped shape American

literature for the next two centuries.°

Perhaps one of the most intriguing and significant aspects of

Matthiessen’s seminal work is not in the writers that he discusses: Emerson,

Thoreau, Whitman, Hawthorne, and Melville. Indeed, one would not be

surprised to discover these authors in a survey of important American

literary texts. Perhaps surprising, however, are the authors he chose to

exclude, particularly Poe. Many modern scholars have recognized Poe as a

cornerstone of American literary expression, yet at least according to

Matthiessen, Poe is not one of the “pioneers of American literary

nationalism.” [t would be untrue to say that Matthiessen completely ignores

Washington Academy of Sciences

Poe. In fact, he mentions him a number of times throughout his survey® but

fails to give him any lengthy attention, as he does these other five writers.

In a footnote, Matthiessen attempts to justify not fully exploring the Gothic

writer:

The reason is more fundamental than that his work fell mainly in

the decade 1835-45; for it relates at very few points to the main

assumptions about literature that were held by any of my group.

Poe was bitterly hostile to democracy, and in that respect could

serve as a revelatory contrast. [...] My reluctance at not dealing

with Poe here is tempered by the fact that his value [...] is now

seen to consist in his influence rather than in the body of his own

work. No group of his poems seems as enduring as Drum-Taps;

and his stories, less harrowing upon the nerves than they were,

seem relatively factitious when contrasted to the moral depth of

Hawthorne or Melville.’

Matthiessen’s justifications for excluding Poe are as intriguing as

the exclusion itself. What we understand from Matthiessen’s footnote is that

he omits an in-depth discussion of Poe because Poe does not properly fit his

group’s assumptions of what literature should be or what it should

accomplish, his influence on other writers has been more significant than

his own works, and his writings lack a “moral depth.” Importantly,

Matthiessen also sees in Poe a hostility towards American ideas of

democracy. Of course, some of these arguments may seem somewhat

ridiculous to modern scholars. There can be no doubt that Poe demonstrably

influenced a number of authors that followed him, but it is also evident that

his own works are important to the American literary tradition as well as to

the Gothic, Science Fiction, and Detective genres at the very least.

Arguments claiming that Poe’s works lack a moral depth also seem like a

poor reason to exclude the author, at least by modern scholarly critical

standards. Yet for Matthiessen, Poe’s hostility towards democracy alone

may be justification for excluding him from a survey dedicated to present

American writers who symbolize Matthiessen’s own perceptions of

American ideologies. Poe represents a “revelatory contrast” to the arguably

jingoistic authors that Matthiessen does canonize, the five that “wrote

literature for democracy” (my emphasis).*

Matthiessen has certainly not been the only critic to suggest that Poe

was unpatriotic or un-American, or that he in some ways represents the

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antithesis of American ideological values as demonstrated by Hawthorne or

Melville, or, in fact, any of the “Frogpondians.”” As Goldbaek notes, “Many

critics, even in Poe’s lifetime, admitted his skillfulness as a poet, but also

felt that he was an enemy of American democracy and of good taste in the

Longfellow or Alcott manner.”'? James A. Harrison submits that Poe was

“the most un-American [...] man of his time.”!' Vernon Parrington asserts

that Poe “lies quite outside the main current of American thought.’’'? It has

even been insinuated that Poe was the grandson of Benedict Arnold, the

infamous American traitor.'°

It may not be difficult to understand these lines of thought, given

Poe’s criticism of early American politics. It certainly seems as though there

is ample evidence to support accusations that Poe was hostile towards the

same ideas of democracy held by many other American writers of his time.

His views on “the horrid laws of political economy”!* were indeed far from

mainstream. By way of example Pundita writes in her journal in Poe’s short

story “Mellonta Tauta”:

He [Pundit] has been occupied all the day in the attempt to

convince me that the ancient Amriccans governed themselves!-

did ever anybody hear of such an absurdity?- that they existed in

a sort of every-man-for-himself confederacy, after the fashion of

the "prairie dogs" that we read of in fable. Every man "voted," as

they called it- that is to say meddled with public affairs- until at

length, it was discovered that what is everybody’s business is

nobody’s, and that the “Republic” (so the absurd thing was called)

was without a government at all.!°

Pundita ridicules the absurdity of the democratic vote and suggests

that the ancient Americans were incapable of successfully running the

government. The ubiquity of criticisms of democracy and American politics

throughout Poe’s works fuel accusations claiming him to be hostile towards

early American concepts of democracy. However, it is important to consider

the term “democracy” more carefully here.

Poe’s View of Early Nineteenth Century American Democracy

The idea of democracy in early nineteenth-century America was

complicated, and I can only briefly summarize it here as it pertains to Poe’s

criticisms. Democracy was but a set of ideas and untested concepts on how

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to run a government more focused on the common citizen. In fact the

founders of the United States had no intention of creating a democracy at

all. They clearly constructed a republic, which bears a distinction from a

democracy. Even though the citizens elect the government in both a

democracy and a republic, in a democracy the majority rules according to

their impulses. In a republic, however, the government rules according to a

set of laws, such as the Constitution. The Founding Fathers of the United

States framed the Constitution to provide certain rights and protections to

individuals and to limit the power of government. In other words, God

grants each person certain rights, and the Constitution protects these rights,

regardless of a majority vote. The United States Constitution clearly states,

“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican

Form of Government.”!® In his political essay “A Dissertation on the Canon

and the Feudal Law” America’s second President John Adams vocalizes a

Republican ideology, insisting that people have rights “‘antecedent to all

earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human

laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.”'’ The

government’s job was to protect these individual rights, not to determine

through majority vote which rights to protect and which to ignore. In a

democracy, however, the majority decides what rights people are to have.

The majority wields the power and control over the minority. It was during

Poe’s lifetime that the American Republic began a move towards

democracy. In fact, many regard Andrew Jackson as the first United States

President to mainstream democracy by shifting power to the majority

through party policies such as the expansion of suffrage and through his

attempts to rid the government of class bias.

Poe may or may not have known the technical differences between

a democracy and a republic, but there is no doubt that he witnessed changes

in American politics that shifted power from the educated aristocracy to the

“Democratic rabble.” This shift of power to the majority was an enormous

issue for Poe, as he felt democracy was a threat to individualism. What Poe

perceived as an attack on his individual rights also explains his hostility

towards reform and universal suffrage. Poe’s seemingly antagonistic

position, however, needs to be framed within the political arena of Andrew

Jackson’s America. Poe had witnessed the “corrupt bargain” in the elections

of 1824 when the House of Representatives declared John Quincy Adams

as the President despite the fact that Jackson had carried more electoral

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votes than any of the candidates. Jackson would later claim, “The people

[have] been cheated. Corruptions and intrigues at Washington [...] defeated

the will of the people.”'® The accusations of corruption and the general

fiasco of the elections fostered a distrust of democracy throughout much of

the country. Even the new President Adams warned of becoming “palsied

by the will of our constituents.”’'? Additionally, Poe was certainly aware of

election fraud. Pundita says of democratic elections, “any desired number

of votes might at any time be polled, without the possibility of prevention

or even detection, by any party which should be merely villainous enough

not to be ashamed of the fraud.””°

Jackson would beat out Adams in the following election of 1828,

running on a ticket that mostly revolved around cleaning up the corruption

in Washington. Following Jackson’s successful presidential campaign, a

mob descended on Washington to celebrate. Jackson’s economic policies

were widely thought responsible for the financial boom the country

experienced in the early 1830s, and his popularity would keep him in office

for two terms. When Jackson reached his Presidential term limit, the party

nominated his Vice President and political protégé Martin van Buren to

replace him, and he won the election of 1836, vowing to follow in the

footsteps of his “illustrious predecessor”! Andrew Jackson. Van Buren’s

presidency was fraught with controversy, mostly over economic policies,

but also because he oversaw Native American forced relocation. The public

mostly held Van Buren responsible for the financial crisis of 1837, less than

one year after he had won the Presidency. The economy was still suffering

by the time of the next Presidential election in 1840. These elections were

held in the midst of an economic depression, with the Whig party’s

candidate William Harrison winning the election over Democratic

incumbent Van Buren.

Poe claimed to have supported the Whig party, writing to his friend

F. W. Thomas, “I battled with right good will for Harrison when opportunity

offered.”** There is no evidence to support this claim, and it is more likely

that Poe made this statement to his friend in hopes of securing a position

working for the federal government in the Philadelphia Customs House. In

May of 1841 Thomas had all but promised he could get Poe hired into a

position there. Harrison’s early death had left John Tyler as the new

President, and Thomas had befriended Tyler’s son. Poe felt as though

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Thomas’s relationship with the President’s son might be an advantage in

securing the job. Almost two years later Poe was still hoping. Tyler, after

all, was replacing a number of government employees with his own

supporters, an extension of Jackson’s Spoils System. Thomas Smith, the

new Customs Collector that Tyler had appointed and the man responsible

for hiring workers, outright refused to consider Poe, despite three interviews

and the promise of a job. The US Senate ended up rejecting Smith’s

appointment as Collector, giving Poe new hope. Calvin Blythe was

confirmed as the new Collector, and Poe headed to Washington to plead for

the position. Poe was certainly eager to secure a federal job so that he would

have “something independent of letters for a subsistence.””° He spent nearly

a week in Washington. Unfortunately, it seems as though much of the time

there he spent in a state of inebriation. In a letter to Thomas Clarke in

Philadelphia, Poe’s friend J. E. Dow urges Clarke to come to Washington

and retrieve Poe:

He [Poe] arrived here a few days since. On the first evening he

seemed somewhat excited, having been over-persuaded to take

some Port wine. On the second day he kept pretty steady, but since

then he has been, at intervals, quite unreliable. He exposes himself

here to those who may injure him very much with the President,

and thus prevents us from doing for him what we wish to do and

what we can do if he is himself again in Philadelphia. He does not

understand the ways of politicians, nor the manner of dealing with

them to advantage."

Of course, Poe never received a position in government, despite

promises and assurances. He may well have viewed such a long wait and an

ultimate refusal as yet another form of political corruption, further fueling

his political skepticism.

Such was the state of democracy in Poe’s America, a democracy

fraught with rigged elections, corruption, frauds, financial instability, and

political favoritism. Democracy was only fit for “prairie dogs.” Indeed, Poe

saw democracy very differently than Emerson or Thoreau whom

Matthiessen canonizes. “The common denominator,” Matthiessen says of

the five authors he discusses in detail, “was their devotion to the possibility

of democracy.””° What Matthiessen might have more accurately said was

“their devotion to the possibility of a successful democracy.” Poe was well

aware of the possibilities of democracy, but for Poe, these possibilities

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included the potential for mob-rule, a government controlled by people who

were very incapable of making good decisions, and a threat to his individual

rights. He feared that corruption would lead to civil unrest and culminate in

a desperate rabble running the government. For Poe, however, the source of

corruption was, in fact, the government itself. Moreover, Poe also sought to

avoid civil unrest and tempered anxieties associated with the failure of

democracy through his works. “The nose of a mob,” Poe writes in

Marginalia, “is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.””°

Indeed, Poe would draw on his Gothic imagination to underscore the

potential threats of American democracy.

Poe’s Mellonta Tauta and The Colloquy of Monos and Una

“Mellonta Tauta” is just such a story, “imaginative’”’ by Poe’s own

account. It is a story that expresses his skepticism about American

government and the unreliable nature of our perceptions of history. The

short story presents a satirical look at Poe’s present from 2,000 years in the

future, and it represents a vision of how people of the future might perceive

Poe’s society. The title “Mellonta Tauta” is from Sophocles and translates

from Greek as “these things are in the future.” The narrator, Pundita, is

traveling in a hot air balloon, pondering “ancient” history, keeping a journal

addressed to her friend along the way.” Pundita and her fellow citizens, the

“Futurians”, as Mabbott calls them, are confused about many events from

history. They mistake Scottish poet and novelist James Hogg for English

philosopher Francis Bacon (“’Baconian,’ you must know, was an adjective

invented as equivalent to Hog-ian and more euphonious and dignified”);

they mistakenly remember Aristotle as “Hindoo Aries Tottle,” and Samuel

Morse, inventor of the telegraph, they refer to as “Horse.” The ancient

civilizations, as the Futurians know, were the “Jurmains,” ‘“Vrinch,”

“Inglitch,” “Amriccans,” and “Kanawdians.” That the historians of the

future have muddled reality underscores the unreliable nature of how we

perceive history itself. The greater target of Poe’s criticism, however, is

democracy and the threat to the individual in a government in which

decisions are based on the outcome of majority votes.

In majority-rule democracy, for Poe, voters take on the role of a

mob, the “Democratic rabble” that controlled the fate of America. With

every man voting, the position of the individual is questioned:

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I rejoice, my dear friend, that we live in an age so enlightened that

no such a thing as an individual is supposed to exist. [...] Is it not

really difficult to comprehend upon what principle of interest our

forefathers acted? Were they so blind as not to perceive that the

destruction of a myriad of individuals is only so much positive

advantage to the mass!””

Not only did Poe perceive democracy as a threat to his individual

rights, but he was also concerned that expanding the electorate meant the

uneducated and incompetent would have a voice in deciding America’s fate.

As such, he criticized government policies on expanding suffrage. Pundita

insists that “universal suffrage gave opportunity for fraudulent scheme,” but

it is from the voice of Monos in the short story “The Colloquy of Monos

and Una” that Poe’s resistance to extended voting rights is given full force:

Among other odd ideas, that of universal equality gained ground;

and in the face of analogy and of God — in despite of the loud

warning voice of the laws of gradation so visibly pervading all

things in Earth and Heaven — wild attempts at an omni-prevalent

Democracy were made.*”

Both Monos and Pundita criticize a form of government that favors

the masses over the individual. In both of these short stories, the Gothic

mode plays a distinct role in Poe’s criticism of American politics. Pundita

can look into her history and discover the eventual outcome of American

democracy, while Monos offers a perspective from a heavenly spirit.

Nonetheless, the threat to the individual is the reason that Poe also detested

Social reform. “The modern reformist philosophy,” Poe writes in

Marginalia, “annihilates the individual by way of aiding the mass.” The

modern reformist philosophy Poe was so critical of was in many ways

epitomized in the contemporary utilitarian philosophies of Jeremy Bentham

and James Mill.

Poe and Utilitarianism

Poe understood that Utilitarianism favored profit over pleasure, but

perhaps as importantly, promoted an ideology of “the greatest happiness of

the greatest number.” ! Utilitarianism would certainly have been

contradictory to a poor man of letters who already felt his rights slipping

away. Poe describes the Utilitarians as “a race of time-servers and money-

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lovers — children of Baal and worshippers of Mammon — Benthams, who,

to spare thought and economize fancy, first cruelly invented the

Kaleidoscope, and then established jointstock companies to twirl it by

steam.”

Poe viewed Utilitarianism as a further threat to his individual rights,

just as he viewed corruption and loss of liberty as inherent characteristics of

democracy. Of course, Poe was not the only one to recognize these potential

weaknesses in a democratic society. Alexis de Tocqueville also discusses

corruption and the erosion of individual rights in his two-volume

Democracy in America, first published in 1835 (Volume 1) and 1840

(Volume 2). De Tocqueville concludes that in a democracy, a “germ of

tyranny” exists because of the way in which the majority rules. For de

Tocqueville, “it is an impious and detestable maxim that in matters of

government the majority of a people has the right to do everything, and

nevertheless I place the origin of all powers in the will of the majority.” A

minority wronged by the majority has no recourse. As an example of where

such an issue had already created problems in America, de Tocqueville

points to a riot in Baltimore in 1812, where a newspaper had printed an

article that openly opposed the War of 1812. An angry mob brutally

attacked the editor of the paper before demolishing the printing presses and

destroying property. Though some of the rioters were arrested, the mob

gathered again at night and broke them out of prison, whereupon they

proceeded to attack the editor again, this time killing him. The police

arrested the rioters again, but they were acquitted during the trial. For de

Tocqueville, this scene gives a “striking instance of the excesses which may

be occasioned by the despotism of the majority.” Like Poe, de Tocqueville

is concerned about the possibilities of losing individual rights and the

potential for mob rule in a democratic government, where the minority has

little or no recourse. Additionally, de Tocqueville insists, “Intrigue and

corruption are the natural defects of elective government.”

Poe amd Government Corruption

Poe also viewed corruption as an unavoidable defect of democracy.

He had already seen such corruption first hand in the debacle of the 1824

Presidential election. Pundita’s philosophers posit that in a democracy,

“rascality must predominate — in a word, that a republican government

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could never be anything but a rascally one.” The “inevitable evils” of a

democratic government fraught with corruption and “rascality” can only

come to one end:

The matter [of the corruption in a Repulic] was put to an abrupt

issue by a fellow of the name of Mob, who took everything into

his own hands and set up a despotism [...]. This Mob (a foreigner,

by the by), is said to have been the most odious of all men that

ever encumbered the earth. He was a giant in stature — insolent,

rapacious, filthy; had the gall of a bullock with the heart of an

hyena and the brains of a peacock.

Poe personifies the mob in a way meant to excite fear and horror.

His mob marches in through the front door of a government in which

corruption is inevitable. The mob is odious, insolent, rapacious, and filthy.

What we see here is Poe frightening his readers, warning them of the

potential dangers of mobs, underscoring the violence and incivility of

proletarian uprisings and civil unrest. Poe emphasizes the failure of the

French republican model to express concerns about his own political arena.

For Pundita, evidence leads her society to conclude that there is no viable

way for democracy ever to function as the founders intended:

As for Republicanism, no analogy could be found for it upon the

face of the earth — unless we except the case of the “prairie dogs,”

an exception which seems to demonstrate, if anything, that

democracy is a very admirable form of government — for dogs.**

Poe’s Futurians echo de Tocqueville’s concerns, and anxieties over

corruption, civil unrest, and mob rule.

Concerns over a government controlled by the inept masses echo

throughout many of Poe’s other works as well, such as “Some Words with

a Mummy,” this time a satirical look at Poe’s present from the past. The

narrator explains to a revivified Egyptian mummy, Count Allamistakeo,

“the great beauty and importance of Democracy.” Initially, the count has no

understanding of the word “politics” until a politician is caricatured in

chalk. The Count tells of an ancient civilization that was very similar to the

narrator’s democracy until the government turned into “the most odious and

insupportable despotism that ever was heard of upon the face of the Earth.”

The peaceful government fell at the hands of a “usurping tyrant” that

Allamistakeo remembers was called “Mob” (Poe’s emphasis).*° Whether

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viewed from the Count’s past or Pundita’s future, a government modeled

on democratic principles has a number of potential problems, and it is

certainly telling of Poe’s view that his protagonist is named All-a-mistake.

Poe expresses his anxieties concerning American politics from a

perspective of the future, the past, and from a heavenly spirit.

Poe’s Other Criticisms

Poe did not limit his criticisms of American idealism to attacks on a

democratic form of government. At various points in his career, he also

seems to attack ideas related to Manifest Destiny, frontier writing, the

American reading public, literary critics, and even the notion of a national

literature. In his notes for the introduction to “The Living Writers of

America”, for example, he writes, “What is a true Nationality — [...] —

there should be no nationality — the world the proper stage — [...] —

nationality means, according to Mathews, toadying Americans & abusing

foreigners right or wrong.”°°

Poe was referencing Cornelius Mathews, whose poem “Wakondah”

he had caustically criticized in the February 1842 issue of Graham’s

Magazine. The poem is based on a story of Native Americans and their

Supreme Being known as Wakondah. Poe claims the work “from beginning

to end, is trash.” In a review of James Fenimore Cooper’s Wyandotte, Poe

expresses his opinion of frontier writing or “life in the Wilderness” writing

in general, declaring that “success or popularity is, with such a subject,

expected as a matter of course, a failure might be properly regarded as

conclusive evidence of imbecility on the part of the author.”>’ What is also

interesting in the passage quoted above is that Poe here seems to be rejecting

tribal mentality, rejecting an “us” versus “them” attitude by declaring that

nationality should not be an issue, at least as it concerns the criticism of

literature.

Poe’s criticism of the American reading public and American

literary critics have also provided additional fodder for accusations that he

did not fit the American democratic model. In the preface to a book review

in The Southern Literary Messenger of 1836, he writes, “[We Americans]

often find ourselves involved in the gross paradox of liking a stupid book

the better because, sure enough, its stupidity is American.”>* Such sentiment

further separates Poe from his contemporaries, and especially from the

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Nm

LoS)

writers that Matthiessen canonizes. Melville, for example, writes in

“Hawthorne and His Mosses”:

Let America then prize and cherish her writers; yea, let her glorify

them. [...] let America first praise mediocrity even, in her own

children, before she praises [...] the best excellence in the children

of any other land. Let her own authors, I say, have the priority of

appreciation.*”

For Matthiessen, such sentiment epitomizes American nationalism.

It is for this very type of thought that Matthiessen includes Melville in his

survey of prominent American literary figures. For Poe, however,

Melville’s praise of American books simply because they are American

would have been yet another example of “toadying Americans and abusing

foreigners.”

Poe, especially early in his career, resisted many of the democratic

ideas held by his contemporaries and largely resisted the call for a national

literature, at least a national literature in the tradition of Cooper, Child,

Sedgwick, Hawthorne, and other American writers who focused on themes

such as America’s history, westward expansion, and Native Americans.7”

Poe was seen as often ignoring American ideology in an era when most

American writers were focused on creating a national literary identity by

writing of frontiers and democracy. Poe never wrote of western expansion

or frontier exploration, with the sole exception of The Journal of Julius

Rodman, which he never completed. In fact, some critics have noted the

Eurocentric nature of so many of Poe’s tales as evidence of his resistance to

American ideas. T. S. Eliot, for example, describes Poe as “a kind of

displaced European.””! Baudelaire suggests:

The United States was for Poe only a vast prison, [...] his interior

life, spiritual as a poet, spiritual even as a drunkard, was but one

perpetual effort to escape the influence of this anti pathetical

atmosphere. There is no more pitiless dictator than that of “Public

Opinion” in democratic societies. [...] We might say that from the

impious love of liberty has been born a new tyranny — the tyranny

of fools — which, in its insensible ferocity, resembles the idol of

Juggernaut.”

Both Eliot’s and Baudelaire’s points are well taken. The American

culture of the time was certainly antipathetical, at least towards Poe, and it

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is certainly easy to see how one might view him as a displaced European.

Unquestionably, Poe has been guilty of capturing American stories and

translocating them to European locales, such as the case in “The Mystery of

Marie Roget”, the second story featuring Parisian detective C. Auguste

Dupin. Poe based the story on a series of real-life events that occurred in

New York in July 1841. The body of the young Mary Cecilia Rogers, a part-

time employee at a local tobacco shop, was found floating in the Hudson

River. The investigators later determined that she had been murdered. Poe

may have been familiar with Mary, as it has been suggested that he was a

frequent patron of the tobacco shop where she worked.** Newspapers across

the country (and the world) sensationalized the story of her murder, yet it

remains unsolved even today. Since the death of Mary, there have been

many speculations about the identity of her murderer.** However, in Poe’s

fictionalized account of the death of Mary Rogers, he uproots the entire

stage of the murder and moves it across the Atlantic into Europe. New

Yorker Mary Rogers becomes Parisian Marie Roget, New York becomes

Paris, and the Hudson River transforms into the River Seine. “Marie Roget”

was certainly not the only story Poe set in a foreign locale. In fact, J. Gerald

Kennedy notes that 83% of Poe’s tales published prior to 1843 “relied on

recognizably foreign subjects, settings, or situations.’ Literary tactics such

as relocating his tales to foreign lands certainly fueled claims that Poe was

somehow un-American or resistant to creating an American literary

identity.

Despite Poe’s criticisms of American government and an

overwhelmingly Eurocentric disposition in many of his tales, more recently

some critics have suggested that Poe moved more towards mainstream ideas

of democracy and nation-building later in his career. Kennedy marks this

change in 1843, with the publication of “The Gold Bug,” in what he calls

Poe’s “American turn.” From 1844 onward, Poe generally shifts his tales

from Europe to mostly center on American locations and American themes.

Additionally, his outward resistance to a national literature softened.*° He

became a member of Young America, an influential New York group

headed by Evert A. Duyckinck specifically chartered to promote

nationalism through American literature. Duyckinck was friends with

Cornelius Mathews, the very poet whose works Poe had so harshly

criticized as being “trash.”*’ Just over two years following that criticism,

Poe writes to Mathews:

Washington Academy of Sciences

Could I imagine that, at any moment, you regarded a certain

impudent and flippant critique as more than a matter to be laughed

at, | would proffer you an apology on the spot. Since | scribbled

the article in question, you yourself have given me fifty good

reasons for being ashamed of it.*®

Poe’s alignment with the Young Americans suggests he had a

similar goal of creating “nationality in its purest, highest, broadest sense.’”*”

As well as signing on with the pro-nationalistic Young Americans, Poe also

became a member of the American Copyright Club, a group devoted to

securing copyright laws designed to protect American writers.

Joining groups whose charters involved promoting democracy and

a national literature seem to contradict Poe’s earlier positions and could

have possibly been merely political moves on Poe’s part. In fact, one of the

difficulties in understanding Poe’s political positions, and perhaps one of

the reasons critics have been so divided in determining his stance towards

democracy and American values is that he consistently contradicts himself.

For example, the obvious contradiction in his notes to the preface of The

Living Writers of America, where he suggests there should be no such thing

as nationality, is that he dogmatically criticizes the idea of a national

literature in the preface to a book that was to focus solely on American

writers, where he insists, “[The] General object I propose is to convey to

foreigners (the English especially) and to those among my own countrymen

who cannot be supposed conversant with the arcana, a full view of our

Literature, a desideratum.’”>?

Whether Poe’s move towards mainstream ideas of democracy later

in his career was mere political maneuvering or if he actually had a change

of opinion cannot be known, but Poe certainly had issues with American

democracy. He had witnessed the corruption in American politics first hand,

and he feared the possibility that such corruption could lead to civil unrest

and mob rule. He also felt as though democracy was antagonistic towards

artistic expression. He writes in “Marginalia”, “Is it, or is it not a fact, that

the air of a Democracy agrees better with mere Talent than with Genius?!

He expected better results from American Democracy, writing, “the proper

results of good government — the happiness of a people — improvement

in the condition of mankind.’°? Poe’s democracy was not making him

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happy, nor was it improving the position of mankind, at least not in Poe’s

view:

The most momentous evil [...] arising from the want of an

International Copy-right Law, is the bitter sense of wrong aroused

in the hearts of all literary men [...] against the sole form of

government, which not only robs it upon the highway, but justifies

the robbery as a convenient and commendable thing, and glories

in [i]t when cleverly done.°?

The irony of Poe’s seemingly hostile stance towards democracy is

that it is widely held that the author died as the result of “cooping,” a

common practice in his day in which visitors to a city would be plied with

alcohol or drugs until near senseless and used as a repeat voter for elections.

Poe spent a considerable amount of his career questioning democracy, and

voting likely contributed to his early death. Despite all of the potential evils

of democracy, however, Poe may have still viewed it as the best option. “To

be sure,” Pundita writes, “whenever we meet a balloon we have a chance of

perceiving our rate, and then, I admit, things do not appear so very bad.”**

References

' Poe, Edgar Allan, Eureka: A Prose Poem (New York: George Putnam,

1848) p. 100.

> Rufus Wilmot Griswold, “Death of Edgar A. Poe”, New-York Daily

Tribune (9 October 1849), p. 2, The Edgar Allan Poe Society of

Baltimore.

> Edgar Allan Poe, “Doings of Gotham” [Letter II], Columbia Spy

(Columbia, PA, 25 May 1844), 15.5, p. 3, The Edgar Allan Poe

Society of Baltimore

<http://www.eapoe.org/works/misc/gothamb2.htm>.

*F.O. Matthiessen, American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age

of Emerson and Whitman (Oxford: OUP, 1941), p. xii, n. 3.

> Nina Baym, “Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th Edition”,

2007

<http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/naal7/contents/B/welco

me.asp> [accessed 27 August 2015].

° The index of Matthiessen”s work references Poe no fewer than 27 times.

However, outside of general discussions, these references are mostly

Washington Academy of Sciences

related to Poe’s position in relation to other authors, with subtitles

under the entry for Poe such as “praise of Hawthorne”, or “Whitman

on” (p. 674). Matthiessen does not fail to employ Poe as an authority

to praise Hawthorne, ensuring the reader understands that Poe refers

to Hawthorne”s style of writing as “purity itself’ (p. 206), while the

chapter on Whitman underscores Whitman’’s depiction of Poe as a

figure “almost without the first sign of moral principle” (pp. 540-41).

7 Matthiessen, p. xii, n. 3.

8 Ibid., p. xv.

9 “Frogpondians” was a derogatory term that Poe used to describe the

Boston literati, particularly the Transcendentalists. Most notable of

the Frogpondians were Thoreau and Emerson, two of the main

writers discussed by Matthiessen.

10 Henning Goldbaek, “Poe in Progress: A Reappraisal”, American

Studies in Scandinavia, 23.2 (1991), 105-27 (p. 106).

11 Poe, Edagar Allan, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Edited By

James A. Harrison, Harrison, 27 vols (New York, Thomas Y.

Crowell, 1902), VUI, pp. ix—x. From here onward referred to as

Harrison.

12 Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought: An

Interpretation of American Literature from the Beginning to 1920, 3

vols. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1927), II, p. 56.

13 Sarah H. Whitman to John Henry Ingram, 7 December 1875, John

Henry Ingram’’s Poe Collection, Accession # 38-135, Special

Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA,

270-5. This is a controversial claim, and Whitman provides no

evidence whatsoever for this accusation.

14 Harrison, X, p. 147.

15 Poe, Edagar Allan, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Edited by

Thomas O. Mabbott, 3 vols (Cambridge, Belknap Press: 1969 and

1978), II, p. 1299. From here onward referred to as Mabbott.

16 “Transcript of the Constitution of the United States - Official Text”,

The Charters of Freedom, pt. IV, Sect. IV

<http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.ht

ml> [accessed 11 March 2016].

17 John Adams, “A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law”,

National Archives: Founders Online

<http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-0 1-02-0052-

0003> [accessed 25 February 2016].

Winter 2019

18 The Papers of Henry Clay. Volume 7: Secretary of State, January |,

1828-March 4, 1829, ed. by Robert Seagar, 10 vols (Lexington, KY:

University Press of Kentucky, 1982), VII, p. 179.

19 John Quincy Adams, “John Quincy Adams: First Annual Message”,

1825 <http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29467> [accessed

14 September 2015].

20 Mabbott, HI, p. 1300.

21 Martin Van Buren, “Inaugural Address (March 4, 1837)”

<http://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/speeches/speech-3486>

[accessed 10 September

22 Poe, Edgar Allan, The Letters of the Edgar Allan Poe, edited by J. W.

Ostrom, 2 vols (Cambridge, Harvard University Press:1948), I, p.

288. From here onward referred to as LEAP.

23 Ibid., p. 293.

24 Harrison, XVII, pp. 381-82.

25 Matthiessen, p. 1x.

26 Poe, “Marginalia” [Part XV], p. 336.

27 LEAP, Ill, p. 646.

28 It is noteworthy that the date of the journal is on April Fool’s Day,

2048.

29 Mabbott, II, p. 290; III, p. 1294.

30 Mabbott, HI, p. 1300; II, p. 610.

31 Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and

Legislation, 1907 reprint of 1823 edition. (Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1907); py:

32 Mabbott, II, p. 498.

33 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. by Henry Reeve,

Reprint of 1838 Edition, (Clark, New Jersey: The Lawbook

Exchange, Ltd., 2003), pp. 242, 116.

34 Mabbott, III, p. 1300.

35 Ibid., pp. 1193-94.

36 Edgar Allan Poe, “The Living Writers of America”, 1846, MA-624,

Pierpont Morgan Library Department of Literary and Historical

Manuscripts, New York. Digital Copy at The Edgar Allan Poe

Society of Baltimore

<http://www.eapoe.org/Works/misc/livingw.htm> [accessed 5

August 2014].

37 Harrison, XI, pp. 26, 205.

38 Edgar Allan Poe, “Critical Notices” [Drake-Halleck Review], Southern

Literary Messenger, 2.5 (April 1836), 326-340 (p. 326).

Washington Academy of Sciences

Phe

39 Herman Melville, “Hawthorne and His Mosses”

<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA 96/atkins/cmmosses.html>

[accessed 27 February 2016].

40 Some critics have noted a turn in Cooper’s stance towards American

democracy late in his career. Henning Goldbaek, for example, notes

Cooper’s late career “attitude against the new mass-democratic spirit

in America”, a shift in the authors attitude towards democracy most

notable following his Letter to his Countrymen of 1834. See

Henning Goldbaek, “Poe and Cooper: A Comparison, Between an

American Democrat and a Southern Gentleman”, James Fenimore

Cooper: His Country and His Art, Papers from the 1997 Cooper

Seminar (No. 11), ed. by Hugh C. MacDougall (New York: The

State University of New York College at Oneonta, 1997), pp. 53-55

<http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/articles/suny/1997suny-

goldbaek.html> [accessed 27 April 2017].

41 Thomas Stearns Eliot, “From Poe to Valery”, in To Criticize the Critic

and Other Writings (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965),

pp. 27-42 (p. 29).

42 Charles Baudelaire, Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Works, trans. by H.

Curwen (London: John Camden Hotten, 1873), p. 2.

43 Douglass MacGowan, “The Beautiful Cigar Girl — The Murder

Mystery of Mary Rogers — Crime Library”, Crime Library

<http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/mary_rog

ers/2.html> [accessed 12 August 2014].

44 In his 1955 book The Fabulous Originals, author Irving Wallace

unconvincingly implicates Poe himself as a suspect in the murder.

Irving Wallace, The Fabulous Originals: Lives of Extraordinary

People Who Inspired Memorable Characters in Fiction (London:

Longmans, Green & Co, 1956), p. 194.

45 J. Gerald Kennedy, “The American Turn of Edgar Allan Poe”

(Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore and The

Enoch Pratt Free Library, 2002), p. 5.

46 Kennedy also argues that even before his American turn, the

Eurocentric nature of Poe’s early tales was not meant to criticize

American values or American culture, but instead provided Poe with

a means to deride an “imaginary Europe wracked by aristocratic

decadence, violence, and class subjugation.” J. Gerald Kennedy, p.

6.

47 Poe, “Living Writers.”

AR LEAP, [p.245..

Winter 2019

49 Pollin, The Collected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, III, p. 172. This was

part of a speech Mathews had given to the Eucleian Society of the

University of New York. Poe quoted Mathews in The Broadway

Journal of July 1845, describing Mathews” words as an “address

which embodies all that there is any necessity for saying” about the

Young Americans.

50 Poe, “Living Writers.”

51 Harrison, XVI, p. 152)

52 Harrison, IX, p. 54.

53 Edgar Allan Poe, “Pay of American Authors”, Evening Mirror [New

York], 1.93 (24 January 1845), p. 2

<http://www.eapoe.org/works/essays/em450101.htm> [accessed 27

February 2016].

54 Mabbott, HI, p. 1292.

Bio

Dr. George S. Williams is Assistant Professor of English at Concord

University in Athens, West Virginia. George received his undergraduate

degree in English from Concord, then travelled to Scotland for graduate

work, earning an M.Litt. in English Literary Studies from the University of

Aberdeen and a Ph.D. from the University of Dundee. His research interests

include the transatlantic nature of early Gothic fiction, especially in relation

to the sciences.

Washington Academy of Sciences

3]

The Effective Strategies to Increase Latina Women in STEMM

Fields through Mentoring

Judy Staveley

Liberty University

Abstract

This current research focuses on the area of effective strategies to increase the

number of Latina Women in STEMM fields through mentoring. A review of the

research literature was conducted to distinguish gaps and to identify the

percentage of Latina Women in STEMM studies and STEMM careers. A pattern-

finding approach was used to review data analysis of Latinas earning

undergraduate and graduate STEMM degrees. Research literature has confirmed

major gaps in Latina Women in STEMM fields and related careers.

Background

MENTORING UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE Latina Women in

STEMM programs can improve Latina student retention rates and create a

positive career experience for these STEMM students. What is STEMM?

STEMM is an abbreviation for Science, Technology, Math, and Medicine

(National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019).

Traditionally, Latina’s are the largest ethnic group in the United States and

have the lowest educational retention and completion rate in STEMM

programs in comparison to all other racial or ethnic groups (Rodriguez

Amaya, Betancourt, Collins, Hinojosa, & Corona, 2018). Four-year colleges

do contribute to low college and retention rates leading to gaps in the

STEMM educational fields (Mireles-Rios & Garcia, 2019). Mentoring

graduate and undergraduate Latina women in STEMM programs can play a

major role in positive career experiences and higher graduation rates.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and

Medicine, 2019 The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM report

relates that talent is equally distributed across all sociocultural groups;

however, access to STEMM opportunities are not equally distributed for

some underrepresented minority groups. This is particularly true for science,

technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) professions

(National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019)

Mentoring is defined as individuals who go the extra mile to help

others while exerting a positive influence (Bhattacharjee, 2007). The word

Winter 2019

“mentor” historically refers to an individual who is an educator and builds a

mentoring relationship with a student. Mentoring others in the area of

STEMM can lead to new career opportunities for students who are learning

rigorous STEMM curriculum (Liana, 2013). The Latina population is

growing rapidly and is consistently overlooked in the national data (Bureau

of Labor Statistics, 2018). Latina women face severe disparities in terms of

access to education, economic prosperity, and STEMM _ workforce

opportunities (Liana, 2013). Implementing mentoring programs can help

Latina women in STEMM education workforce programs to obtain and use

their degrees in the United States. The advancement in STEMM education

will help build America’s competitive edge and bring creative solutions to

our world’s most pressing scientific problems. Building a mentorship

program that will incorporate educational STEMM events and workshops

will help train and support our next Latina STEMM generation. These

workshops will also increase the workforce opportunities for these women.

These new upcoming mentoring programs, events, and workshops will foster

the guidance and success of these Latina students who may be struggling in

attaining advanced degrees, careers, and positions of leadership in the area

of STEMM.

Fewer and fewer women in the United States are earning STEMM

degrees and even fewer in the Latina population. Women of color earn the

smallest share of STEMM degrees. Only 3.8% Latinas in the United States

earned a bachelor’s degree in STEMM fields in the years 2015-2016 (Bureau

of Labor Statistics, 2018). The STEMM industry, STEMM workforce,

academic institutions, and the government address the STEMM disparities

in STEMM employment. A major focus for increasing the STEMM

workforce has been to reduce disparities in STEMM employment by sex and

race (Liana, 2013). Historically, Latina women have been underrepresented

in STEMM employment. Researchers find that women and Latina women

are less likely to be in STEMM degree programs and less likely to remain in

these types of degree programs (Griffith, 2010). Educational scholars play

an important role in shaping the knowledge of student’s outcomes with

regards to scholarly education (Rodriguez, Betancourt, Collins, Hinojosa, &

Corona, 2018).

Washington Academy of Sciences

LSS)

eS)

The Learning Gap

Recent research has focused on mentoring programs for general

populations, underrepresented minorities, and the Latino population

(Mireles-Rios & Garcia, 2019). Research has not focused on effective

strategies in bridging gaps in Latina Women in STEMM. This paper

contributes to the emerging STEMM academic curriculum that focuses on

some effective strategies to increase Latina Women in STEMM fields

through Mentoring. It explores real learning opportunities through events,

school-community based partnerships, and workshops. Educational

institutions and industry partnerships have shown that working together

through mentoring can enhance student learning, strengthen schools and

support struggling neighborhoods (Valli, Stefanski, & Jacobson, 2018).

The Washington Academy of Sciences educational programs are

oriented to providing junior research scientists with proper mentoring and

tools to help these young future STEMM students succeed in all areas of

scientific areas of study. Student success is possible with exposure to

mentoring experience and guidance through STEMM mentors and the local

community partnerships that bridge gaps in education. These novel

approaches in mentoring can be used at any educational level and can be

used for community enhancement in the area of STEMM programs.

The main objective of this mentoring information is to project goals

and amend the curriculum gap of STEMM program courses and to address

several shortcomings of Latina Women in STEMM. Many educational

institutions aim to partner with local STEMM industry workforce companies

to help identify gaps and needs for STEMM opportunities. These

opportunities may be an effective strategy in guiding Latina in STEMM

opportunities. With subsequent examination of extensive research articles, it

has been acknowledged that school business partnerships within local

communities are indispensable to student learning and _ educational

experiences (Badgett, 2016). Badgett (2016) highlighted that a community

is characterized by social ties and is united by the involvement of common

goals and viewpoints.

Methods

Methods such as mentoring, workshops and events have also been

shown to increase retention in education (National Academies of Sciences,

Winter 2019

34

Engineering, and Medicine, 2019). Building community partnerships is a

very important strategy for all educational institutions to guide all students

including Latina women in STEMM programs into the workforce

community. An effective strategy is to build an advisory board with local

CEO’s, human resource experts, educational scientific experts, educational

stakeholders, and Latina’s who would facilitate in the field of STEMM. This

working group would enhance strategic mentoring ideas for innovative

programs to mitigate gaps in Latina’s obtaining STEMM degrees and

careers. Each STEMM board member would have a unique part of mitigating

the gaps and implementing new strategic innovative programs that would

prepare and guide STEMM Latina students in the success of obtaining their

degrees. Program preparation by the board would include real-life

experiences, new ideas, motivations factors, workshops, events, and new

STEMM curriculum which would benefit the Latina students and other

students to succeed. Valli, Stefanski, & Jacobson (2018) articulate how

powerful business partnerships can help fill gaps within the community and

mitigate educational problems. Connecting the Latina STEMM community

within an advisory board is also essential in communicating real-life

experiences to other Latina’s who may be struggling to succeed. Advisory

board bi-monthly meetings would help discuss the implementation of new

ideas, tools, and techniques that are needed to help mitigate gaps in Latina

STEMM programs. These meetings would also introduce a networking

pathway for the Latina students in STEMM programs to meet and greet

potential employers to obtain internships or a job placement within the

advisory board members company. The main goal of this mentoring project

is to help guide Latina women in STEMM programs by keeping these

women motivated to complete their STEMM degrees.

Local mentors in the STEMM community program and the advisory

board would take the lead in guiding these Latina STEMM students. The

mentors would help acquire internships and shadowing career activities for

these Latina students to gain real-life experience in the STEMM industry.

Also, these Latina students would receive college internship credit and the

mentors would receive recognition for their contributions to their community

project.

Washington Academy of Sciences

Evaluation of Mentorship and What Works for Latina Women in

STEMM

(1) The advice and guidance will prepare and motivate Latina STEMM

students to complete a four-year college or university degree, gain

new applied skills, and prepare them for real-world STEMM

applications.

(2) Latina students must be paired with a mentor of the same race,

gender, and possible same backgrounds for effective mentorship.

STEMM mentoring programs should occur during or after school

hours, during the summer, and winter breaks. These STEMM

mentoring programs that are guided by Latina STEMM professionals

can help encourage and motivate STEMM Latina mentee students to

persist in finishing up their degree and obtain a STEMM career.

(3) Research shows that an increase in knowledge about the real-life

success of other STEMM Latina experiences through mentoring

programs will help keep the women motivated and engaged in

STEMM programs. According to Packard, B. (2016), a sense of

belongingness plays a major role in STEM students.

(4) All students will benefit from the experience and guidance of

mentors and will build confidence to persist through their studies

(Mireles-Rios, R., & Garcia, 2019).

(5) Initiatives in internships and = mentorship would help

underrepresented Latina Women in STEMM programs increase their

academic performance.

(6) Research-based courses for STEMM students at local STEMM

industry companies can help Latina Women in STEMM gain

research experience and help these women build confidence and

become engaged and solidified in that career area. A positive

approach that educational institutions can incorporate for these

students is to reward college credit for the practicum the student is

doing.

(7) Feedback is essential for success. The mentors and students who

agree to participate in the Latina Women Mentorship program would

have to fill out an intake questionnaire to gather characteristics that

include age, gender, years of study and special interests.

(8) According to Juan, Gurel, Olds, Bankston, & McDowell (2019)

mitigating hyper-competition, increasing research funds for mentors

and mentees, and providing independent research opportunities are

some of the answers to the gaps within the current research that may

Winter 2019

attribute to retention rates in underrepresented minorities and Latina

women in STEMM programs.

(9) An effective mentor for Latina STEMM women is one who expresses

empathy and encouraging words as well as motivation, positivity

engagement, and trust. It is equally important to pair a mentor with a

mentee with industry experience.

In summary an in-depth review of mentoring programs have

indicated to improve student experiences in STEMM _ studies.

Communicating the demographic gaps that have been identified within the

educational STEMM programs and the STEMM industry and implementing

engaging programs that will help students succeed will also enhance job

growth in the United States. Mentoring programs are clearly effective and

help determine the success of students. To ensure that opportunities can exist

for these Latina STEMM students, continued STEMM mentoring programs

need to be designed to give these students the chance to have a one on one

experience with a mentor who has a career in STEMM. Innovative

workshops and courses would allow local Latina students to develop

advanced innovative skills and to better prepare themselves for academic

transfer to graduate-level courses or real-world STEMM careers.

Discussion

Effective mentorship is based on passionate mentors who guide their

mentees to STEMM success through trust and purpose. Several research

studies have found that many underrepresented students want mentors with

the same race, gender, and an individual who has similar real-life

experiences to their own (National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and

Medicine, 2019) (Mireles-Rios & Garcia, 2019). The major challenge to

maximize a mentor match program with the Latina STEMM students would

be the scarceness of Latina women faculty in STEMM careers.

Effective mentorship practices with Latina STEMM women will

contribute to education and the next generation of STEMM professionals.

Diversity in the STEMM workforce has a positive outcome and brings about

an innovative ecosystem while mitigating negative STEMM experiences.

Building encouraging and positive experiences for Latina STEMM students

will ensure that the STEMM workforce will be responsive to emerging

diversity problems. This paper will facilitate conversation and future

research across institutes, as well as foster collaboration on projects that will

Washington Academy of Sciences

<i]

help Latina STEMM students succeed. Actionable change in STEMM

mentoring will provide these women with proper resources that are required

to succeed in education and career programs.

References

Badgett, K. (2016). School-business partnerships: Understanding business

perspectives. School Community Journal, 26(2), 83.

Bhattacharjee, Y. (2007). NSF, NIH Emphasize the Importance of

Mentoring. Science, 317(5841), 1016-1016. Retrieved from

www.jstor.org/stable/2003 7625

Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018). “Table 11: Employed Persons by Detailed

Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity,” Current

Population Survey, Household Data Annual Averages 2017.

Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm

Carpi, A., Ronan, D. M., Falconer, H. M., & Lents, N. H. (2017). Cultivating

minority scientists: Undergraduate research increases self-efficacy

and career ambitions for underrepresented students in

STEM. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 54(2), 169-194.

doi:10.1002/tea.21341

Griffith, A. (2010). “Persistence of Women and Minorities in STEM Field

Majors: Is It the School That Matters?” Economics of Education

Review 29(6): 911-922. ,

Juan, P. R., Gurel, P., Olds, W. H., Bankston, A., & McDowell, G. S. (2019).

Inspiring and ethical mentorship in STEM: A meeting highlighting

need for engagement, incentives, and accountability. Peer/

PrePrints, doi:http://dx.do1.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.7287/peer].pr

eprints.27474v 1

Liana. C. (2013). Disparities in STEM Employment by Sex, Race, and

Hispanic Origin: American Community Survey Reports (US Census

Bureau). Retrieved from

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2013/acs/acs-24.html

Mireles-Rios, R., & Garcia, N. M. (2019). What would your ideal graduate

mentoring program look like?: Latina/o student success in higher

education. Journal of Latinos and Education, 18(4), 376-386.

doi: 10.1080/15348431.2018.1447937

Winter 2019

38

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). The

Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. Washington, DC: The

National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25568.

Packard, B. (2016). Successful STEM Mentoring Initiatives for

Underrepresented Students: A Research-Based Guide for Faculty

and Administrators”. Sterling, Virginia, Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Rodriguez Amaya, L., Betancourt, T., Collins, K. H., Hinojosa, O., &

Corona, C. (2018). Undergraduate research experiences: Mentoring,

awareness, and perceptions—a case study at a Hispanic-serving

institution. International Journal of STEM Education, 5(1), 1-13.

doi:10.1186/s40594-018-0105-8

Valli, L., Stefanski, A., & Jacobson, R. (2018). School-community

partnership models: Implications for leadership. /nternational

Journal of Leadership in Education, 21(1), 31-49,

doi:10.1080/13603124.2015.1124925

Bio

Judy Staveley is the current Washington Academy of Sciences President, a

professional member of Sigma Xi-The Scientific Research Honor Society, a

professional member of the American Association for the Advancement of

Science, a professional member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honor

Society in Education and a recent graduate of Liberty University in

Educational Leadership. She is currently a contractor in support of the

United States Air Force, science writer, and was a former professor and

program director of biotechnology and forensic science. She is continuing to

do research in the area of educational leadership and mentoring in STEMM.

(https://www.researchgate.net/protile/Judy Staveley)

Washington Academy of Sciences

Membership List

AKSYUK, VLADIMIR A. 605 Gatestone Mews, Gaithersburg MD 20878 (F)

ana STUART University of Maryland, 2309 Mathematics Building, College Park MD 20742-4015

(EF)

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APPLE, DAINA DRAVNIEKS PO Box 905, Benicia Cal 94510-0905 (M)

ARSEM, COLLINS 3144 Gracefield Rd Apt 117, Silver Spring MD 20904-5878 (EM)

ARVESON, PAUL T. 6902 Breezewood Terrace, Rockville MD 20852-4324 (F)

BARBOUR, LARRY L. Pequest Valley Farm, 585 Townsbury Rd, Great Meadows NJ 07838 (M)

BARWICK, W. ALLEN 13620 Maidstone Lane, Potomac MD 20854-1008 (F)

BECKER, EDWIN D. 339 Springvale Road, Great Falls Va 22066 (EF)

BEHLING, NORIKO 6517 Deidre Terrace, McLean VA 22101 (M)

BERLEANT, DANIEL 12473 Rivercrest Dr., Little Rock AR 72212 (M)

BERRY, JESSE F. 2601 Oakenshield Drive, Rockville MD 20854 (M)

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BRISKMAN, ROBERT D. 61 Valerian Court, North Bethesda MD 20852 (EF)

BROWN, ELISE A.B. 6811 Nesbitt Place, Mclean VA 22101-2133 (LF)

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BULLARD, JEFFREY WAYNE 11 Marquis Drive, Gaithersburg MD 20878 (F)

BYRD, GENE GILBERT Box 1326, Tuscaloosa AL 35403 (M)

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CLINE, THOMAS LYTTON 13708 Sherwood Forest Drive, Silver Spring MD 20904 (F)

COBLE, MICHAEL NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, MS 8314, Gaithersburg MD 20899-8314 (F)

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CUPERO, JERRI ANNE 2860 Graham Road, Falls Church VA 22042 (F)

CURRIE, S.J., CHARLES L. (Rev.) Jesuit Community, Georgetown University, Washington DC 20057

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ETTER, PAUL C. 8612 Wintergreen Court, Unit 304, Odenton MD 21113 (F)

FASANELLI, FLORENCE 4711 Davenport Street, Washington DC 20016 (EF)

FASOLKA, MICHAEL J. NIST Material Measurement Laboratory, MS8300, 100 Bureau Dr., Gaithersburg

MD 20809 (F)

FAULKNER, JOSEPH A.2 Bay Drive, Lewes DE 19958 (EF)

FILLIBEN, JAMES JOHN NIST, 100 Bureau Dr., Stop 8980, Gaithersburg MD 20899-8980 (F)

Winter 2019

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FRASER, GERALD 5811 Cromwell Drive, Bethesda MD 20816 (M)

FREEMAN, ERNEST R. 5357 Strathmore Avenue, Kensington MD 20895-1160 (LEF)

FREHILL, LISA 1239 Vermont Ave NW #204, Washington DC 20005-3643 (M)

FROST, HOLLY C. 5740 Crownleigh Court, Burke VA 22015 (F)

GAGE, DOUGLAS W. XPM Technologies, 1020 N. Quincy Street, Apt 116, Arlington VA 22201-4637

(M)

GARFINKEL, SIMSON L. 1186 N Utah Street, Arlington VA 22201 (M)

GAUNAURD, GUILLERMO C 4807 Macon Road, Rockville MD 20852-2348 (EF)

GHARAVI, HAMID National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), MS 8920, Gaithersburg MD

20899-8920 (F)

GIBBON, JOROME 311 Pennsylvania Avenue, Falls Church VA 22046 (F)

GIFFORD, PROSSER 59 Penzance Rd, Woods Hole MA 02543-1043 (F)

GLUCKMAN, ALBERT G. 18123 Homeland Drive, Olney MD 20832-1792 (EF)

GRAY, JOHN E. PO Box 489, Dahlgren VA 22448-0489 (M)

GRAY, MARY (Professor) Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, American

University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20016-8050 (F)

GUIDOTTI, TEE L 2347 Ashmead PI., NW, Washington DC 20009-1413 (M)

HACK, HARVEY 176, Via Dante, Arnold MD 21012-1315 (F)

HAIG, SJ, FRANK R. (Rev.) Loyola University Maryland, 4501 North Charles St, Baltimore MD 21210-

2699 (EF)

HARDIS, JONATHAN E. 356 Chestertown St., Gaithersburg MD 20878-5724 (F)

HAYNES, ELIZABETH D. 7418 Spring Village Dr., Apt. CS 422, Springfield VA 22150-4931 (EM)

HAZAN, PAUL 14528 Chesterfield Rd, Rockville MD 20853 (F)

HEANEY, JAMES B. 6 Olivewood Ct, Greenbelt MD 20770 (M)

HIETALA, RONALD 6351 Waterway Drive, Falls Church VA 22044-1322 (M)

HOFFELD, J. TERRELL 11307 Ashley Drive, Rockville MD 20852-2403 (F)

HOLLAND, PH.D., MARK A. 201 Oakdale Rd., Salisbury MD 21801 (M)

HONIG, JOHN G. 7701 Glenmore Spring Way, Bethesda MD 20817 (LF)

HORLICK, JEFFREY 8 Duvall Lane, Gaithersburg MD 20877-1838 (F)

HORN, JOANNE 1408 Grouse Court, 118 N. Market Street, Suite 201 Frederick, MD 21701, Frederick MD

21703 (M)

HOWARD, SETHANNE Apt 311, 7570 Monarch Mills Way, Columbia MD 21046 (LF)

HOWARD-PEEBLES, PATRICIA 5701 Virginia Parkway 2312, McKinney TX 75071 (EF)

IKOSSI, KIKI 6275 Gentle LN, Alexandria VA 22310 (F)

IZADJOO, MEISAM 13137 Clarksburg Square Road, Clarksburg, MD 20871 (M)

[IZADJOO, MINA 15713 Thistlebridge Drive, Rockville MD 20853 (F)

JOHNSON, EDGAR M. 1384 Mission San Carlos Drive, Amelia Island FL 32034 (LF)

JOHNSON, GEORGE P. 3614 34th Street, N.W., Washington DC 20008 (EF)

JOHNSON, JEAN M. 3614 34th Street, N.W., Washington DC 20008 (EF)

JONG, SHUNG-CHANG 8892 Whitechurch Ct, Bristow VA 20136 (LF)

KAHN, ROBERT E. 909 Lynton Place, Mclean VA 22102 (F)

KAPETANAKOS, C.A. 4431 MacArthur Blvd, Washington DC 20007 (EF)

KARAM, LISA 8105 Plum Creek Drive, Gaithersburg MD 20882-4446 (F)

KEISER, BERNHARD E. 2046 Carrhill Road, Vienna VA 22181-2917 (LF)

KLINGSBERG, CYRUS Apt. L184, 500 E. Marylyn Ave, State College PA 16801-6225 (EF)

KLOPFENSTEIN, REX C. 4224 Worcester Dr., Fairfax VA 22032-1140 (LF)

KOWTHA, VISAYANAND 8009 Craddock Road, Greenbelt MD 20770 (F)

KRUEGER, GERALD P. Krueger Ergonomics Consultants, 4105 Komes Court, Alexandria VA 22306-1252

(EF)

LABOV, JAY B. Keck Center Room 638, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington DC 20001 (F)

LAWSON, ROGER H. 10613 Steamboat Landing, Columbia MD 21044 (EF)

LEIBOWITZ, LAWRENCE M. 2905 Saintsbury Place, #217, Fairfax VA 22031-1164 (LF)

LEMKIN, PETER 148 Keeneland Circle, North Potomac MD 20878 (EM)

LESHUK, RICHARD 9004 Paddock Lane, Potomac MD 20854 (M)

Washington Academy of Sciences

4]

LEWIS, DAVID C. 27 Bolling Circle, Palmyra VA 22963 (F)

LIBELO, LOUIS F. 9413 Bulls Run Parkway, Bethesda MD 20817 (LF)

LIDDLE, J ALEXANDER NIST, MS 6203, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg MD 20899-6200 (F)

LOCASCIO, LAURIE E National Institute of Standards and Technology, MS 1000, Gaithersburg MD 20899

(F)

LONDON, MARILYN 3520 Nimitz Rd, Kensington MD 20895 (F)

LONGSTRETH, II, WALLACE I 8709 Humming Bird Court, Laurel MD 207231254 (EM)

LOOMIS, TOM H. W. 11502 Allview Dr., Beltsville MD 20705 (EM)

LOZIER, DANIEL W 5230 Sherier Place NW, Washington DC 20016 (F)

LUTZ, ROBERT J. 6031 Willow Glen Dr, Wilmington NC 28412 (EF)

LYONS, JOHN W. 7430 Woodville Road, Mt. Airy MD 21771 (EF)

MADHAVAN, GURUPRASAD 440 L St NW, Unit 1111, Washington DC 20001 (F)

MALCOM, SHIRLEY M. 12901 Wexford Park, Clarksville MD 21029-1401 (F)

MANDERSCHEID, RONALD W. 10837 Admirals Way, Potomac MD 20854-1232 (LF)

MANI, MAHESH 210 Summit Hall Rd, Gaithersburg MD 20877 (M)

MATHER, JOHN 3400 Rosemary Lane, Hyattsville MD 20782 (F)

MCGRATTAN, KEVIN B. 11512 Brandy Hall Lane, Gaithersburg MD 20878 (F)

MCNEELY, CONNIE L. School of Public Policy, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Dr Stop 3B1,

Arlington VA 22201 (M)

MENZER, ROBERT E. 90 Highpoint Dr, Gulf Breeze FL 32561-4014 (EF)

MESSINA, CARLA G. 9800 Marquette Drive, Bethesda MD 20817 (EF)

METAILIE, GEORGES C. 18 Rue Liancourt, 75014 Paris , FRANCE (F)

MIGLER, KALMAN B. NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8542, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (F)

MILLER, JAY H. 8924 Ridge Place, Bethesda MD 20817-3364 (M)

MILLER II, ROBERT D. The Catholic University of America, 10918 Dresden Drive, Beltsville MD 20705

(M)

MORRIS, JOSEPH PO Box 3005, Oakton VA 22124-9005 (M)

MORRIS, P.E., ALAN 4550 N. Park Ave. #104, Chevy Chase MD 20815 (EF)

MOUNTAIN, RAYMOND D.701 King Farm Blvd #327, Rockville MD 20850 (F)

MUELLER, TROY J. 42476 Londontown Terrace, South Riding Va 20152 (M)

MUMMA, MICHAEL J. 210 Glen Oban Drive, Arnold MD 21012 (F)

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NEUBAUER, WERNER G. Apt 349, 7820 Walking Horse Circle, Germantown TN 38138 (EF)

NOE, ADRIANNE 9504 Colesville Road, Silver Spring MD 20901 (F)

O'HARE, JOHN J. 108 Rutland Blvd, West Palm Beach FL 33405-5057 (EF)

OHRINGER, LEE 5014 Rodman Road, Bethesda MD 20816 (EF)

OTT, WILLIAM R 19125 N. Pike Creek Place, Montgomery Village MD 20886 (EF)

PARR, ALBERT C 2656 SW Eastwood Avenue, Gresham OR 97080-9477 (F)

PAULONIS, JOHN J P.O. Box 703, Mohegan Lake NY 10547 (M)

PAZ, ELVIRA L. 172 Cook Hill Road, Wallingford CT 06492 (LEF)

PERSILY, ANDREW K NIST, Mailstop 8630, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg MD 20899 (F)

PICKHOLTZ, RAYMOND L. 3613 Glenbrook Road, Fairfax VA 22031-3210 (EF)

PLESNIAK, MICHAEL W. 1400 Laurel Dr., Accokeek MD 20607 (F)

POLAVARAPU, MURTY 10416 Hunter Ridge Dr., Oakton VA 22124 (LF)

POLINSKI, ROMUALD Prof, Doctor of Sciences (Economics), Ul. Generala Bora 39/87, 03-982

WARSZAWA 131 , Poland (M)

PRZYTYCKI, JOZEF H. (Prof.) 10005 Broad St, Bethesda MD 20814 (F)

PYKE, JR, THOMAS N. 4887 N. 35th Road, Arlington VA 22207 (EF)

RANSOM, BARBARA 3117 8th North, Arlington VA 22201 (M)

REGLI, WILLIAM Department of Computer Science, Institute for Systems Research, Clark School of

Engineering, 2173 A.V. Williams Building, 8223 Paint Branch Drive, University of Maryland, College

Park MD 20742 (F)

REISCHAUER, ROBERT 5509 Mohican Rd, Bethesda MD 20816 (EF)

RICKER, RICHARD 12809 Talley Ln, Darnestown MD 20878-6108 (F)

Winter 2019

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RIDGELL, MARY P.O. Box 133, 48073 Mattapany Road, St. Mary's City MD 20686-0133 (LM)

ROBERTS, SUSAN Ocean Studies Board, Keck 607, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street, NW,

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ROGERS, KENNETH 355 Fellowship Circle, Gaithersburg MD 20877 (LM)

ROOD, SALLY A PO Box 12093, Arlington VA 22219 (F)

ROSENBLATT, JOAN R. 701 King Farm Blvd, Apt 630, Rockville MD 20850 (EF)

SANDERS, JAY 7850 Westmont Lane, McLean VA 22102 (F)

SAUBERMAN, P.E., HARRY R 8810 Sandy Ridge Ct., Fairfax VA 22031 (M)

SCHMEIDLER, NEAL F. 7218 Hadlow Drive, Springfield VA 22152 (F)

SELKIRK, WILLIAM 2423 Wynfield Ct, Frederick MD 21702 (M)

SENKEVITCH, EMILEE 1015 Columbine Drive, Apt 2B, Frederick MD 21701 (M)

SERPAN, CHARLES Z5510 Bradley Blvd, Bethesda MD 20814 (EM)

SEVERINSKY, ALEX J. 4707 Foxhall Cres NW, Washington DC 20007-1064 (EM)

SHAFRIN, ELAINE G. 8100 Connecticut Ave NW Apt 1014, Washington DC 20815-2817 (EF)

SHROPSHIRE, JR, W. Apt. 426, 300 Westminster Canterbury Dr., Winchester VA 22603 (LF)

SIMMS, JAMES ROBERT (Mr.) 9405 Elizabeth Ct., Fulton MD 20759 (M)

SLUZKI, CARLOS 5302 Sherier P|! NW, Washington DC 20016 (F)

SMITH, THOMAS E 3148 Gracefield Rd Apt 215, Silver Spring MD 20904-5863 (LF)

SNIECKUS, MARY 1700, Dublin Dr., Silver Spring MD 20902 (F)

SODERBERG, DAVID L. 403 West Side Dr. Apt. 102, Gaithersburg MD 20878 (EM)

SOLAND, RICHARD M. 2516 Arizona Av Apt 6, Santa Monica CA 90404-1426 (LF)

SPARGO, WILLIAM J. 9610 Cedar Lane, Bethesda MD 20814 (F)

STAVELEY, JUDY 880 Laval Drive, Sykesville MD 21784 (M)

STERN, KURT H. 103 Grant Avenue, Takoma Park MD 20912-4328 (EF)

STIEF, LOUIS J. 332 N St., SW., Washington DC 20024-2904 (EF)

STILES, MARK D. 11506 Taber Street, Silver Spring MD 20902 (F)

STOMBLER, ROBIN Auburn Health Strategies, 3519 South Four Mile Run Dr., Arlington VA 22206 (M)

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THOMPSON, CHRISTIAN F. 278 Palm Island Way, Ponte Vedra FL 32081 (LF)

TIMASHEV, SVIATOSLAV (SLAVA) A. 3306 Potterton Dr., Falls Church VA 22044-1603 (FP)

TORAIN II, DAVID S 1313 Summerfield Drive, Herndon VA 20170 (M)

TOUWAIDE, ALAIN Botany Center, The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino CA 91108 (LF)

TROXLER, G.W. PO Box 1144, Chincoteague VA 23336-9144 (F)

UBELAKER, DOUGLAS H. Dept. of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

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VARADI, PETER F. Apartment 1606W, 4620 North Park Avenue, Chevy Chase MD 20815-7507 (EF)

VAVRICK, DANIEL J. 10314 Kupperton Court, Fredricksburg VA 22408 (F)

VOAS, JEFFREY 8210 Crestwood Heights Drive, Apartment 720, McLean VA 22102 (M)

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WANG, Y. CLAIRE 140 Charles Street, Apt 22D, New York NY 10014 (M)

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WEISS, ARMAND B. 6516 Truman Lane, Falls Church VA 22043 (LF)

WERGIN, WILLIAM P. | Arch Place #322, Gaithersburg MD 20878 (EF)

WHITE, CARTER 12160 Forest Hill Rd, Waynesboro PA 17268 (EF)

WIESE, WOLFGANG L. 8229 Stone Trail Drive, Bethesda MD 20817 (EF)

WILLIAMS, CARL 2272 Dunster Lane, Potomac MD 29854 (F)

WILLIAMS, E. EUGENE Dept. of Biological Sciences, Salisbury University, 1101 Camden Ave, Salisbury

MD 21801 (M)

WILLIAMS, JACK 6022 Hardwick Place, Falls Church VA 22041 (F)

Washington Academy of Sciences

Science Bite

Use of Viruses to Treat Antibiotic Resistant Infections

Contributed by Mina Izadjoo, PhD

Since the discovery of Penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928, antibiotics have

been commonly used to treat infections. The visionary Alexander Fleming in his

Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1945), warned us about bacteria developing

resistance to antibiotics.

Today the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria represents a growing public

health problem worldwide. Therefore, novel non-antibiotic based therapies are

urgently needed. To address this critical gap, scientists have been exploring various

therapeutics including phage therapy for treating infectious diseases.

Phage therapy is the use of bacteriophages or simply phages. Bacteriophages are

viruses that can kill specific antibiotic resistant bacteria. Phages are generally safe

since they only lyse and kill specific bacterial strains. Phages have been used for

treating patients in the former Soviet Union and central Europe for decades. In US,

the first bacteriophage for human consumption was approved by Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) in 2006. This FDA approval was for using phages to prevent

listeria infections in ready-to-eat meat products. However, we have yet to see any

commercially available human phage therapy.

According to a 2019 report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC), every year 2.8 million people suffer from antibiotic resistant infections

which result in 35,000 deaths. This number is equivalent to someone dying every

15 minutes from antibiotic resistant infections. Carbapenem which ts a beta-lactam

antibiotic with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. This antibiotic is used as a

last resort for treating infections caused by Gram-negative resistant bacteria. With

reports of resistance to carbapenems, clearly the 'post-antibiotic' era is near if not

already here.

Efforts are underway by many groups to develop novel therapeutics against

antibiotic resistant pathogens. Currently, there is a growing interest in development

of new and effective phage therapies for treatment of drug-resistant bacterial

infections. With the high incidence of infections caused by multi-drug resistant

pathogens, development of novel and effective non-antibiotic based therapies such

as phage therapy is of critical importance. It is time to dedicate sufficient time and

resources to this old but promising therapeutic approach.

44

Delegates to the Washington Academy of Sciences

Representing Affiliated Scientific Societies

Acoustical Society of America

American/International Association of Dental Research

American Assoc. of Physics Teachers, Chesapeake

Section

American Astronomical Society

American Fisheries Society

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration

American Meteorological Society

American Nuclear Society

American Phytopathological Society

American Society for Cybernetics

American Society for Microbiology

American Society of Civil Engineers

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

American Society of Plant Physiology

Anthropological Society of Washington

ASM International

Association for Women in Science

Association for Computing Machinery

Association for Science, Technology, and Innovation

Association of Information Technology Professionals

Biological Society of Washington

Botanical Society of Washington

Capital Area Food Protection Association

Chemical Society of Washington

District of Columbia Institute of Chemists

Eastern Sociological Society

Electrochemical Society

Entomological Society of Washington

Geological Society of Washington

Historical Society of Washington DC

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

(continued on next page)

Paul Arveson

J. Terrell Hoffeld

Frank R. Haig, S. J.

Sethanne Howard

Lee Benaka

David W. Brandt

E. Lee Bray

Vacant

Charles Martin

Vacant

Stuart Umpleby

Vacant

Vacant

Daniel J. Vavrick

Mark Holland

Vacant

Toni Marechaux

Jodi Wesemann

Vacant

F. Douglas

Witherspoon

Vacant

Vacant

Chris Puttock

Keith Lempel

Vacant

Vacant

Ronald W.

Mandersheid

Vacant

Vacant

Jurate Landwehr

Vacant

Gerald Krueger

Washington Academy of Sciences

Delegates to the Washington Academy of Sciences

Representing Affiliated Scientific Societies

(continued from previous page)

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Washington

Section

Institute of Food Technologies, Washington DC Section

Institute of Industrial Engineers, National Capital Chapter

International Association for Dental Research, American

Section

International Society for the Systems Sciences

International Society of Automation, Baltimore Washington

Section

Instrument Society of America

Marine Technology Society

Maryland Native Plant Society

Mathematical Association of America, Maryland-District of

Columbia-Virginia Section

Medical Society of the District of Columbia

National Capital Area Skeptics

National Capital Astronomers

National Geographic Society

Optical Society of America, National Capital Section

Pest Science Society of America

Philosophical Society of Washington

Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

Society of American Foresters, National Capital Society

Society of American Military Engineers, Washington DC

Post

Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Washington DC

Chapter

Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.,

Washington DC Section

Soil and Water Conservation Society, National Capital

Chapter

Technology Transfer Society, Washington Area Chapter

Virginia Native Plant Society, Potowmack Chapter

Washington DC Chapter of the Institute for Operations

Research and the Management Sciences (WINFORMS)

Washington Evolutionary Systems Society

Washington History of Science Club

Washington Paint Technology Group

Washington Society of Engineers

Washington Society for the History of Medicine

Washington Statistical Society

World Future Society, National Capital Region Chapter

Richard Hill

Taylor Wallace

Neal F. Schmeidler

Christopher Fox

Vacant

Richard

Sommerfield

Hank Hegner

Jake Sobin

Vacant

John Hamman

Julian Craig

Vacant

Jay H. Miller

Vacant

Jim Heaney

Vacant

Larry S. Millstein

Vacant

Marilyn Buford

Vacant

Vacant

E. Lee Bray

Erika Larsen

Richard Leshuk

Alan Ford

Meagan Pitluck-

Schmitt

Vacant

Albert G. Gluckman

Vacant

Alvin Reiner

Alain Touwaide

Michael P. Cohen

Jim Honig

Washington Academy of Sciences

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Washington, DC 20005

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