Sigma Xi will present First Gold Key Award at annual meeting

Sigma Xi member Norman Augustine is considered a businessman in Washington DC, but he still speaks like the aerospace engineer he was at the beginning of his career. In his retirement, after serving as chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp, he wants to dedicate whatever run-way he has left to two areas that could help create jobs and improve national security. The key to both, he says, is strengthening K-12 education and increasing federal funding for basic research. Despite few scientists and engineers in Congress, Augustine sees a widespread understanding among political leaders that research helps create jobs. There is also the sentiment, however, that more research funding isn't affordable.