|
 |
Shortly after World War II, workers of varying scientific
backgrounds who were involved in aspects of applied microbiology
became unhappy because there was no place where
they could present their views and their research papers. Dr.
Walter Ezekiel, Bureau of Ordinance, Department of the
Navy, Washington, DC, during the summer and autumn of
1949 wrote to a number of individuals suggesting formation
of a new Society for Industrial Microbiology, and arranged
with Dr. Raymond Taylor, Associate Administrative Secretary
of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) to schedule and advertise a meeting of
interested persons on December 29, 1949, during the AAAS
meeting in New York. On this date over 250 interested persons
met in the ballroom of the Hotel McAlpin in New York City.
There it was decided to form a new society to affiliate with the
newly formed American Institute of Biological Sciences
(AIBS), with Dr. Charles Thom as Acting Chairman.
Dr. Thom appointed an organization
committee which prepared a program and wrote a constitution
for the new society in preparation for the first annual
meeting held with AIBS at Ohio State University, September,
1950. Here Dr. Thom was elected the first President,
and Dr. Charles Porter, Purdue University, the Secretary
Treasurer. In 1951 the new SIM met with AIBS at the University
of Minnesota and Dr. Thom was elected President for a
second term. In 1952 the meeting was held at Cornell
University, and in 1953 at the University of Wisconsin.
Here, in addition to the scientific sessions, was instituted
the first social hour which has become a fixture at all
subsequent annual meetings.
For many years the annual
SIM meetings were held along with AIBS on university
campuses; in 1954 at Gainesville, FL, in 1955 at East
Lansing, MI, in 1957 at Stanford University, in 1958
at Indiana University, in 1959 at Pennsylvania State
University. At this meeting for the first time all SIMers
stayed together, at the Beta House. During 1960–1966
SIM members stayed in either a university fraternity
or sorority house, at Oklahoma State, Purdue, Oregon
State, University of Massachusetts, University of Colorado,
University of Illinois and University of Maryland.
At
the 1959 meeting, following enthusiastic and persuasive
efforts of Lloyd Hermann and Walter Bejuki, it was
decided to sponsor the initial Conference of Microbial
Agents, a mammoth undertaking. It was a one time event for
SIM, with ASM taking it over the following year (ICAAC).
Through the efforts of
Dr. Brinton Miller (President, 1963-64), the first volume of
Developments in Industrial Microbiology (DIM) was published
in 1960. This peerreviewed publication each year contained
the papers from the annual SIM meetings. Twenty-six years later,
in 1986, the concept for a new technical publication for SIM
was presented by President C. Herb Ward (1983-1984). The first
issue of Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology
(JIM&B) was published in March 1986 as the Journal
of Industrial Microbiology (JIM). The first editor-in-chief
was George E. Pierce. Since then, our Journal has grown
from a modest bimonthly, publishing 300 pages in 1986, to
a monthly, publishing more than 900 pages in 1992. The
name, JIM, was used continuously through 1996 when the
Board of Directors adopted the new name, JIM&B.
In 1991 Developments in Industrial
Microbiology Series (DIM Series) replaced, combined and expanded the scope of
DIM and Topics in Industrial Microbiology, the latter designed
to present proceedings of our special conferences. If
warranted, DIM Series publishes proceedings of selected
symposia from our annual meeting and special conferences.
SIM also publishes SIM News, a bimonthly news–
magazine which contains reports of Society activities,
news of significance in the field of applied microbiology,
placement opportunities, book reviews, meeting notices
and other news of interest. Each issue also contains a listing
of new individual and corporate members.
In 1967 SIM held its first independent
annual meeting at the University of Western Ontario. Subsequent separate
meetings were held in 1970 at the University of Rhode
Island, in 1973 at Northwestern University, and in 1974
(silver anniversary of the Society) at Memphis State University.
The first independent meeting not held at a university
was in 1983 at the Hyatt, Sarasota, FL. After meeting
at Colorado State the next year, all subsequent SIM annual
meetings have been at commercial locations. Our annual
meetings, noted for their friendly, informal environment
and strong technical content, consist of a workshop (usually
preceding the meeting), symposia, roundtables, poster
papers, exhibits, award presentations and social programs.
In 1987, reaffirming
its commitment to microbial biotechnologists, the organization of a special-topic
conference series was approved. These conferences attract about
200 participants, run for 2-3 days and usually result in
production of a monograph (DIM Series). Initiated by Dr.
George Somkuti (President 1985-86), the first event in the
series was the International Conference on the Biotechnology
of Microbial Products: Novel Pharmacological and
Agrobiological Activities (BMP), held March 13-16, 1988,
in San Diego, CA. This was followed by the Comprehensive
Conference on Listeria monocytogenes, held October 2-5,
1988, in Rohnert Park, CA, bringing together experts in
microbiological food safety.
Since then, SIM has sponsored or co-sponsored special
conferences on a regular basis. These have included: DECHEMA
(Frankfurt, Germany 1989); Five BMP conferences; Asian/
Pacific Biotech Meeting (Seoul, Korea 1990); Biocatalysis for
the '90s (Orlando, FL 1991); Second International Marine
Biotech Conference (Baltimore, MD 1991); Fifth International
Conference on Computer Applications to Fermentation Technology
(Keystone, CO 1992); International Conference on the
Application of Predictive Microbiology and Computer Modeling
Techniques to the Food Industry (Tampa, FL 1992); First
International Conference on Antibiotic Resistance: Impact on
Discovery (Denver, CO 1994); First and Second International
Conferences on Recent Advances in Fermentation Technology
(San Diego, CA 1995, 1997) and the Sixth International Conference
on the Genetics and Molecular Biology of Industrial
Microorganisms (GMBIM) (Bloomington, IN 1996).
Recognizing the importance of peer
recognition, SIM sponsors several monetary and honorary awards. The
Porter Award for Distinguished Service to the Society was
established in 1960 and the Charles Thom Award, the
highest honor of the Society recognizing outstanding contributions
to the field of industrial microbiology, was
instituted in 1966. The first recipient of the Thom award
was Dr. Kenneth B. Raper at the 1967 meeting.
In 1984 Fellowship status for specially
distinguished SIM members was approved. In 1985 nine individuals
were elected as the first SIM fellows, all previous Thom
awardees. The Selman A. Waksman Distinguished Teaching
Award was established in 1989 and the first recipient
was Dr. Douglas E. Eveleigh. The Panlabs Lecture Award,
sponsored by Panlabs, Inc., was established in 1991. It is
presented to individuals of world renown in the field of
microbiology. Each lecturer presents an address at the
annual meeting, with subsequent publication in the DIM
Series or JIM&B. In 1992, SIM established the Young
Investigator Award, sponsored by Schering-Plough Research
Institute. The first award was given at the 1993
Annual Meeting. SIM also supports a Student Award for
the best abstract submitted for the annual meeting.
The business of SIM is conducted
by the Board of Directors (elected by the membership and consisting of a
President, President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Past-President
and four Directors); the Executive Secretary and the
Business office staff; and Committees. Our headquarters is
located in Fairfax, VA.
Under the guidance of our Board of Directors the committee
structure was reorganized. There are presently fifteen
standing committees, as follows: Awards and Honors; Corporate
Membership; Education; Election; Exhibits; Finance;
Local Arrangements; Local Sections; Nominations; Policy
and Public Responsibility; Program; Publications; Publicity;
Regular Membership; Special Conferences.
In addition, 13 Local Sections conduct
sessions in industrial microbiology, present timely speakers and in some
instances, hold regular monthly dinner meetings. Local
sections have been established in: Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa,
Maryland/DC, New England, New Jersey, Northern California,
North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puget Sound, Southern
California, Southern Great Lakes and Wisconsin.
SIM membership currently includes
over 1800 individual members and more than 60 corporate members.
Revised from
writings by Drs. Leland Underkofler, Robert Schwartz and Christine Case.
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
