The early 2000s saw the collapse of the dot.com boom, impacting the emerging tech sector, but the state soon diversified into other high-tech sectors. The War on Terror began in Pennsylvania with the attack in New York and with the crash of Flight 93 in southwestern Pennsylvania. Much of the state experienced a housing boom in the early 2000s, which then went bust in 2008, leading to foreclosures, job losses, and economic hardship. Social media also began to emerge as more of a force socially went the increase in smartphones.
During the 2000s, Penn State University continued its progress in the material sciences with the development of nanoscale materials. One device could detect minute amounts of chemicals with applications in environmental monitoring, national security, and medical diagnostics. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh made advancements in developing artificial organs, creating the bioartifical lung. Wyeth, a pharmaceutical company in Pennsylvania, developed Prevnar, a vaccine for pneumonia in children.
During the first decade of the 21st century the Academy was pretty much the same as it had been in the 1990s. Annual meetings were held in hotels and attendance was generally steady with around 250 people attending. Some efforts were made, via the advisory committee, to bring in scientists that were not part of academia.
Below are the highlights of the Annual Meetings of the Academy, if they are known.
76th Annual Meeting – April 14-16, 2000 (The Inn at Reading, Wyommissing, PA): There were two speakers during this meeting. On Friday evening, Dr. Ross MacPhee, of the American Museum of Natural History, spoke on “Death in the Pleistocene: Did emerging Infectious Diseases cause Quaternary Megafaunal Extinctions?” On Saturday, Dr. Donald S. Coffey spoke on “Frontiers in Biological Sciences.”
77th Annual Meeting – March 30 – April 1, 2001 (Radisson Hotel, Monroeville, PA): There were two speakers at this meeting. On Friday, Dr. Pam Correll of Penn State University spoke on “Careers in Molecular Biology and Immunology.” On Saturday, Dr. Joseph Gaydos of the University of Georgia spoke on “Trials and Tribulations of a Wildlife Biologist.”
78th Annual Meeting – April 5-7, 2002 (Pocono Manor Inn & Golf Resort, Pocono Manor, PA): The speaker at this meeting was Dr. Ned Heindel of Lehigh University who spoke on “Quacks, Charlatans, and Why We Have the FDA.” Dr. Heindel spoke on Friday evening.
79th Annual Meeting – April 4-6, 2003 (Holiday Inn, Grantville, PA): The speaker at this meeting on Friday evening was Dr. Mark Monmonier of Syracuse University who spoke on “How to Lie with Maps.”
80th Annual Meeting – March 26 – 28, 2004 (Radisson Hotel, Monroeville, PA): A watershed symposium was given during this meeting.
81st Annual Meeting – April 8-10, 2005 (Radisson Inn, Camp Hill, PA): The speaker for this meeting was Dennis C. Wolfe, PA Secretary of Agriculture, who spoke on “Current Issues in Agriculture.” The symposium at this meeting was on “Science Education and Workforce Development.”
82nd Annual Meeting – March 31 – April 2, 2006 (Holiday Inn, Grantville, PA): The speaker at this meeting was Dr. Philip S. Hosbach, Vice-President of Immunization Policy and Governmental Relations at Sanofi Pasteur. The symposium at this meeting was on “Vaccines.”
83rd Annual Meeting – March 30 – April 1, 2007 (Radisson Inn, Monroeville, PA): The speaker at this meeting was Dr. Matthew Lamanna, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, who spoke on “The Origin of Modern Birds: New Fossils from the Early Cretaceous of Northwestern China.” The symposium at this meeting was on “Renewable Energy.”
84th Annual Meeting – April 4-6, 2008 (Holiday Inn, Grantville, PA): The speaker at this meeting was Dr. Lance Simmons, Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell who spoke on Climate Change in Pennsylvania. The symposium at this meeting was “Science Education.”
85th Annual Meeting – March 27-29, 2009 (Radisson Inn, Camp Hill, PA): The speaker at this meeting was Greg Czarnecki, who spoke on “Climate Change Adaptation & Biodiversity – A State Perspective.”
Go to Chapter 12: Pennsylvania Academy of Science in the 2010s