Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 



65 



Smithsonian employees covered by the labor laws of Panama. 

 This change was necessitated by the termination of the 

 Panama Canal Treaties on December 31, 1999. To spearhead 

 this process, STRI hired Luz E. Latorraca as the new director 

 of human resources. Thirteen STRI employees retired on 

 December 31 under the U.S. federal retirement program. 

 They were Mercedes Arroyo, Juan Campos, Wilberr Forde, 

 Alberto Gonzalez, Alvaro Gonzalez, Bonifacio de Leon, 

 Elena Lombardo, Gloria Maggiori, Saturnino Martinez, 

 Eduardo Navarro, Orlando Rodriguez, Felix Sanchez, and 

 Anfbal Velarde. 



Luis Turner was named acting director of the Procurement 

 Department and Maria Leone acting director of the Visitor 

 Services Office. 



STRI initiated a reorganization to improve coordination 

 among its administrative, support, and maintenance units 

 and to enhance its communication strategy. Georgina de Alba 

 was appointed associate director for finance and administra- 

 tion, Monica Alvarado was put in charge of STRI's public 

 information program, Xenia Guerra was appoinred office 

 manager for scientific support services, and Edith Salgado 

 was named protocol officer. 



To support the Secretary's goal of management excellence, 

 STRI managers and supervisors completed a 48-hour work- 

 shop in leadership and supervision. 



In November 1999, STRI established a new department, 

 the Business Initiatives Office, to manage the Institute's 

 business relations and income-generating acrivities and en- 

 sure appropriate revenues to STRI programs. Laura E. Flores 

 was recruited to head this office, which responded to increas- 



ing demands by the commercial sector, particularly Panama's 

 tourism industry, to access information generated by STRI 

 researchers. The fund-generating activities of this office in- 

 clude bookstores, commercial publications, and educational 

 visits. The ultimate goal of this office is to set up a self- 

 sustaining operation that covers program costs, while gener- 

 ating funds to enhance STRI's research and fellowship 

 programs. 



In the last three years, STRI had lost three staff scientists to 

 retirements and two to relocation. In order to strengthen its 

 scientific programs, four scientists joined STRI this fiscal year. 

 William Laurence, who has been working as senior research 

 scientist with the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments in 

 Brazil, was hired as tropical plant ecologist. Stephen Hubbell, 

 an internationally known forest ecologist at the University of 

 Georgia and a STRI research associate, accepted a position on 

 the STRI staff for two months a year. Elisabeth Kalko, a pro- 

 fessor at the University of Ulm and an international authority 

 on bats, also became a part-time staff scientist. Nelida Gomez, 

 a products chemist, was given a half-time scientific position 

 and will work half-time as academic liaison. 



STRI's deputy director Anthony Coates resigned in Au- 

 gust 2000 to accept the position of Smithsonian director of 

 research programs based in Washington, D.C. 



STRI director Ira Rubinoff was conferred an honorary pro- 

 fessorship by Panama's Universidad Catolica Santa Maria La 

 Antigua, in recognition of his support to the development of 

 research in Panama. William Eberhard was elected as a fel- 

 low of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in the 

 category of evolution and population biology and ecology. 



