-3- 
iargest NIH grants for rDNA research (e.g., Stanford, University of California 
at San Francisco, Harvard, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology). 
Biographical data were collected on all committee members, along with their 
professional field, and their relationship to the given institution. (The 
data were obtained from membership profiles submitted to ORDA by IBCs between 
October 1976 and July 1978, thus some of the information may not be entirely 
up to date.) 
In order to assess the representation of different types of members on 
these IBCs, individual committee members were assigned to one of nine 
categories. (Figure 2 on page 6 lists the nine categories.) The categories 
attempt to distinguish direct or indirect involvement in rDNA research and 
also the nature of members' affiliation with the institution. The nine 
categories were defined as follows: (1) Scholars in fields such as microbiology, 
biochemistry, or molecular genetics were categorized as scientists in rDNA 
disciplines . This category includes individuals most likely to be directly 
involved in rDNA research and represent this professional viewpoint. 
(2) Scholars in fields which may be related to rDNA research, such as biology, 
chemistry, medicine, or civil engineering, were categorized as peripherally 
related scientists . (3) Related administrators includes institutional and 
noninstitutional officials who were involved in an area related to rDNA, 
either research affairs or health and safety enforcement. This category 
includes individuals whose professional training may have been related to 
rDNA activitires. (A) Nonrelated scholars were those whose disciplines 
were totally unrelated to rDNA activities. (5) Administrators whose 
professional activities were unrelated to rDNA research, such as city council 
members or university presidents, were designated as nonrelated administrators . 
(6) Public representatives were individuals from the local community who 
were not directly associated with the institution and were not involved ir 
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