Scientific leaders call for new efforts to curb sexual harassment

Leaders of AAAS — one of the nation’s most prominent scientific groups — are calling for the research community to "act with urgency" to address sexual and gender-based harassment in a new editorial. It follows on the heels of a new AAAS policy that creates a way to kick out members who have committed research misconduct or serious ethical breaches — including harassment. The National Science Foundation also finalized a harassment policy this week. “We are really at a point where we recognize and have a responsibility to respond to the toll that this issue is taking,” AAAS President Dr. Margaret Hamburg told me.