SAI Member Laureate Dika Newlin, an initiate of Sigma Xi, was a child prodigy who began reading dictionaries at the age of three and composing for the piano at the age of eight. When she was 14 years old she left home for UCLA where she became a protégée of composer Arnold Schoenberg. She became a highly regarded music professor who taught for over 60 years, translated many important works on contemporary music, and also served as a classical music columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Despite decades of academic success, she is perhaps best known in her adopted state of Virginia as an octagenarian punk rocker and star of the award-winning Michael D. Moore documentary Dika: Murder City. The film's title refererences Newlin's song "Murder City," written at a time when Richmond (VA) was the "murder capital" of the United States. One reviewer, who commented on the rough quality of the film, said "the film's production flaws are easily overlooked by the mad genius of Dika Newlin, a woman who presents the facade of sincerity and intelligence during conversation, but who turns into a raving maniac whenever she steps before a microphone while the music plays."

Moore and cult icon Newlin combined their efforts in 1994, and Dika: Murder City, the CD Call Me Dika! 20 Greatest Hits: Live!, Ageless Icon: The Dika DVD, and several other films in which Newlin has played bit parts, along with audio samples of Newlin's music, are all available from their joint website at www.moorevideoandmusic.com.