Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 137
APPENDIX F
PROGRAMS TARGETED TO WOMEN AND MEMBERS OF
MINORITY GROUPS
The following are examples of programs intended to encourage women and
members of minority groups to choose careers in the sciences. This compilation
is not exhaustive, and much still needs to be done to recruit from groups that
have not traditionally chosen science careers, but these examples show the range
and types of resources currently available.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
The Carnegie Corporation of New York has sponsored numerous activities
designed to improve the education of women and minority-group members.
Grants have been awarded to a variety of organizations the American Associ-
ation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Urban Coalition,
Fundacion Educativa Ana G. Mendez, Stanford University, the University of
California, Berkeley, Arizona State University, the Science Museum of Con-
necticut, the Center for Applied Linguistics, the Center for Women Policy
Studies, and the Institute for Educational Leadership-to promote equity and
to prepare and motivate students to pursue and succeed in college mathematics
and science-based courses. Some of the college programs are designed to mo-
bilize community-based black and Hispanic parents' organizations in support
of improved mathematics and science education for minority-group children.
Others focus on middle- and high-school students. Still others are designed to
build networks of colleges, community-based organizations, and professional
associations to increase the access of women and minority-group members to
higher education (Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1988~. Funds for similar
activities are also available from Apple Computer, the College Board, the Ford
Foundation, the J.N. Pew Jr. Charitable Trust, and the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration.
C)ne recent example of an initiative to enhance exposure of minority-group
children to science and mathematics is that of the National Urban Coalition
(NUC). Recognizing that parents' fear of mathematics and science often affects
students' interest in these subjects, NUC, under the sponsorship of the Carnegie
Corporation of New York and others, has initiated a program that brings
families together to participate in mathematics activities. The Say YES to a
Youngster's Future program, now in its second year, targets teachers, children,
and parents. Using mathematics materials developed by the Lawrence Hall of
Science, teachers work with students and their parents. Family involvement is
a vital part of the program, and children learn with their parents, siblings, or
volunteer surrogate family members.
NUC is working with the Lawrence Hall of Science to develop science
curricula for the Say YES project. An important component of both the math-
ematics and science projects is "cultural connections," historical information
that links advances in science and mathematics to the ancestry of minority
137
OCR for page 138
138
APPENDIX F
groups, primarily blacks and Hispanics. For example, cultural connections in-
clude references to African theoretical mathematics, the African stone game,
Egyptian and Mexican pyramids, the Mayan number system, and Mayan and
Aztec calendars (National Urban Coalition, 1989~.
The goal of NUC's project is to involve students in science and mathematics
at an early age and, with the help and encouragement of family members, to
sustain the interest. Although the NUC program is only in its second year,
preliminary indications of the success of the program include observations that
students are more motivated to become involved in extracurricular activities,
that students show a greater level of participation in other classroom activities
(e.g., spelling and geography bees), that there is greater student participation in
science fairs, that test scores in mathematics have increased, and that teachers
involved in the program have gone back to school to supplement their own
knowledge of science and mathematics.
Other reservoirs of talent are black churches and black fraternal organiza-
tions. Project Linkages, a Carnegie-funded project at AAAS, has used black
churches in efforts to retain black children in the science-engineering pipeline,
and black fraternal organizations have a strong service orientation.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) recognizes the need to
attract minority-group students and women to careers in biomedical science.
As one of its initiatives in undergraduate education, support is being given to
colleges for high-school outreach programs. In 1988, 44 private 4-year colleges
and historically black institutions were awarded grants to be used to prepare
students for graduate education and for careers in research, teaching, or the
practice of medicine. Ten of the 44 institutions that were awarded grants were
historically black colleges or universities, and four were women's colleges.
Among the projects to be supported are appointment of new faculty members
and activities to develop faculty, curricular development and the acquisition
of laboratory equipment, support of scientific research of faculty and students
working in collaboration, academic development and scholarships for students
in the sciences, and expansion and development of new linkages with teachers
and students from high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools
(Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 1989~.
In 1989, HHMI awarded grants focusing on colleges affiliated with
doctorate-granting institutions. Support has been given for faculty, students,
curricular development, and science outreach programs that strengthen the in-
teraction of applicant institutions with other academic institutions, including
not only 2- and 4-year colleges, but also elementary and secondary schools.
Many of the applicant institutions have proposed initiatives to attract more
minority-group members and women to careers in the biosciences through aca-
demic counseling, research and teaching assistantships, and sustained contact
with senior research faculty in biology and related fields. Other programs are
intended to offer summer institutes for biology teachers from schools with
sizable minority-group populations. Outreach programs will focus on attracting
OCR for page 139
APPENDIX F
139
minority-group students from neighboring community colleges to transfer to
university science departments. Other programs will offer summer research
assistantships for students in university laboratories (Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, 19891.
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation sponsors programs developed specifically to attract
minority-group students to the sciences. Ford Foundation doctoral and post-
doctoral fellowships are designed to increase the presence of underrepresented
minorities in the nation's college and university faculties. The Ford Foundation
offers doctoral fellowships to members of six minority groups most severely
underrepresented in the nation's Ph.D. population Alaskan natives (Eskimo or
Aleut), native American Indians, black Americans, Mexican Americans, native
Pacific islanders (Polynesian or Micronesian), and Puerto Ricans. Awards are
made for study in research-based doctoral programs in the behavioral and social
sciences, humanities, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, and biologi-
cal sciences or for interdisciplinary programs comprising two or more eligible
disciplines (Ford Foundation, 1988~.
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) minority-group graduate fellow-
ship program was instituted to increase the number of practicing scientists and
engineers who are members of ethnic minority groups that traditionally have
been underrepresented in the nation's pool of scientists and engineers. The
fellowships are awarded for study and research leading to master's or doctoral
degrees in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, and social sci-
ences and in the history and philosophy of science. Awards are also made
for work toward a research-based Ph.D. in science education (National Science
Foundation, 1988a,b).
NSF, through its Directorate for Science and Engineering Education, also
sponsors activities to address the underrepresentation of women, minority-group
members, and persons with disabilities. Support to set up regional centers for
minority-group members and to develop prototype and model projects for
women, minor~ty-group members, and persons with disabilities is channeled
through universities, colleges, and organizations with substantial enrollments of
minority-group students in science and engineering and a demonstrated history of
commitment to minority-group concerns (National Science Foundation, 1988c).
References
Carnegie Corporation of New York. 1988. The List of Grants and Appropriations of
1988. New York, N.Y.: Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Ford Foundation. 1988. Ford Foundation Predoctoral and Dissertation Fellowships for
Minorities. Program Announcement 1989. Washington, D.C.: National Research
Council.
OCR for page 140
140
APPENDIX F
Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 1989. Grants Program Policies and Awards 1988-
1989. Rockville, Md.: Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
National Science Foundation. 1988a. 1989 Announcement for NSF Graduate Research
Fellowships. Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation.
National Science Foundation. 1988b. 1989 Announcement for NSF Minority Graduate
Research Fellowships. Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation.
National Science Foundation. 1988c. Guide to Programs. Fiscal Year 1989. Washing-
ton, D.C.: National Science Foundation.
National Urban Coalition. 1989. Miscellaneous "Say Yes" materials. Washington, D.C.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
hughes medical
