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But more visibility and funding are needed if their esoteric studies are to have impact beyond the playing field Like many sports scientists, David Lamb came to his profession by way of an interest in athletics. "I wanted to be a coach, but my [physical education] student teaching was one of the stereotypical worst experiences. So I decided to go back to school." It was there, at Michigan State University, says Lamb--now a professor of preventive medicine and health at Ohio State University

Continued industry growth and the rush to develop new products had a hand in raising average annual salaries for scientists working in biotechnology in 1991, according to a recently released survey. The increases also reflected additional funds raised in stock offerings. These helped pay for new or expanded research projects, many of which necessitated hiring more staff, often at higher salaries, according to J. Robert Scott, a Boston-based consulting firm that conducted the survey. Among the

Two decades after the bold concept of these specialized high schools was hatched, they are demonstrating their worth By now, the gruesome statistics have made it clear that primary and secondary science and math education in the United States is in bad shape, with youngsters manifesting what many officials consider an ominous combination of ineptitude and disinterest: * The nation ranks 14th among developed countries in terms of students' ability to perform advanced algebra. * Korean school

While the agency moves to identify long-term goals, critics question the plan's feasibility as well as its fairness More than a year into the process, an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, and even hostility is clouding the formulation of the National Institutes of Health's long-range strategic plan. Although the process is alive and advancing, there are skeptics in the biomedical research community whose perceptions of what a strategic planning process is, what it should be, and what it can accom

The High Performance Computing Act, which became law last December, provides a boost in federal funds to improve and integrate the confusing collection of computer networks used by scientists to transmit data and electronic mail. The ultimate goal is to create a high-speed national computer network, analogous to the interstate highway system, with a capacity to transmit data at one gigabit (1 billion bits) per second, a speed 700 times greater than today's system. Such a system would provide e

Robert E. Pollock, Distinguished Professor of Physics at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Henry G. Blosser, University Distinguished Professor of physics at Michigan State University, have received the American Physical Society's Tom W. Bonner Prize. The prize, APS's highest honor in experimental nuclear physics, was presented on April 22 at the society's meeting in Washington, D.C. Pollock and Blosser will share the $5,000 cash award. Pollock, 56, conceived and designed the cooler facilit

Susan G. O'Leary, director of clinical training in the psychology department at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and an associate professor in the department, has been elected chairwoman of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology for 1992-94. The council includes directors of 144 doctoral programs in the United States and Canada. O'Leary earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1972 from SUNY-Stony Brook. At Stony Brook, she was an assistant professor in 1973

The diminishing capacity of the government to recruit top candidates for key government scientific positions has "long-term consequences ... very serious for the nation," a recent report issued by the Panel on Presidentially Appointed Scientists and Engineers states. "There is considerable evidence of increasing difficulty in recruiting ... highly qualified appointees," according to "Science and Technology Leadership in American Government," and this has "a significant and harmful effect on t

JUST HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THE SCIENCE AND MATH MAGNET SCHOOLS? Author: Susan L-J Dickinson A 1990 study conducted by the North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM) on the occasion of its 10th anniversary covered some 900 alumni from the school's first eight classes (1982-1989), and revealed the following statistics: * 99 percent of NCSSM students attended or were attending four-year colleges, vs. 58 percent of all students nationally and 39 percent in the state of North Car

Pay-Per-View At HHMI Campaign Contributions More From The Land Of Opportunity Salamander Sex Proving Their Productivity The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has produced a new video on lab safety techniques and distributed it to each of its units and laboratories. The 12 1/2-minute tape, entitled What You Should Know About Laboratory Safety, features correct procedures for such functions as storing, transporting, and disposing of hazardous chemicals; removing contaminated gloves; and ha

For most of this century, United States colleges and universities adhered to a dogma that the best way to compete for students, faculty, and research dollars is to expand. But this approach has led to large, complicated bureaucracies, according to Barbara Bergmann, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The net result of this, Bergmann says, is a debilitating malady called "administrative bloat." Bergmann, a professor of economics at American University, contend

Scientists in industry and academia foresee trouble as NIH persists in claiming ownership over partial sequences Date: April 27, 1992 The reviews from the scientific community remain mostly negative over the National Institutes of Health's patent application for a total of 2,722 partial human gene sequences. Academic researchers, who say they are mostly unaffected by the patenting process, nevertheless are appalled; and while some in the commercial sector of the biotech community now believe