Recent political and judicial setbacks to affirmative action throughout the United States have minority and women scientists concerned that whatever advantages they have gained in the lab or clinic in the 30 years since such laws and regulations were enacted will be decimated. Impassioned national debate on the issue has been sparked by a number of widely publicized events. Among them are an effort by two professors in California to do away with any vestige of affirmative action in hiring by s

According to the latest figures from the American Council on Education, of the more than 500,000 faculty members in 1991, 68 percent were men and 32 percent were women, compared with 73 percent of men and 27 percent of women in 1981. In 1981, whites made up 91 percent of the faculty; in 1991, they constituted 88 percent of the total. In 1991, of the remaining 12 percent minority, there were twice as many male as female African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and American Indian faculty memb

John Ruffin thinks the National Institutes of Health's 20-year effort to ensure that affirmative action goals are carried out through minority research and training programs must have been a benefit to society. But he can't really say that for sure--because he just doesn't know. No one is keeping track. And in order to find out just how effective NIH is in moving and keeping minorities in research careers, Ruffin is heading a multiyear effort to evaluate the various programs aimed at minorities

Land-grant college officials fear their institutions may be among hardest hit if proposed policy is enacted Agricultural scientists and research administrators, already beset by budget cuts and the effects of political turmoil in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), warn of a much more formidable threat to their support looming on the horizon. Particularly affected, according to these observers, would be land-grant colleges. The "Contract with America," if enacted by the new, R

As it is, she plans to go on to graduate school for advanced study in pharmacology, a subject she hit upon as she cast about in the sea of different biology concentrations. But now she knows that she can call Gilmer, a cell biologist at Glaxo Inc. in Research Triangle Park, N.C., at any time for advice about her career, thanks to Sease's nomination as a Glaxo Women in Science Scholar by the major pharmaceutical firm. Sease may even

As it is, she plans to go on to graduate school for advanced study in pharmacology, a subject she hit upon as she cast about in the sea of different biology concentrations. But now she knows that she can call Gilmer, a cell biologist at Glaxo Inc. in Research Triangle Park, N.C., at any time for advice about her career, thanks to Sease's nomination as a Glaxo Women in Science Scholar by the major pharmaceutical firm. Sease may even

AUTHOR: RENEE TWOMBLY, p.1 Biochemist Mary Sue Coleman is a rarity--a woman who has shattered the glass ceiling, the invisible barrier that allows women to glimpse the peak of professional success but prevents them from attaining it. Coleman, who is leaving her position as vice chancellor for graduate studies and research at the University of North Carolina to become provost at the University of New Mexico, thinks she is lucky. She says she "sidestepped" her way past gender discrimination by

United States Food and Drug Administration officials were, understandably, pleased late last year when Congress authorized the agency to hire 600 new drug reviewers. Additional staff, FDA officials contended at the time, would be bound to reduce-- perhaps by as much as half--the time required for pharmaceuticals to move through the agency's review process and, thus, make great inroads in relieving FDA's long-criticized "biotech bottleneck." Now, however, the edge of optimism among the offici

Once the United States' builders of sky-riding nuclear bombs, the Department of Energy is now looking back at Earth to clean up the mess such decades-long efforts have left. Specifically, the agency is beginning to address environmental problems in the land beneath its 12 major weapons research, production, and test sites and related facilities. It is a huge effort; environmental management now commands the largest budget in the agency at $5.5 billion this year. But DOE may have problems findi

Figures recently released by the Department of Energy indicate that the once-booming field of nuclear science continues to lose its appeal among young researchers--a trend that academic and government observers consider a growing threat to the United States nuclear industry. The DOE statistics--tallies on university enrollment that the department collects annually--show a steadily declining number of young scientists enrolling in nuclear engineering departments in United States academic insti

Under new leadership, the huge science organization hopes to overcome inertia and lay claim to status as the `voice' of science During his 19-year tenure at the helm of Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Polytechnic University, engineer George Buglia-rello took an ailing institution and made it a contender in the scientific community. Last week, when Bugliarello assumed a one-year term as president of Sigma Xi, the 101,600-member scientific honor society, he said he hopes to accomplish much the same goal in a f

With recession taking its toll on campuses throughout the U.S., scientists seek ways to cope with hard times Sizable cutbacks in state funding to public and private academic institutions are taking an increasingly heavy toll on campus research, say university scientists and administrators throughout the United States. The debilitating impact, they claim, is being felt as the 1991-92 school year draws to a close. While summers past may have carried the promise to university researchers of a f