Fund Aims To See Students Opt For Science Careers

A great perplexity of our time: How do you get more undergraduates to choose careers in science? While some in the science community may wring their hands helplessly in the face of this nettlesome problem, a private foundation in tucson, Ariz., is doing ev- erything it can to resolve it in the near future. Research Corporation, a fund that has been doling out science-support dollars since 1912, has re- cently revamped its grant-making program because it thinks it can help reverse the science student shortage and improve science education. Student Participation The vehicle for these hopes is the foundation’s 17-year-old Cottreell Science Grant program, which now gives out about $1 million a year in research money. The grants go only to faculty in undergraduate departments, and the money is contingent upon the teachers’ development of projects that give their students a chance to participate in scientific research and experimentation—as if they were graduate students in the sciences. “A tenet of faith at Research Corporation is that the quality of science instruction is greatly improved by active research programs that enlist students,” says Paul Schaefer, president and chief executive officer of Research Corporation. These research projects, the foundation hopes, function as “magnets” that draw students into science departments across the country. “Students will go where the action is. They’ll migrate to a department that’s doing exciting research,” says Brian Andreen, grants program coordinator for the foundation. For the concept to work, the grants must not be demonstration projects, but genuine science problems. For example, Research Corporation over the years has funded a biologist—John Tymoczko at Carleton College, Northfield, Minn.,—to work with his students in studying the interactions of steroids, and various RNAs. Aaron Cox at the University of Redlands (Calif.) was funded to supervise students on laser design. And Mary Beth Saffo at Swarthmore (Pa.) College received a grant to lead her charges in investigating a symbiotic relationship between sea squirts and a mold species. These three grant recipients, one can observe, were affiliated with private schools; indeed, until last year, only scientists at private schools were considered as candidates for Cottrell Science Grants. The foundation adopted that policy back in 1972, when the Cottrell program was launched, because private schools at that time were turning out a disproportionately large share of students going on to graduate degrees in science. However, starting about a year ago, Research Corporation invited public colleges to join the Cottrell Science Grants competition, a move stemming from the foundation’s hope that, by opening the door to the public colleges, it could broaden the scope of students it encourages toward a science major. In particular, the funding organization realizes, the new approach reaches out to women and ethnic The dearth of budding scientists has been documented by the National Science Foundation, which notes that, with the baby boom now having quieted down, the pool of 18-year-olds in the U.S. is clearly on the wane—declining since 1979 in relation to the overall population. This decline suggests difficulties in maintaining an adequate flow of new science and engineering personnel unless young people—especially minorities and women—can be induced to increase their participation rates in college science and engineering programs.” NSF notes that the scientific/engineering world hasn’t been doing very well at attracting women and minorities. Women make up only 25% of scientists and 4% of engineers, the agency points out; and blacks account for only 2.5% of the science and engineering workforce. Although Research Corporation’s expanded competition must come as good news for public schools, private school science departments could be forgiven for feeling some anxiety. Although the foundation’s competition expanded, its budget didn’t, so there’s going to be more vying for the same amount of money. Research Corporation did not set any quota for its support of public institutions. All proposals are tossed in together for consideration and the selection committee is instructed to pick the best, even if, to take the extreme cases, the winners are all public or all private schools. Since announcing its new policy, the organization has received about as many proposals from public schools as it has from private schools, according to Andreen. As for the possibility that one group of schools—either public or private— will overwhelm the other in the competition, “I see no evidence of that,” says Andreen. “There’s no indication that either group turns in poorer proposals than the other.” During the first year, the success rate for proposals was about the same, around 40%, for both the public and the private schools, according to Andreen. The public/ private mix of the recipients, announced last May, was about half and half, thus, the new policy has effectively reduced the private schools’ slice of the Research Corporation’s million-dollar-a-year funding pie. Wendy Walker is a freelance writer in Chadds Ford, Pa.

Fund Aims To See Students Opt For Science Careers

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