Recent figures show that of approximately 21,500 engineering professors in the U.S., only 200 are black, only 300 are Hispanic, and only 400 are female.
The GE Foundation of Fairfield, Conn., is doing its best to change those demographics for the next generation of scientists by committing $35 million to two programs, one aimed at doubling the number of college-bound students from inner-city schools by the year 2000, and the other hoping to double minority faculty in science and engineering.
The GE faculty grants will fund young people at three levels: first-year graduate fellows; second- and third-year students who go into college teaching; and newly appointed faculty needing assistance with research and writing. The program, which will emphasize the physical sciences, is to get underway in 1989.
(Contact: Paul Ostergard, GE Foundation, 203-373-2250)
Headed by CETUS Corp. chairman Ronald Cape, the new Harmony Foundation intends to help U.S. competitiveness in...