Getting More For Science Education

NSF's Bassam Shakhashiri finds new support in his once-lonely campaign for funds to train the next generation of researchers WASHINGTON - After nearly six years of stoking the boiler at the National Science Foundation, Bassam Shakhashiri believes that the train with increased funding for science education is finally leaving the station. And his message to the scientific community is simple: Either climb aboard and lend a hand or be left back at the gate. As NSF assistant director for science a

Written byJeffrey Mervis

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As NSF assistant director for science and engineering education, Shakhashiri has watched his budget soar from $55 million in 1985 to a proposed $251 million for the 1991 fiscal year starting in October. He's just launched what could become an $80 million program to enable states to revamp their approach to science education. And cover stories in national magazines and an avalanche of reports give credence to his conviction about the direction in which funding for science education is headed.

"You see, I don't have to say any more about it," he says, referring to an exchange during a Senate hearing March 29 in which Sen. Robert Kerrey (D-Neb.) berated NSF Director Erich Bloch and, in absentia, President Bush for failing to do enough about science education. "I can just sit there with my head held high. The vector has been defined, there's no doubt about that. . . The ...

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