These organizations run the gamut of scientific fields and of minority population groups. Though more poorly funded and obscure than their better- known, general-interest counterparts, minority societies nevertheless play an important role in furthering the academic and industrial careers of their more narrowly drawn membership, according to their leaders.
John F. Alderete, president of the Society for Advancement of Chicano and Native American Scientists (SACNAS) and a professor of microbiology in the Health Science Center at the University of Texas, San Antonio, recalls a SACNAS annual conference of a few years ago. The keynote speaker was Mario Molina, the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Molina, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry, was the first Mexican American to be awarded a Nobel. After Molina had finished speaking, a student approached him to chat and ended up landing a summer internship ...
