 |
      |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
 |
||||
 |
|
 |
||||
|
For more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Editor: Amber Jones The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports a variety of summer programs that expose teachers and college students to research experiences in science and engineering. Contents of this News Tip:
Lab Time Points Undergrads to Biotech CareersFor students who might not otherwise consider a career in science or engineering, the chance to work in a real research laboratory can make a difference. At Fort Valley State University in Georgia, a group of 10 women and/or minority undergraduates is working this summer with research scientists through NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program in biology. The students, who were selected competitively from small schools in the Southeast, are getting 10 weeks of hands-on lab experience in fields such as cell biology, genetic engineering, tissue culture, molecular genetics, environmental sciences, entomology and biochemistry. Each student is conducting a research project and making a scientific presentation on it. "The under-representation of women and minorities has long been a problem for science and engineering in the United States," said NSF's Robert Taylor, director of the biology REU program. "This project exposes young adults to the excitement of research at a time when they are making career choices." [Tom Garritano] For more on NSF's REU programs see: http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/reu Students Join Amateur in Search for Space Rocks
How would you go about scanning the night sky in search of asteroids? Two students are finding out first hand that discovering one of the elusive space rocks requires a combination of advanced telescope technology and patience. Courtesy of a partnership between the summer REU program at NSF’s National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and a similar summer program at NASA, the students--Nelvin Thomas, a recent graduate of the University of the Virgin Islands, and Vincent Davis, a junior at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina--are scanning the sky for 10 weeks from the home observatory of an amateur astronomer and employee of the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO). Thomas and Davis were selected for the NASA Undergraduate Research Program in Astrophysics managed by South Carolina State University (SCSU). SCSU and the students' home institutions are historically black colleges that are working with NASA to increase the number of minority students who attend graduate school in space science-related fields. Through networking among teachers and astronomers, NSO staffer Roy Tucker offered to work with the students on a nighttime asteroid project. In the daytime, Tucker is an instrumentation engineer for the solar observatory’s Global Oscillation Network, which studies surface waves on the sun. The students are using three 14-inch telescopes outfitted with CCD cameras in Tucker's backyard observatory west of Tucson, Ariz. Instead of tracking the sky like most telescopes, these three are bolted to their mounts and the rotation of the earth does the pointing for them. Multiple images can detect a hint of a moving object against the relatively "stationary" background stars. [Doug Isbell, NOAO, 520/318-8214] For more on Tucker’s observatory see: http://www.azstarnet.com/~gpobs/gpobs.htm Teachers' Summer is "Re-Engineered"While the students play, some teachers keep working. For one group of high school teachers, the summer curriculum is markedly different. It includes experiments with such high-tech wonders as space rockets, surgical robots and water quality monitoring instruments. A group of 25 teachers gathered this month at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., for an introduction to engineering, offered through NSF's Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in engineering. The program encourages professional development by involving the teachers in NSF projects, and promoting relationships between local school districts and the engineering research community. In addition to tutorials on engineering design, manufacturing techniques and lab safety, the teachers conduct hands-on research alongside professional engineers in projects encompassing physics, genetics, robotics, biology and environmental quality. "In the fall, these educators will be able to transfer their knowledge into the classroom by preparing engineering challenges for their students," said program coordinator Jeff Jarosz, director of education at the NSF Center for Computer Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology at Johns Hopkins. "The long-term goal is to encourage students to consider engineering as a career." Carnegie Mellon, Florida International and Morgan State Universities, as well as the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, also participate in the program. [Amber Jones]
|
||||||
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |