JoAnn Burkholder 



the wayside. 



"It shows up early in math and science 

 classes," Bonaventura says. "When risk- 

 taking is involved, almost instantly the 

 guys take the lead. The girl feels hesitant 

 about trying something risky." 



The answer to the problem can be 

 found in teachers who are willing to in- 

 struct girls that there is freedom in tak- 

 ing intellectual as well as social risks. 



"Teachers need to be taught not to 

 squash kids, to show them that it's all 

 right to explore and take chances and 



make mistakes," Bonaventura says. 



Though many teachers don't seem to 

 be practicing that philosophy, there are 

 what Burkholder calls "refreshing 

 pockets" of educators who are encour- 

 aging young girls to consider science 

 careers. 



"It's going to take some time for 

 society to change enough for the ma- 

 jority of women to feel comfortable with 

 science as a career," she says. "But it's 

 already changing for the better, and I'm 

 encouraged by that." ■ 



rogram Nurtures Future 

 Minority Scientists 



It's tough being a science teacher. 



Burnout can happen fast when you're 

 overloaded with classes and frustrated 

 with students who don't seem to care. 



And it's not easy being a student of 

 science either, memorizing and regurgi- 

 tating facts that seem irrelevant. 



Add to that the pressure of being a 

 minority who feels "locked out," and the 



whole thing can get discouraging. 



Walter "Skip" Bollenbacher consid- 

 ered all these things when he began 

 writing a proposal for a grant to promote 

 minority advancement in science careers 

 2 V2 years ago. 



What resulted is the Program for 

 Minority Advancement in Biomolecular 

 Sciences, designed to "energize" science 



Nancy Mueller (at right) teaches the Frontiers course to undergraduates at North 

 Carolina Central University in Durham. 



By Carla B. Burgess 



education so that more minority students 

 will choose careers in research or science 

 education. 



"If we have a human resource problem 

 in the mainstream, it's that today's 

 minority is tomorrow's majority popula- 

 tion," says Bollenbacher, associate pro- 

 fessor of biology at the University of 

 North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the 

 developer of the outreach program. 



To take their proper places in the 

 world of science, minorities need to have 

 the self-esteem and the practical experi- 

 ence to succeed, he says. That's one of 

 the goals of the outreach program, still 

 in its infancy. 



It is three-tiered in its approach, em- 

 bracing faculty members and undergrad- 

 uates at minority universities and science 

 teachers at high schools with large mi- 

 nority enrollments. 



It is organized around two courses. 

 "Frontiers in Cell and Molecular Biology" 

 provides information and promotes dis- 

 cussion about cutting edge research. The 

 "Summer Research Challenge Course" is 

 an intensive, hands-on laboratory course. 



Continued on next page 



