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By Carla B. Burgess 



Where would the world be without 

 scientists? 



Without someone to lead us in dis- 

 covery, we'd probably still be rubbing 

 sticks together to make fire and dying 

 from smallpox and polio. We would 

 never have set foot on the moon or sunk 

 to the depths of the ocean floor. 



From Isaac Newton to Marie Curie to 

 Albert Einstein, scientists have forged 

 discoveries that saved lives, increased our 

 comfort and broadened our concept of 

 the universe. 



Although these heroes of discovery are 

 applauded and admired, fewer people 

 are choosing to dedicate their lives to 

 research. The feet to fill the scientific 

 shoes of tomorrow are running in other 

 career directions at a time when we need 

 them most. 



The National Science Foundation pre- 

 dicts a shortfall of 675,000 scientists and 

 engineers in the United States by 2006. 

 Not only will there be fewer researchers 

 in the field, but fewer Ph.D.s to lecture 

 in college classrooms. 



When it comes to tackling the major 

 scientific problems looming on the 

 horizon — global warming, restoring rain 

 forests, salvaging water quality, restoring 

 fish stocks — scientists may be in short 

 supply. 



Sea Grant invests in our scientific 

 future by awarding graduate fellowships, 

 internships and opportunities to study 

 under the guidance of researchers doing 

 Sea Grant work. But these efforts may be 

 a drop in the proverbial scientific bucket. 



The forecast for tomorrow includes a 

 retirement wave among aging scientists 

 and university professors, potentially 

 magnifying the deficit of researchers. 



To fill the void, educators and employ- 



Choose Sciencdb 

 Women and Minorities & 



to Give Science 



ers are looking to women and minorities, 

 who have traditionally not pursued ca- 

 reers in biology, oceanography, biotech- 

 nology and engineering. 



By the end of this century, 85 percent 

 of people entering the job market will 

 be minorities and women. 



Demographics suggest that the 

 American population over the next sev- 

 eral decades will include a higher pro- 

 portion of blacks, Hispanics, women and 

 other minorities. In North Carolina, 

 minorities already represent 25 percent 

 of the population. 



"A percentage of them need to be 

 represented in the sciences. And we can't 

 improve in the future if they aren't even 

 in the field now," says Sea Grant marine 

 education specialist Lundie Spence. 



Over the past 20 years, women's par- 

 ticipation in science and engineering has 

 increased so that they now earn 45 per- 

 cent of the bachelor's degrees and 30 per- 

 cent of the Ph.D.s in those fields. 



But this slow rise has offset a decline 

 in male participation. Also, the number 

 of female science majors has not in- 

 creased proportionately with the increase 

 of women going to college. 



A federal report concludes that this 

 slowdown is happening because women 

 continue to experience higher unemploy- 

 ment, lower pay and fewer promotion 

 opportunities than their male 

 counterparts. 



The situation for blacks is even bleaker. 

 They represent 11 percent of the 

 working-age population, but earn only 

 1 percent of all doctoral degrees in 

 natural sciences and engineering. 



Many people are starting to recognize 

 this untapped pool of talent. There are 

 several programs aimed at attracting 



these groups. 



But saving science will require more 

 than just recruiting people into a pro- 

 gram. Students need to be kept there 

 and nurtured until they're placed in a 

 science career. 



'Any program to bring in minorities 

 and women has got to be considered a 

 long-term one," says Spence. 



That's called "sustainable education," 

 says Walter "Skip" Bollenbacher, a 

 University of North Carolina professor 

 who has developed a model outreach 

 program for the advancement of minori- 

 ties in science. (See story, page 5) 



"There's a problem with the way we're 

 trying to solve problems with science 

 education," says Bollenbacher. "As a 

 society, we always go for the quick fix." 



The tendency of social programs to 

 throw money at a problem is temporarily 

 effective at best. "Some people feel they 

 need a more immediate return to their 

 investment," he says. 



Bollenbacher's program deals with stu- 

 dents and teachers at the high school 

 and college levels. It's an ongoing pro- 

 gram to "energize" science education 

 and attract minorities to science careers. 



Here are some other programs going 

 on in North Carolina: 



The Duke Young Scholars Program — 

 Selected female, middle-school students 

 spend five weeks in a summer enrich- 

 ment program at the Duke University 

 Marine Lab in Beaufort, collecting speci- 

 mens and doing research. 



"This is definitely the time to start en- 

 couraging minorities and women to go 

 into science," says Joan Barber, the pro- 

 gram's co-director. 



Barber, who did full-time research in 

 renal physiology before accepting her 



