SEATTLE - Tomorrow's scientists, engineers and mathematicians are in today's classrooms. There is increasing demand that all students study fundamental academics, including science, and pass examinations to advance and graduate from high school. But, beyond high school, will they choose to study science, mathematics and engineering to advance to careers in industry, research, business, and education?
The answer to this question is equivocal at best, and for particular groups, depressing. On Wednesday, data from 1978 through 2002 on the number of astronomy PhDs granted to Black and Hispanic graduate students was presented at a session at the 201st meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The session, put on by the Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy, revealed that each year between zero and four degrees were awarded. That's not between zero and four per major research university, nor state, but nationally. Each year, US research establishment awards between zero and four PhD's to Black and Hispanic astronomers, and these numbers have not changed since 1978. There is a pipeline problem for astronomy, and I suspect for other physical sciences as well.
As the members of astronomy research organizations, including academic and governmental agencies, age, new younger people must come in to sustain the excellence of US science. Combine this need with the demographic trends in the United States, and the problem becomes more acute. Science, and astronomy in particular, cannot be satisfied with recruiting and successfully educating zero to four Blacks and Hispanics each year when they comprise significant and growing portion of the total population.
There are no easy fixes, but many people are working on making a difference. Amidst the presentations and posters on astronomical research and discoveries here at the AAS meeting, there was some good news from people who guide students into careers in science, mathematics and engineering. Teachers, museum educators, high school students and undergraduates are presenting papers on hands-on research projects for pre-college classes and undergraduates plus innovative educational projects.
The "Research Experiences for Teachers" (RET) is a newly funded NSF program that brings middle and high school teachers into the research environment. Two high school teachers, M. Altenhof and D. Berlin, joined the research staff at Haystack Observatory in the summer of 2002 to conduct radio astronomical research. Along with doing research, they developed lessons and strategies to bring the research experience back to their classrooms. Altenhof's students are studying the Sun by taking daily observations. They do not have to wait until graduate school to do science, and I expect that some of these young people will pursue science and technology careers as a result of this experience. Likewise, at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), the RET program funded teachers for a research training, and they developed projects that they are incorporating into the website to share freely with other teachers. The enthusiasm of these teachers is contagious, and I believe it makes a difference for their students.
High school students can also benefit directly from mining the archival data. Funded by NASA over the past two years, high school students at the North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM) have used new and archival Chandra data to produce original research results. I had the pleasure of talking with two of these students, seniors at NCSSM about their research and the career goals. Both are aiming to attend top universities, MIT and Columbia, to pursue scientific careers. They have a great start having already produced publishable scientific papers under the guidance of their teacher at NCSSM. They are already scientists, and are enthused about their future university studies. They are self-confident and engaging young men, and both are Black. In 8 to 10 years, assuming they stay in the pipeline, they could be completing their PhDs. Let's just hope that they represent of an increasing number of minority astronomers, not simply members of the "zero to four" annual graduating class.
Students can conduct original research via the Internet as well. The Hands On Universe project is led by University of California at Berkeley. This long-lived project brings astronomical research directly into the classroom, allowing students to request observing data via the Internet and then analyze it in the classroom. HOU participants have published in the Astrophysical Journal. Likewise, the Telescopes in Education (TIE) project at Mt. Wilson in Southern California (operated in cooperation with JPL) allows students to control a telescope directly from the classroom. TIE is part of a developing consortium of telescopes around the world that allow students to do nighttime observing during school hours.
I believe that bringing the research experience into the high school classroom can make a difference. The key is the teacher (and some funding, of course). The RET program at NSF is only two years old. NASA and other agencies have longer experience in engaging teachers in research. These programs need to continue and expand. Why? Because, like many people, teachers work within their comfort zones. They teach what they know, and will conduct student research programs only if they are comfortable with doing research themselves.
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