AAAS Report Finds NSF Alliance Initiative Boosts Computing Degrees; Minority Participation

SOURCE: AAAS.org

A National Science Foundation (NSF) program designed to increase the number of students receiving post-secondary computer science degrees, with special emphasis on underrepresented minorities, has found dramatic success, says a AAAS report.

“Telling the Stories of the BPC Alliances: How One NSF Program Is Changing the Face of Computing” was released online this week. The report states that while the number of students pursuing computer science degrees has declined nationally, institutions participating in the NSF Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program “are defying the national trends … with cohorts of underserved students being reached, gaining confidence and skills, and making progress towards degrees and careers in computing.”

Maryland HBCU Developing Solar Energy Project

By Saraya Wintersmith, Diverse Education

There’s no question that higher education institutions during this recession have implemented cost-cutting measures to reduce their operating expenses. Among those schools have been institutions, such as Coppin State University, that are seeking innovative green technologies to make permanent campus changes that save on energy costs.

Recently, the Baltimore-based historically Black school was awarded a $500,000 stimulus-funded grant to finance the installation of solar photovoltaic systems to help power eight of its campus buildings. The project is underway and the university expects to have it completed by April 2011.

Through its participation in Project Sunburst, a Maryland state program to increase the reliance of public buildings on renewable energy sources, CSU qualified for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant. CSU is the only historically Black institution among 21 Project Sunburst Partners. Project Sunburst was launched by the Maryland Energy Administration.

Bolden Is Tapped to Run NASA

 By Andy Pasztor and T.W. Farnam, Wall Street Journal

President Barack Obama picked former astronaut and retired Marine Corps Gen. Charles Bolden Jr. to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but controversy over his background and NASA’s future direction could complicate his job.

Gen. Bolden’s nomination caps months of political maneuvering, which has left some major agency decisions in limbo. It also has become a flash point for a broad debate over how NASA should conduct future human space-exploration programs.

Horizon Science Academy celebrates its MIT graduate

by Tom Ott
Cleveland Plain-Dealer

Mikel Graham is the Horizon Science Academy’s star graduate.

Graham, who was the valedictorian of the Cleveland charter high school’s Class of 2004, received bachelor’s degrees in aerospace technology and philosophy last week from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the fall, he will head to graduate school at Georgia Tech.

Advocates of Ohio’s privately run, publicly financed charter schools are trumpeting Graham’s success.

A video of an interview that he gave to the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions can be found on YouTube. Ron Adler, president of the pro-charter Ohio Coalition for Quality Education, took him to Columbus late last month to meet with state legislative leaders.

Floretta Jones is one of only 100 African-American women to earn a doctorate in biology

by Kris Rodriguez
University of Texas at San Antonio

Thirty-four-year-old Floretta Jones recently became a member of a select group of 100 African-American women, when she completed and received her doctoral degree in biology from UTSA. She credits much of her success to funding for her doctorate from the Minority Basic Research Support (MBRS) SCORE program.

A native of San Antonio, Jones attended Providence High School and was raised by a father who retired from the military and a mother from rural Alabama. When her father died after a debilitating stroke, she knew she wanted to work in a research field that could help others avoid a loss like hers.

Fortunately, Jones’ mother was there to witness her daughter’s success.

“They would always tell me, we don’t care what you do, but get your education so you can take care of yourself,” said Jones. “They were very adamant about education; education was very important.”

Jones enrolled at UTSA and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1996, then took a couple of years off before returning to pursue a doctorate in biology.

With a renewed enthusiasm for science and research, she began working in the lab of Brian Derrick, associate professor of biology, whose research focuses on adult neurogenesis, the ability of organisms to produce neurons in the brain throughout adulthood.

“We have renowned investigators at UTSA that have come from larger, more well-known universities, and they’re doing a lot of exciting research,” said Jones.

Along with stem cell research, the work could help treat people with brain diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and strokes.

Jones’ dissertation reported her study of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation, one of only two brain regions that shows neuronal production throughout a lifespan in several species.

“I studied that aspect with regards to enriched environments and long-term potentiation,” said Jones. “Long-term potentiation is a cellular mechanism believed to underlie learning.”

As one of the top researchers in his laboratory, Derrick admires Jones’ determination and self-motivation.

“Floretta was amazingly responsible, accountable, fun to be around and a very calming force,” said Derrick. “Her talents aren’t simply as a scientist. She can handle people in a professional, respectful and dignified way.”

But not only did she work year-round in pursuit of her doctoral degree in biology, Jones also took time out of her summer schedule to assist Edwin Barea-Rodriguez, associate professor and chair of the Department of Biology, with his program to teach high school teachers about the brain.

“For the last four years, Floretta coordinated the visits of more than 100 teachers who wanted to learn more about brain research,” said Barea-Rodriguez. “She gave her time to make an impact on thousands of children that were taught by these teachers in the United States and abroad.”

Completing her dissertation was an arduous process that required not only years of dedication but also approximately $150,000. Fortunately, her doctoral education was funded by MBRS SCORE, which has provided more than $32 million in grant support to UTSA faculty members working on biomedical research projects.

The goal of MBRS is to increase the participation of students from minority or underrepresented groups in scientific research and develop the biomedical research capability of faculty, while increasing the number of minorities doing biomedical research.

“The opportunities that MBRS students have to be in a lab and go to large scientific meetings is fantastic,” said Jones. “For students to get that exposure is invaluable as they can go on and enroll in those doctoral programs. MBRS provided my tuition, my stipend and made sure I went to at least one meeting a year including the Society of Neuroscience, where more than 30,000 members attend.”

Jones eventually would like to start a family, but for now, she happily accepted a Texas Teaching Fellowship that places math and science educators in high-needs schools; she will teach this fall.

And, she has her sights set on becoming a congressional fellow in Washington, D.C., where she can use her education and research background to help the scientific community attain funding to help people suffering from illness and disease.

But, whichever route she chooses, Jones’ efforts have made her a trailblazer as UTSA’s first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in biology.

Microsoft Raises Bar for Fostering a Diverse IT Industry with Changing Face of IT Campaign

Web Wire

Company promotes more diverse, inclusive IT workforce by launching new diversity recruitment initiative, hosting awareness-raising online discussion with leading industry experts.

REDMOND, Wash. – May 2008 – Microsoft Director of Diversity Recruiting Kelly Chapman recalls taking six female African American employees on the road earlier this year to talk about their experiences working for the company to a meeting of the North Atlantic chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority for female African American college students. “The exciting thing was that it gave people a very real glimpse into diverse employees’ experiences,” she says.

For many present at the Philadelphia event, it was revelatory, recounts Chapman.

“One woman stood up and said, ‘I thought Microsoft was this big place on the hill. It wasn’t until I saw you six ladies here that I could actually picture myself at Microsoft.’”

Ali Curi, president of the Hispanic Professionals Networking Group (HPNG), has witnessed a similar effect in the interviews he conducts with Hispanic professionals, including Microsoft employees, at monthly meetings of his organization: “People can finally see Microsoft up close and personal. All of a sudden, they can put a Latino face on people who’ve had success [with the company].”

This is the kind of impact – inspiring minorities to pursue careers at Microsoft and across the information technology industry – which the company is hoping to achieve with its groundbreaking new online diversity recruitment initiative, designed to highlight “The Changing Face of IT,” being launched today.

Real Life Stories

www.youatmicrosoft.com deliberately puts a human face on the issue of diversity in the IT workforce, spotlighting the personal stories of diverse individuals at Microsoft who have beaten the odds to forge successful careers in IT.

“We wanted to feature the authentic voices of real Microsoft employees,” explains Chapman.

“They’re kind of edgy actually.”

It’s an approach that Arif Gursel, a technical evangelist who works with global independent software vendors to help them develop applications on Microsoft’s media and entertainment platform – – found refreshing. Gursel is one of 15 employees who tell their stories on the site.

“Anyone can tell when human resources or PR has gone out and done a pre-canned diversity thing. The difference here is that people can read and hear our stories and understand that they’re the true stories of people who have been successful in the company and of the challenges they’ve faced and overcome.”

Raising Awareness

To further raise awareness of the issue, Microsoft also hosted a webcast today, featuring Chapman in conversation with Carl Mack, executive director of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), HPNG’s Ali Curi, and Michelle Tortolani, president of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), in a roundtable discussion moderated by former CNN producer Kim Bondy.

Diversity represents the wave of the future demographically. By 2050, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering projects that half of America’s college-age population will be members of an underrepresented minority group. But the IT profession has been slow to reflect this growing diversity in its own ranks.

African Americans and Hispanics comprise 6.2 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, of the science, technological, engineering and mathematical (STEM) workforce, versus 10.7 percent and 12.9 percent of the US workforce at large, according to the most recent data from the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology. Meanwhile, although women constitute more than half the overall US professional workforce, they hold just 26 percent of “computing-related” positions, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). Underrepresentation is particularly acute among minority females, NCWIT has found: only 4 percent of computer scientists were African American women in 2003; and Asian and Hispanic females composed just two percent and one percent of their ranks, respectively.

At the same time, the IT industry faces a pressing need to widen its pool of prospective recruits. Network systems and data communications analysts will be the fastest-growing occupational group from 2006 to 2016, according to the US Department of Labor projections, with applications software engineers and systems software engineers representing the third and 25th-fastest-growing occupations, respectively. Between them, these categories are expected to add a total of 465,000 new jobs during this period.

Commitment to Diversity

For Microsoft’s part, today’s initiatives form part of its sweeping Diversity Recruitment Initiative Via Excellence, or DRIVE campaign, under which the company is coordinating efforts on multiple fronts to promote a more diverse, inclusive workforce within Microsoft and across the IT industry and encourage women and minorities to enter the field.

The company has invested more than US$150 million to help prime the pipeline of future diverse IT talent, cultivating promising young minority and women engineers, and recruiting and retaining qualified diverse employees. This includes sponsoring DigiGirlz, a technology camp for high school girls, hosting an annual Minority Student Day, partnerships with community organizations, a software grant to NSBE, and underwriting college scholarships for minority and women students. Within Microsoft, diverse employees can draw upon internal resources that include more than 40 Diversity Advisory Councils, offering mutual support plus mentoring, networking, professional development and community outreach opportunities.

Last year, NSBE members voted Microsoft, the organization’s “number-one employer of choice.”

Proactive Outreach

Companies cannot simply sit back and wait for minorities and women to come to them, points out principal program manager Israel Hilerio, another employee featured on the youatmicrosoft site, who serves as an interface between Microsoft business customers and the company’s developers, “translating real-world problems into technical solutions.”

Hilerio also serves as co-chair of the more-than 800-strong Hispanic affinity group at Microsoft (HOLA), in which capacity he helps spearhead outreach to Hispanic communities and schools serving Latino students.

“If you don’t build that pipeline from grade school, it’s not going to happen; you’re not going to magically get this pool of [new people].”

African American and Hispanic students may disproportionately attend under-resourced schools staffed by less experienced teachers, and stand at greater risk of dropping out before completing their studies. In 2005, 10.4 percent and 22.4 percent of African American and Hispanic 16 to 24 year-olds, respectively, were not in school or had not finished their schooling, compared to six percent of their White peers, according to the US Department of Education’s research arm, the National Center for Education Statistics.

This demands that companies get out into schools to excite student interest in STEM disciplines, ensure kids are exposed to technology early on, and raise awareness about careers in IT in underserved communities that may not necessarily have traditionally considered them, say experts.

Reaching Kids Early

NSBE’s Mack emphasizes the importance of catching kids as young as possible to capture their imagination about STEM subjects and ignite their interest in related careers.

This was the intent behind the three-week Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) camp, put on by NSBE last year. The pilot program gave around 250 third to fifth-grade students from Washington, D.C. a hands-on opportunity to test out scientific hypotheses, conduct experiments, get a grounding in fundamental science and engineering principles and methodology, and receive expert instruction from NSBE members.

“At this point, [kids] haven’t yet been stricken with the inferiority complex that says, ‘I can’t do math or science,’” explains Mack. “By exposing them early with positive role models, all of a sudden new possibilities come into their lives.”

Engaging Girls

Galvanizing female interest in IT, experts say, involves finding more effective ways to reach girls, who, many fear, are being lost to computer science, in part, because of the way the subject is customarily taught in schools.

“Girls tend to use computers to get information and for social networking, [among other things, whereas] young boys may use them for games and programming,” says Tortolani of SWE. “We tend to teach computer science more to the motivators of young boys.”

Tortolani also underscores the critical role played by relevant positive role models that minorities and women can identify with and aspire to emulate; helping to dispel the myth that IT is the preserve of male geeks, for example. “Role models are vital when it comes to building diversity, giving kids someone like themselves that they can relate to and ask questions.”

She adds that the industry itself must do a better job of self-promotion in ways that are appealing and resonant to a broader cross-section of people, beyond the narrow focus – often implicitly skewed toward boys’ interests – of traditional efforts.

Tortolani points to recent research into high school girls’ career aspirations that identified what they were looking for from prospective careers: “They want to work with people, make a difference and do creative, challenging work that offers them flexibility. These are all positive points of careers in science, engineering and IT, but we just don’t talk about them. The messaging should address those indicators.”

Rich Career Possibilities

In his outreach, Hilerio makes a point of trying to expand kids’ horizons about the breadth of career possibilities in IT, stressing that opportunities are not confined to hard-core techies.

“So much of the time, the focus is on geeky computer guys, but one thing I tell kids is, ‘hey, if you’re a great artist, musician, storyteller or like to sell, there are lots of great opportunities at technology companies.’”

Indeed there are few fields that would afford the opportunity to work as part of a team with Oscar-winning Hollywood director Peter Jackson as Kiki Wolfkill is on an upcoming project.

Wolfkill, a Group Manager on the Halo Franchise Management team, is another featured subject on the youatmicrosoft site. She’s currently in the throes of assembling a crack team, comprising an art director, creative director, development lead, audio director and other functions, that will develop a new game for the Xbox 360 console in collaboration with Lord of the Rings director Jackson.

With a BA in Chinese History, including a minor in Fine Art, from the University of Washington, Wolfkill hardly fits the stereotype of the games industry employee.

Embracing Different Perspectives

But Wolfkill and others bring a perspective to the table that offers invaluable input across every facet of the design process and beyond as the game industry, like others, looks to broaden its market.

“From portfolio planning, to how we market our games, to how accessible we make them at the feature-design level, we have the ability to develop games that can appeal to more than just the hard-core market,” she explains.

By her own admission, Wolfkill has enjoyed a career at Microsoft that she could scarcely have imagined on starting out with the company 10 years ago as Art Lead on a PC game. She’s been able to flex her skills across multiple projects and take on myriad responsibilities and roles. Before taking on her current role, she was Director of Art for Microsoft Game Studios.

“I’ve always felt completely supported and empowered,” says Wolfkill, who sits on the board of the Women at Microsoft group in the company’s Entertainment and Devices Division.

Fostering an environment in which everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves is critical, Wolfkill points out.

“Game development is hard,” she explains. “It’s very complicated and [because] it’s become such a competitive market, it’s an intense experience. On top of that, it’s a creative team endeavor. You cannot build something creative without everyone’s personality and values being tied into the process. Everyone has to bring everything they have.”

Competing Globally

Incorporating a multiplicity of voices spanning disparate multicultural viewpoints with a grasp of different communities’ cultural nuances, the infrastructural challenges they face, and the context in which they use technology, represents a business imperative in today’s global market, say Wolfkill, Hilerio, Gursel and others.

“If a company is going to push forward and be innovative, they need every perspective, age, gender and ethnicity brought to the table,” Wolfkill says. “The world is just so big now that you cannot create anything in a vacuum anymore and expect it to have success. There are no lines in [today’s] world and to build experiences and software that supports a culture that lives without those lines, you have to have extreme diversity in the thought process.”

FAMU CIS program will start awarding 19 scholarships in July

by Angeline Davis
Democrat

The number of minority women involved in computer information science (CIS) at Florida A&M will increase if assistant professor Jason Black has his way.

Black and CIS Department Chair Edward Jones have been awarded a $552,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to help more women study computer science. Minority women make up about 8 percent of the CIS field and black women make up about 3.3 percent, according to the Computer Research Association.

“It’s very dismal numbers,” he said. “(People) tend to think of computer science as a male-dominated field.”

Starting in July, the grant dollars will be used to cover scholarships as part of FAMU’s African-American Women in Computer Science or AAWCS. The AAWCS program will provide scholarships to 19 women who are interested in the field.

Black said the students with a financial need will be selected each semester to receive scholarships ranging from $2,000-$5,000.

National Society of Black Engineers Honors UNCF/Merck Science Initiative With Golden Torch Award

CSR Wire

WHITEHOUSE STATION, NJ – MAY 20, 2008 – The UNCF/Merck Science Initiative was recently honored by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) with the 2008 Golden Torch Award for Corporate/Education Partnership at the NSBE Annual National Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Corporate/Education Partnership award is given to a joint program between a corporation and an educational institution or program dedicated to improving African-American access to quality education, employment and technology.

The UNCF/Merck Science Initiative is a ground-breaking program established in 1996 to support the training and development of African-American scientists in the United States. “Merck’s continued support for this initiative makes it a national leader in an area of critical importance to the nation’s education system and the economy,” said Michael L. Lomax, PhD, UNCF–the United Negro College Fund president and CEO. “We are grateful to Merck for its leadership, and for investing in UNCF, the program’s over 400 recipients and the future of American science and education.”

The UNCF/Merck Science Initiative provides financial support through scholarships and fellowships awarded at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels to outstanding African-American students pursuing studies in the biomedical sciences. Undergraduate scholars also receive paid internships for two summers at the Merck Research Laboratories, where Merck scientists volunteer to mentor scholars and fellows. Mentoring is a key program component and provides opportunities for enhancing research, career development and networking skills.

The UNCF/Merck Science Initiative is an example of how Merck’s commitment to building capacity in the biomedical sciences is aligned with its core business. “Merck launched the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative as a result of our strong belief in fostering diversity in the workplace and in promoting the development and training of future leaders in science and biomedical research. Scientific discovery and innovation are at the very heart of what Merck does,” said Carlo Parravano, PhD, Executive Director, Merck Institute for Science Education.

Merck has contributed more than $36 million to the Science Initiative. To date, more than 400 scholarships and fellowships have been awarded to promising African-American students through a competitive application process that selects candidates based on their academic achievements and their potential in the field of biomedical research. Fellows have gone on to pursue careers in a wide range of disciplines, from biochemistry and microbiology to pharmacology, neuroscience, biophysics and bioengineering.

The UNCF/Merck Initiative is an integral component of the mission of the Merck Institute for Science Education (MISE). Founded to improve science education and raise the levels of science performance for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, MISE has been expanded to include college and graduate-level education. MISE works to build capacity in the biomedical sciences through partnerships with educational institutions. It is funded through a 15-year, $35 million commitment from The Merck Company Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck & Co., Inc. For more information, visit www.mise.org

About UNCF
UNCF—the United Negro College Fund—is the nation’s oldest and most successful minority education assistance organization. Its mission is to increase minority degree attainment by providing financial support to its 39 member institutions, reducing financial barriers to college and serving as a national advocate for minority education. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 18 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities across the country. UNCF’s recently redesigned logo and brand identity feature UNCF’s torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”® Learn more at www.uncf.org.

For more information on the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative, visit www.uncf.org. <!–

–>

For more information please contact:

Joye Griffin
UNCF
(703) 205-3480
www.uncf.org

Maggie Kohn
Merck & Co., Inc.
(908) 423-5655
www.merck.com

For more CSR news and information from this organization:

Corporate Social Responsibility Profile for Merck & Co., Inc.

Microsoft’s Gates encourages black engineers to push science education

Just about seven out of every 100 information technology and engineering professionals are African American. And, the numbers are falling.

That was one of the urgent issues under discussion at the National Society of Black Engineers regional conference held at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond Nov. 16 through Nov. 18.

The keynote speaker at the conference was Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates, who told an audience of about 400 that his company needs men and women from a wide range of multicultural backgrounds, with a wide variety of ideas and innovations.

SOURCE: Frost Illustrated