CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE : Science Grant to Aid Minorities

The National Science Foundation has awarded Cal State Northridge more than $400,000 to produce a five-year model program to teach pre-college minority students how to do innovative biology research projects.

The $443,100 program, called Institutionalizing Student Biology Research Projects, is aimed at spurring the interest of minority students in science careers. Science teachers from high school, junior high and occasionally the elementary grade levels will be recruited for the program, which begins this fall. The grant was awarded last month.

“This is brand-new--a totally new--program,” said Steven Oppenheimer, the project’s director and a biology professor at CSUN. “Basically, we will have the teachers come to Northridge every other week during the school year and one week during the summer.

“What we are concentrating on is training them in experiments they can show their students that can easily be done with inexpensive materials but also represent state-of-the-art research in biology.”

Oppenheimer said introducing students to science and research before they enter college is crucial to counter the growing shortage of students in the United States seeking scientific careers, particularly minority students.

“Many of the estimates suggest we are going to run out of scientists--research scientists especially,” Oppenheimer said. “The security, health and welfare of this country is dependent upon these people.”

Teachers who participate in the program will learn how to conduct experiments in genetic engineering, microbiology and fertilization with everything from exotic sea urchins to common bacteria.

The new program follows the successful completion of another project under Oppenheimer’s direction, the Advances in Biological Science Program, which ended this year. For the past seven years, more than 200 pre-college teachers from Long Beach to Oxnard journeyed to CSUN over seven years for a series of guest lectures. The speakers informed the teachers of the latest news in biological science.

Selma Sleven, the science program teacher at Crossroads Elementary School in Santa Monica, was one of those who saw the benefits of the biological science program among her students and expects to spark even greater interest by getting involved in the research-training program.

“In a sense, what is research? It’s setting things up so they have answers. If we can set this up all the way through, kids will automatically seek to find answers,” Sleven said. “If we can get these kids to be enthusiastic about science, then we’ll have scientists.”

Enrollment in the program is paid for by a fellowship, with $400 annual honorariums paid to teachers who are admitted.