U.S. Lagging in Science, Math
The Association of American Universities has released a new report that details the significant decline in the number of American scientists, engineers and language experts since the end of the 1960s.
The report highlighted key ways to bolster government support for those programs in institutions of higher education.
It also suggested three reasons that the study of science, engineering and language is declining: serious problems in the American educational system, decreasing incentives for students to study critical scientific, engineering and language fields and insufficient funding for research.
The report recommended that universities nationwide expand their programs in these respective areas and also declared that the U.S. government should spend more money on research, support more elementary and secondary science education programs and establish a new graduate fellowship program that supports students seeking doctoral degrees in math- or science-related fields.
UCSD Cultivates Future Scientists
The UC Office of the President has announced that UCSD will establish an outreach program, dubbed the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, this summer based at the Jacobs School of Engineering.
The goal of the program, which was established for bright students in grades 8-12, is to “motivate prospective scientists, engineers and mathematicians in California and the nation and to create a statewide community of scholars.”
The program also has branches at UC Davis, UC Irvine and UC Santa Cruz. While the other campuses enroll about 150 students each, UCSD’s inaugural class will consist of 120 students.
National Science Academy Lauds Prof
The National Academy of Sciences has selected UCSD research professor Russell F. Doolittle to receive the John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science.
Doolittle, who holds appointments in both the chemistry and biology departments, will receive a medal and a check for $125,000 at the academy’s 143rd annual awards ceremony dinner in Washington, D.C., in April.
The award, a well-respected prize in the scientific community, has been given annually since 1932 and recognizes individuals “for noteworthy and distinguished accomplishment in any field of science.”
According to the academy, Doolittle was selected “for contributing seminal insights and methods for using computers as an aid to characterizing protein function, in comparing amino acid sequences and for phylogenetic reconstructions.”
