2000-2001 Chapter Outstanding Diversity Program Awards
Diversity Program Awards are presented to chapters that have organized outstanding programs that promote diversity within the science, engineering and research communities.
The Academy of Natural Sciences
Women in Natural Sciences, one of the Academy's longest running programs, brings young minority women in the first years of high school to the Academy for a weekly program designed to encourage them to pursue science. Sigma Xi members provide tours of their departments and laboratories and also present lectures.
A second program, called Science Enrichment Expansion Curriculum, serves minority students in the later years of high school who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The students work in laboratories on independent research projects with scientist mentors, almost all of whom are Sigma Xi members.
Chapter members also serve as mentors in the summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, funded by the National Science Foundation. Students work with scientists on independent research, and one of the goals of the program has been to recruit minorities.
California State University Dominguez Hills
This chapter sponsors numerous seminars throughout the year in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health Minority Biomedical Research Support Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement Program and Minority Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research, among others. More than 70 minority science students attend these seminars.
In addition to sponsoring student research awards, the chapter invites a minority scientist as the guest speaker for its annual awards banquet. The chapter is also a co-sponsor of the university's Students Trained in Academic Research (STAR) Symposium held each spring. All of the students that presented this year were from minority groups.
San Diego
The San Diego Chapter added an entire subchapter in Ensenada, Mexico, and is encouraging that group to become a full-fledged chapter.
In addition, a grant from the Quart Foundation helped the chapter set up a program to encourage students from junior high and high schools not traditionally known for science achievement to enter projects in the San Diego Science Fair. The aim was to recognize students with good projects from a greater selection of schools, especially those with large populations of underrepresented students.
The organization Girl Power, which encourages scholarship and science education among middle school girls, was included in this effort. The winners and their teachers (or the directors of Girl Power) were guests at the chapter's annual banquet; their parents also attended. The students displayed their work, and everyone enjoyed talking with them about their projects.
2000-2001 Chapter Outstanding Diversity Program: Honorable Mentions
The Alaska Chapter for its long-standing science, math and engineering mentoring program for native students and other minorities.
The Barry University Chapter for its Bridges Program, which provides an opportunity for minority graduate research students to enter Vanderbilt University's combined M.D./Ph.D. program.
The Howard University Chapter for challenging the minds of more than 100 middle school minority students from the metropolitan Washington area during its annual Science Discovery Day.
The Kansas State University Chapter for working cooperatively with the faculty at Haskell Indian Nations University to develop environmental programs that serve the needs of Native American tribal communities.
The Middle Tennessee State University Chapter for co-sponsoring an annual conference called Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics to introduce several hundred young women to careers in science, technology and mathematics.
The Natick Chapter for honoring Hispanic Heritage Month by sponsoring a talk by Nobel laureate Mario J. Molina for Hispanic and other minority high school students.
The Washington State University Chapter for co-sponsoring awards for outstanding women in graduate/professional study.