EDITORS NOTE:  Ron Price can be contacted at (804) 924-0614 or
924-0604.


	U.VA.- CHARLOTTESVILLE HIGH SCHOOL PROJECT RECEIVES
	NATIONAL GRANT TO ENCOURAGE MINORITY CAREERS
	IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Dec. 20 -- A partnership between the
University of Virginia and Charlottesville High School has received
one of 15 grants awarded nationwide by the GTE Foundation to
encourage minority careers in science and engineering.
	Thirty CHS ninth-graders will attend weekend classes and a
week-long summer session in a program taught by U.Va.engineering and
science faculty, according to Ron Price, minority programs director
for the School of Engineering and Applied Science. 
	 Funding from the GTE FOCUS Program will cover the first two
years of the local program, called Enriching Science in Grade Nine
(ENSIGN), but other foundation and corporate support is being sought
to make the initiative permanent, he said.
	Price is co-director of the program, headed by Michael
Fowler, director of U.Va.Õs Center for Science Education. Michael
Terry, CHS science coordinator, is the other co-director.
	ENSIGN students will attend three-hour sessions every other
Saturday during the school year and move into dormitories on the
U.Va. Grounds for the weeklong summer workshop, Price said.
	ÒThe Saturday programs will be hands-on science work that
addresses chemistry questions of immediate relevance such as toxic
substances, food additives and household chemicals,Ó he said. ÒIn
this phase, the aim is to give the students sufficient time and
interesting, challenging problems to become comfortable with
real-world science investigations using modern techniques.
	ÒIn the summer workshop the classes are more intensive.
After breakfast each day the students will attend a three-hour
laboratory session, focusing on hands-on chemistry or physics or
integrated math-science activities. After lunch, they will tour
laboratories on the Grounds with minority scientists as guides
whenever possible.
	ÒVisits may be arranged to our Nuclear Reactor Facility,
virtual reality laboratory and medical facilities, and to outside
destinations such as the Science Museum in Richmond and possibly the
science and technology units of the Smithsonian Institution.Ó
	Fowler, who is also a physics professor, said
African-American students are Òseriously under-representedÓ in
pre-college chemistry and physics classes in the final three grades
at CHS. Only 15 of the 110 enrolled in advanced chemistry are
African-American, he noted, and just nine of the 71 in advanced
physics.
	ÒUnfortunately, it is far too late to remedy this situation
by working only with juniors and seniors,Ó Fowler added. ÒOnce a
student is unprepared to take chemistry in tenth grade, a pattern is
set which frequently leads to minimal science achievement in high
school and a correspondingly weak case for college admission in
science or engineering.
	ÒOne of the main reasons for minority students avoiding
science courses is their lack of familiarity with chemistry and
physics concepts. We intend to remedy this situation by introducing
a group of these students to some of the basic concepts, in a
non-stressful environment.Ó
	The GTE Foundation, funded by the GTE Corp., supports
efforts to increase the numbers of minority scientists through FOCUS
and other programs conducted at educational institutions.
###
December 19, 1995