DWC, Rivier grant targets diversity, science

Nashua – Daniel Webster and Rivier colleges have been awarded a $13,000 planning grant to lay the groundwork to collaborate with middle schools to get more diversity among the country’s scientists.

The grant is from NHHEAF Network Educational Foundation in Concord.

The issue is a lack of women and minorities in high-level science and engineering positions, said Michael Fishbein, vice president for academic affairs and provost for Daniel Webster College.

Harvard University President Lawrence Summers addressed the issue at a conference last January and was met with a backlash of criticism from women’s and minority groups, as well as several national columnists.

Summers suggested three reasons that included fewer mothers than fathers have been willing to spend 80 hours a week away from their kids, more boys than girls tend to score very high or very low on high-school math tests, producing a similar average but a higher proportion of scores in the top percentiles, leading to high-powered academic careers in science and engineering, and discrimination by universities, according to published reports.

Although Summers’ summations were controversial, Fishbein said the comments brought to light the bigger issue.

“There is no disagreement about what Summers said in that there aren’t enough women in the sciences,” said Fishbein, whose university specializes in computer science, aviation and engineering degrees. “This collaborative will be designed to offer students and teachers a full spectrum of the sciences to help both in teaching and learning of the sciences.”

Rivier College Director of Development Mary Ann Oppenheimer agreed.

“We (educators) are concerned that we are not doing as good a job as can be done,” she said. “Studies have shown that kids get turned off as early as middle school in the sciences. If we can maintain their interest in the sciences through then, we have a better shot at keeping them interested throughout their lives.”

The NHHEAF grant will fund the initial planning stages of what the summer program will include and what each college’s role will be in the program, Oppenheimer said. It will target Nashua’s middle school students and teachers to strengthen science learning by offering hands-on experiences by linking students and teachers, said Oppenheimer and Fishbein.

Fishbein said the length of the program has yet to be determined, but Oppenheimer added that it will likely be two weeks and there will be follow-up, possibly in the form of a website, with students and teachers to keep momentum going after the program ends. Initial discussions have Rivier faculty will provide instruction in biology, chemistry and education, while Daniel Webster professors will teach physics, engineering and aeronautics, both officials said.

"We hope to have hands-on experiences at both universities as well as field trips in this program. This is not only for expanding the horizons of the sciences for students, but for the teaching of them, as well," said Oppenheimer.

Once the program is launched, officials from both schools hope it will serve as a model for other New Hampshire colleges, universities and school systems.