January
22, 2002
For more information on these science news and feature
story tips, please contact the public information
officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070.
Editor: Josh Chamot
Contents of this News Tip:
Graduate S&E
Enrollments on the Rise Again
U.S. collegiate enrollments in graduate-level science
and engineering (S&E) fields rose in Fall 2000
for the second year in a row following several years
of declines, according to a new National Science Foundation
Data Brief from the Division of Sciences Resources
Statistics. However, the entire 2000 increase, and
then some, was due to the largest-ever, single-year
increase in foreign student enrollees who held temporary
visas.
The 2000 graduate S&E enrollments rose a modest
0.8 percent over 1999, reaching 414,570 - the highest
number since 1996. The all-time high was in 1993 when
more than 435,700 enrolled as full time graduate students.
But the numbers declined for the next five years.
In 1998, less than 405,000 students enrolled in S&E
graduate programs U.S.-wide, representing the lowest
total for the decade.
In 2000, S&E graduate students with temporary visas
reached an all-time high of more than 121,800. From
1998 through 2000, their numbers jumped by more than
19 percent, far exceeding the overall increase of
the last two enrollment years.
"In the mid-1990s, the numbers of students with temporary
visas went down fairly sharply when the Chinese Student
Protection Act of 1992 made thousands of Chinese students
eligible to receive permanent resident visas," Joan
Burrelli, author of the data brief, says. "The recent
increases, we believe, are tied to more foreign students
coming to the U.S. to study computer science and electrical
engineering." [Bill Noxon]
For more information, see: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/nsf02306/db02306.htm
Top of Page
Researchers
Compile Dictionary of Endangered Northwest Mexican
Language
Researchers from the University of North Dakota will
develop the first comprehensive dictionary of an indigenous
language of northwest Mexico, called Seri, and compile
a body of texts as part of a two-year, $94,000 NSF-supported
project.
Stephen Marlett and Mary Moser, both adjunct faculty
at the University of North Dakota, will be working
with three generations of native speakers in the community,
and will consult with experts in the field of ichthyology,
ornithology, herpetology and botany. The material
will be available in Spanish and English translations
so that international linguists and anthropologists
can draw on it.
Seri is the sole surviving language of a family of
languages. The Seri people were living in traditional
hunting and gathering communities until the mid-twentieth
century. Since the language contains references to
characteristics of native plants and animals, it will
also prove valuable to ecologists and other scientists.
[William Harms]
Top of Page
New NSF Grants
Go to Diversity-Enhancing Education Programs in the
Geosciences
A diverse group of Hartford, Connecticut, high school
students will soon help design and implement environmental
monitoring of the Connecticut River, the longest in
New England.
The students who will document the physical processes
and biological health of the river come from ethnic
backgrounds not widely represented in the geosciences:
51 percent are Hispanic, 42 percent are African-American
and three percent are Asian.
"Connecting these students with the river provides
an ideal opportunity for them to learn about earth
science processes, and to develop a toolbox of skills
that will allow them to understand the relevance of
earth science to their lives," says Suzanne O'Connell
of Trinity College, the project's principal investigator.
The Connecticut River project is one of 16 new projects
receiving grants since funding began Jan. 1, 2002,
from NSF's Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in
the Geosciences (OEDG) program, explains Jewel Prendeville,
NSF’s program director. "Our primary goal is to increase
participation in geosciences education and research
by students from groups that have traditionally been
underrepresented in geoscience disciplines," Prendeville
explains. [Cheryl Dybas]
For a full listing of current OEDG projects, see: www.geo.nsf.gov/geo/diversity/oedg_fy_01_awards.html
Top of Page
Scientists
Find Underground Environment on Earth That Supports
Ancient Life Forms
Deep below the surface of the Beverhead Mountains of
Idaho, a research team led by microbiologists Derek
Lovley of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
and Francis Chappelle of the U.S. Geological Survey
has found an unusual community of microorganisms that
may hold the key to understanding how life could survive
on Mars.
"The microbial community we found in Idaho is unlike
any previously described on Earth," says Lovley, whose
work was funded by a grant from NSF's Life in Extreme
Environments program. "This is as close as we have
come to finding life on Earth under geological conditions
most like those expected below the surface of Mars."
Lovley believes that this study demonstrates for the
first time that certain microorganisms can thrive
in the absence of sunlight by using hydrogen gas released
deep within Earth's surface as their energy source.
Now that such a microbial community has been discovered,
he says, scientists can use it to test hypotheses
about hydrogen-based subsurface life, and use these
findings to develop strategies for searching for similar
microbial communities on other planets. [Cheryl
Dybas]
NSF is an independent federal agency that supports
fundamental research and education across all fields
of science and engineering, with an annual budget
of about $4.8 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states,
through grants to about 1,800 universities and institutions
nationwide. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive
requests for funding, and makes about 10,000 new funding
awards. NSF also awards over $200 million in professional
and service contracts yearly.
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