Conferees discuss scientists' community outreach

By Lissa Harris

The image of the university as an "ivory tower," far removed from the concerns of society, is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. With the help of federal initiatives designed to foster creative partnerships between scientists and educators, large research universities are becoming increasingly involved with their local communities. And Cornell is no exception.

Bill Nye '77 "The Science Guy," a Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor at Cornell, helps out at the "community build" at Ithaca's Sciencenter Oct. 14 with Weylin Chaffe, left, a freshman at Lansing High School. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

On Saturday, Oct. 13, Cornell hosted a conference with the goal of providing advice and assistance to researchers who seek to integrate K-12 science, math and technology outreach into their work.

Many have little choice as a result of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) decision to make education and the participation of underrepresented groups -- from women and minorities to people with disabilities -- in science a top priority. Consequently there has been a heightened interest among scientists in finding more ways to reach out to their communities.

Public outreach and extension, of course, always have been an integral part of Cornell's institutional mission. But the new demands on scientists to place research in a social context require a strong commitment to ensuring that outreach continues to be a part of Cornell's mission, something that was strongly affirmed at the conference by Provost Biddy Martin.

The big change by the NSF, which distributes over $4 billion in research funding annually, came in 1997 when the agency stopped evaluating grant proposals solely on the intellectual merit of the proposed research. The new standard includes "Criterion 2," which also evaluates the broader social impacts of the research under consideration. In essence, the agency now makes education and the participation of underrepresented groups a requirement in evaluating all research proposals.

Fortunately, Cornell can point to many researchers, programs and interdisciplinary centers that are involved in community public education. Conference participant Yervant Terzian, the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences at Cornell, has been a steadfast champion of public scientific education throughout his career as a researcher. "We scientists should be actively involved in improving the scientific literacy of the public," he urged his colleagues. "It is our duty."

One of Terzian's many titles is director of NASA New York Space Grant Consortium, which provides mentoring and resources for schoolteachers and students interested in space science. Last April, the consortium provided funding for a team of Lansing High School students to enter NASA's annual Great Moonbuggy Race, in which participants use their own power to race vehicles they have designed and built themselves over a simulated moon surface.

Another widely praised Cornell program, the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), runs a wide variety of outreach programs and partnerships with teachers in local elementary, middle and high schools. An example of the center's imaginative programs is provided by Samantha Glazier, a chemistry and chemical biology graduate student working with the CCMR. She recently started science and math programs at Lansing Residential Center for Girls, a New York state facility for court-placed delinquents. Glazier and other student volunteers developed hands-on activities to explore scientific principles for the center's secondary and high school education programs, helping inmates learn about angles by origami and about polymers by making silly putty.

An avid fan of this kind of hands-on approach to science education is Bill Nye '77, who presented the conference's opening address. Currently the Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor at Cornell, Nye is better known as "Bill Nye the Science Guy," creator and host of the popular children's television show. It is the job of scientists involved in outreach, he said, to communicate a sense of wonder and excitement about scientific discovery.

"I want to get young people excited about science so that, in the future, we will have more scientists; so that even if people don't grow up to become full-time scientists, they would grow up with an appreciation and respect for science," Nye said.

In her closing remarks, Provost Martin said: "I hope that the schools and children benefit from what Cornell can do. I know that Cornell benefits enormously from the interaction with the community, with the schools, with the teachers and with the children, and I'm dedicated to continuing this."

Other presenters at the conference were John Silcox, vice provost for physical sciences and engineering; Helene Schember, associate director of CCMR; Rita Calvo, director of the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers; and Charles Trautmann, executive director of Ithaca's Sciencenter and adjunct associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.