JFM 2001 Quarterly Rpt. sidebar
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AFSC
Diversity Panel Reaches Out to Community
(Quarterly
Report for Jan-Feb-Mar 2001)

AFSC scientist Sarah Gaichas discusses her research
with
students at Roosevelt High School
For over 30 years, scientists at
the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) have been
working with students in Alaska and Washington to
spark an interest in careers in science and
mathematics. AFSC scientists have made
hundreds of classroom presentations, provided slide
shows and career perspectives, attended career
fairs, and organized AFSC open houses and field
trips which highlight AFSC research activities and
expertise. Many of these activities have
featured beach walks and live, diver-collected sea
creatures.
Early outreach activities were often at the request
of nearby schools and usually targeted the
more immediate career goals of high school and
college students. Consequently, older students
in well-funded schools tended to receive the
majority of our attention, Center scientists became
concerned that they weren’t reaching a wide enough
audience. As a result, in 1995 a small
group of scientists founded the AFSC Diversity Panel
to expand the Center’s educational outreach
activities. The mission of the Diversity Panel
is “to chart and coordinate AFSC’s activities in
promoting community outreach programs, training
opportunities for current employees, and establish
cooperative programs with regional educational
institutions to encourage interest in the
disciplines of mathematics and science.” One
of the first issues that the panel addressed was the
lack of qualified women and minority candidates in
the applicant pool when it came time to recruit new
employees. What could be done to increase the
diversity of the work force.
To address these issues, the panel chose a a
long-term strategy to raise levels of interest in
science careers among students of all ages from
under-represented populations. By improving
the Center’s educational outreach to schools with
diverse ethnic and socioeconomic populations starting
at the elementary school level and expanding to
secondary and higher schools, panel members hope to
encourage more students to follow paths leading to
careers in science and mathematics.
As a first step, the Diversity Panel developed new
tools and materials to enhance the Center’s
outreach activities. Under the guidance of the
Diversity Panel and with the support of the AFSC
Science Director’s office, Center scientists
created seven traveling exhibits, which showcase
many of the Center’s research activities ranging
from marine mammals and groundfish to determining
the age of fish from otoliths (earbones). At
least two more exhibits are being planned. Collections
of unique hands-on materials, such as seal pelts,
fish and mammal bones, and parasites, have been
assembled to complement the displays and help
presenters capture the attention and imagination of
their student audiences. Fish and
invertebrates collected during field activities are
sometimes displayed at these school functions, along
with plenty of paper towels! It’s amazing
how touchable display items erase any inhibitions
children have about talking with the presenters.
These tools have prompted more Center
scientists to accept the challenge of exciting
children about pursuing careers in science.
The Diversity Panel has partnered with other
organizations having similar goals. One of the
panel’s most successful partnerships has been with
the Family Science Program
(http://projects.systemsbiology.net/familyscience/).
This program, sponsored by the Seattle School
District and the University of Washington through a
grant from the National Science Foundation, promotes
community science events at Seattle elementary
schools and involves parents and the community in
the schools’ science programs. AFSC
scientists have participated as many as ten
elementary schools’ science celebrations each year
since 1998, using our displays and hands-on
activities to explain the science of our work at the
Center.
Another successful venture, aimed at middle school
girls, has been the Expanding Your Horizons in
Science and Mathematics (EYH) conferences
(http://www.expandingyourhorizons.org)
The program organizes conferences at colleges
nationwide for presenting young women with career
opportunities in math and science. Best of all, the
presenters are women who have successful careers in
math and science. AFSC scientists have
participated in at least one local EYH conference
annually for the past ten years. The Center’s
participation has been coordinated and enhanced
through the Diversity Panel since 1996; this spring
we will be presenting seminars at three EYH
conferences at local community colleges, reaching
more young women than ever.
The Diversity Panel also has cultivated special
relationships with colleges and universities. Each
year since 1996, the panel has funded up to three
summer internships at the Center for undergraduates
in the marine sciences. Interns have assisted
Center staff with research projects, often including
experience in field sampling, laboratory work, data
analysis, and reporting of results. Many of
our interns have been undergraduates at the
University of Washington School of Aquatic and
Fishery Sciences, though others have been drawn from
all over the United States.
For the last two years, the Panel has hosted visits
to the AFSC by professors and students of Western
Washington University’s Minorities in Marine
Sciences Undergraduate Program
(MIMSUP, http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~mimsup/),
a program at the Shannon Point Marine
Laboratory in Bellingham that provides promising
minority undergraduate students with classroom and
research training in marine science. The
students’ visits to the AFSC gives them an insight
into the wide variety of career possibilities in
marine sciences. In return, students present
their progress on ongoing research projects to an
audience of AFSC scientists. Discussions
between students and staff about research projects
and employment opportunities follow from the
exchange.
Other activities that the Diversity Panel has
participated in include representing NOAA, NMFS, and
the AFSC at high school and college career fairs,
hosting middle and high school students during Job
Shadow Days at the Center, coordinating mentoring
opportunities with Seattle’s Center for Career
Alternatives, and partnering with the Seattle
Aquarium in its Mobile Field Lab Program with
students from the Secondary Bilingual Orientation
Center.
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