| San Diego State University has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship Program to implement the San Diego Science Alliance PISCES (Partnerships Involving the Scientific Community in Elementary Schools) Project. The collaborative effort over the past two years between the San Diego Science Alliance, San Diego County Office of Education, and local universities, including San Diego State, CSU San Marcos, UCSD, and the University of San Diego, has resulted in this exciting and significant award. Seven San Diego county school districts (Cardiff, Chula Vista, Encinitas, La Mesa-Spring Valley, San Diego City, Santee, and Vista) participated in the development of the lengthy proposal over the past two years. Dr. Walter C. Oechel, Dr. Cheryl Mason, and Ms. Nancy Taylor will serve as Co-Principal Investigators on the PISCES Project. The NSF funding will be used to place university graduate students in classrooms during science instruction, as partners with San Diego elementary teachers. Educational features of the program include both summer and school year onsite workshops and seminars for the university graduate fellows and their cooperating teachers, in collaboration with the San Diego County Office of Education’s curriculum, professional development, and educational technology resources. Objectives of the program include improved communication and teaching skills for the fellows, enriched learning for K–6 students, professional development opportunities for K–6 teachers funded by the cooperating districts’ grants to the Science Alliance for the |
PISCES Project, and strengthened partnerships among science education stakeholders in San Diego. Although the core focus of the classroom experiences will revolve around exemplary science instructional materials for elementary grades, the PISCES Project will also have the opportunity to participate in interpreting current scientific data. This unique feature of the project will focus on an environmental and ecosystem comparison to serve as a basis for introducing scientific and environmental concepts and approaches. Near real time data and video on contrasting ecosystems and climates will be brough to K–6 students. Teachers will have the opportunity to link science (including environmental science) to other subject areas including social studies, geography, and literacy. Dr. Walter Oechel has an active research program on the chaparral of California and Arctic Alaska, including micrometeorological, atmospheric, and ecosystems photosynthesis and respiration evapotranspiration and energy balance. Using funding requested from other sources, satellite down link (Atqasuk) video cameras, and a link to the Internet will be added at research sites at Barrow and Atqasuk, Alaska. In addition, the project will recruit Science Corps fellows from the native community at Ilasagvik College in Barrow. There will be an exchange program between Science Corps fellows in San Diego and Arctic Alaska, and these fellows will help interpret data from San Diego County and Arctic Alaska. Visit the PISCES web site at www.sdsa.org/pisces for information about project implementation. |
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Science Interconnections Program to Launch |
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| The SDSA is unveiling the "Science Interconnections" program, formerly the "Science in San Diego" series. The program will provide 35 San Diego area science teachers the opportunity to visit eight different corporations and research sites throughout the Winter and Spring. The programs will be held on Wednesdays from 4:00–6:30 p.m. and provide the connection between science education and the application of the learning tools to the workplace. | The science teachers participating will receive a broad scope of science applications including biology, digital telecommunications, avionics, earthquake simulation, and a host of others. To date, confirmed workshops include: GenProbe, QUALCOMM, TRW, and UCSD-Earthquake Simulation. Applications and more detailed information are available on the SDSA web site at www.sdsa.org. |
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SDSA Letterhead Gets a New Look |
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| If you have received any formal correspondence from the San Diego Science Alliance, chances are you took notice of the very attractive and informational letterhead being used by the SDSA Executive Director, Patricia Winter. The current SDSA stationary contains the organization’s name, logo, address, telephone and fax numbers, web address, e-mail address, Mission Statement, Honorary Advisory Board members, and a list of the current SDSA Board of Directors. Needless to say, with all of this information listed around the perimeter of the letterhead, it leaves very little room for text on the opening page. This is by design, since the SDSA strives to ensure that all of the contributing individuals and corporations donating their time, money, and resources to the organization are recognized and acknowledged with each piece of information sent out. Without the past and continued support of these key individuals, businesses, and institutions, the San Diego Science Alliance would not have blossomed over the past five years into the dominant science and mathematics networking organization in San Diego county. Fortunately the SDSA has been successful in securing even greater financial support over the past year from a number of national foundations and local San Diego corporations interested in sponsoring a variety of SDSA education programs. The Foundation grants have included Hewlett Packard, McCarthy Foundation, SDG&E, |
Oracle Foundation, Pacific Telesis Foundation, and the TRW Foundation. The SDSA has also established a "Sustaining" Membership category ($20,000+) and a "Supporting" Membership category ($5,000 - $19,999) to supplement program funding and administrative costs for the organization. Current Sustaining Members include General Atomics and QUALCOMM, and current Supporting Members include Cubic Corporation, Pacific Bell, SAIC, Solar Turbines, and Sprint. It was a difficult decision for the Executive Committee, but there is no additional room on the existing SDSA stationary to list these new Sustaining and Supporting levels of membership and financial commitment to the Alliance. After much deliberation, the Executive Committee decided that the Honorary Advisory Board portion of the SDSA letterhead would need to be removed to facilitate the addition of the new membership levels. "Hopefully, we will outgrow that space with new Sustaining and Supporting members. . .then we may need to start using legal-size paper for our letterhead to fit everything," said Patricia Winter, SDSA Executive Director. The SDSA still places a great value on the leadership and advocacy provided by the Honorary Advisory Board, and wishes to thank them once again for their continued input and support. The current SDSA Honorary Advisory Board includes: |
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Women Professionals from BF Goodrich Aerostructures Meet with Math and Science Teachers |
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| Fire the imaginations of your female students by exposing them to the wealth of high-tech career opportunities available in the aerospace industry. This was the advice offered to Sweetwater Union High School District mathematics and science teachers by women professionals of the BF Goodrich Aerostructures Group at an August 25 roundtable. The event was sponsored by the San Diego Science Alliance as part of the Sweetwater District’s Girl Power Program. It focused on aerospace career perspectives offered by four high-level women professionals at the Aerostructures Group. The Aerostructures Group, headquartered in Chula Vista, is the world’s leading full-service supplier of nacelles and pylon systems for large commercial aircraft. The company also provides a broad range of other specialized aerostructures for commercial, military, and space applications. "Many of us have good mathematics and science skills as middle schoolers, but no one encourages us to do something with them," said Aerostructures Group Marketing Director Christine Probett, who has also served as a project and flight test engineer. "Foster these science, |
technology, and engineering aptitudes at an early age. Give your female students visibility to the breadth of career opportunities out there in these fields." "If you work hard and get the job done, your gender isn’t an issue," offered Business Development Director Judie Hooper, who has also held high-level positions at Boeing and in the airline industry. "Anything is possible. . .it’s all within you. Some of the top women executives in the airline industry today started as flight attendants, ticket agents, or secretaries." X-33 Program Group Engineer Tammy McEuen added that female students interested in aerospace engineering careers should also develop strong communication, teamwork, problem solving, and conflict resolution skills. "This event met my expectations and more," said Girl Power Project Coordinator, Nancy Stubbs, afterwards. "It will be great for our students to hear about science that is going on right here in this area and the career options they can consider. We were all happy to hear that women are treated as equals at BF Goodrich. From now on, my engineering curriculum will be much more rich and thorough." Girl Power is a districtwide program designed to boost the number of girls in grades 7–9 studying and succeeding in rigorous mathematics, science, technology and engineering courses. |
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WhoDunit: BE WiSE Overnight for Girls Interested in Science and Engineering |
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| On April 30, 1999 the San Diego Science Alliance held its first overnight for the BE WiSE program (Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering). "Whodunit" was a huge success! Thirty 7th and 8th grade girls were selected from over 140 applicants, each from different schools throughout San Diego county. The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center proved to be the perfect setting for this inaugural BE WiSE program, which included a "Scene of the Crime" presentation and hands-on workshops dealing with the art of forensic science. A stroll through the Fleet’s "WhoDunit" exhibit to solve a mystery was the highlight of the evening’s festivities. When the girls were dropped off by their parents around 5:00 p.m., they were asked to place their fingerprint on a name tag. None of these girls had ever met prior to this event, but it didn’t take long for the students to start forming small groups, making new friends, and eating dinner together. After dinner the girls and chaperones met to view a presentation on "The Scene of the Crime" by Nancy Vonasek Farrar, a Crime Lab Technician from the Chula Vista Police Department. Nancy displayed a table full of real forensic equipment and showed slides of actual crime scenes. With their interest peaked, the girls broke out into small work groups and participated in 30–minute workshops from 8:00–11:00 p.m. Female scientists from the San Diego area volunteered their time to present workshops on DNA analysis, fingerprinting, footprint casting, drug analysis, skeletal remains, and paper chromatography. While the chaperones may have shown signs of fatigue toward the end, the girls drove straight on through the hands-on activities without a yawn. Lots of snacks and beverages helped keep them going into the late hours. After gaining all of this forensic expertise, the girls set out to solve the crime at the "WhoDunit" exhibit in the Main Gallery of the Fleet Science Museum. The excitement and enthusiasm of these thirty girls filled the Museum as they discussed all of the knowledge and information they had learned in the previous workshops. A short debriefing of the crime was followed by one last snack. At midnight the girls were finally able to roll out their sleeping bags and settle in among the Challenger and other exhibits in the Museum rotunda. Upon departure the following morning, one of the girls wrote that she would recommend this program to a friend because "you learn a lot about science, and best of all you make new friends." Another girl commented, "it was really fun, and while having fun, it was educational." |
A short debriefing of the crime was followed by one last snack. At midnight the girls were finally able to roll out their sleeping bags and settle in among the Challenger and other exhibits in the Museum rotunda. Upon departure the following morning, one of the girls wrote that she would recommend this program to a friend because "you learn a lot about science, and best of all you make new friends." Another girl commented, "it was really fun, and while having fun, it was educational." Not only did these girls learn a great deal about a variety of science-based career opportunities, but they did so from a group of women working in local business and industry. These new friends will be reunited on Saturday, October 23rd when they attend a follow-up event at Mission Trails Regional Park for their next BE WiSE activity. This time participants will each play the role of a field biologist as they examine plants, insects, and water along the hiking trail. Please feel free to log-on at www.sdsa.org to view the many wonderful pictures from the "WhoDunit" event, and to obtain more information about the San Diego Science Alliance’s BE WiSE program. The Science Alliance would like to thank the education staff of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, under the leadership of Lynne Kennedy, for their efforts in planning and hosting the event. We’d also like to thank the entire BE WiSE committee who showed a great deal of dedication (every member attended the overnight and many stayed until morning). Finally, thanks to Vortex Data Systems for donating the breakfast that was provided to all of the girls before their departure. Future BE WiSE Events: The next two overnights, hosted by the Birch Aquarium and SeaWorld, are scheduled for new groups of 7th and 8th grade girls during the 1999–2000 school year. Watch the SDSA web site and calendar for details in the months ahead.
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Athena Launches "Generation 2000" |
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| UCSD CONNECT Athena, UCSD CONNECT’s program for senior women executives in high-tech and life science companies, recently received grant funding from QUALCOMM to pursue an initiative which will assist in the development of San Diego’s next generation of leaders in technology and entrepreneurship. QUALCOMM, which is already involved in a variety of outreach programs with a number of partners (including the San Diego Science Alliance), has provided a $10,000 grant to fund the first year of his new and innovative program. The Athena Generation 2000 initiative will encourage young men and women to pursue careers in science and technology by providing role models from the local business community to work with select students on a regular basis. Athena would like to make the "Generation 2000" name synonymous with success in high-technology careers so that students |
synonymous with success in high-technology careers so that students and organizations seeking information on these career opportunities will automatically turn to Athena for assistance, guidance, and support. Athena will initially work through established programs like the San Diego Science Alliance’s BEWiSE Program, the Science Olympiad, the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair and the K–12 Inventors Showcase. Proposed activities include the sponsorship of special awards at local and regional science fairs and a special technology award (with a cash prize) at the San Diego State University Business Plan Competition. Athena Generation 2000 will offer scholarships to summer science camps and other specialized programs that encourage participation in the sciences, and will act as a catalyst to further develop linkages between SDSU and UCSD campus organizations that promote interest in science and technology. |
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San Diego Science Alliance Revises Mission Statement |
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| The Board of Directors of the San Diego Science Alliance recently revised its mission statement. The new mission statement is given below. The San Diego Science Alliance (SDSA) is a non-profit consortium of businesses, institutions of research and higher education, and other organizations committed to fostering K–12 science literacy and education in San Diego County. Funded primarily by local industry, SDSA provides tools and networking opportunities to connect teachers with resources that are available to enrich science education. SDSA also works with local science educators to identify areas of need and to develop new programs for San Diego students and teachers. |
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Science Education Partnership Award Helps Morse High School Students |
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| The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded a three-year SEPA grant for a collaborative project between UCSD Medical School, the San Diego Science Alliance, and Morse High School. This unique partnership is expected to culminate in a student-run public health education outreach organization. Morse students will arrange service learning projects for feeder junior high and elementary schools within the Morse cluster of schools. Projects will cover an array of public health issues, with a primary focus on awareness and prevention rather than curative medicine. The range of student projects will include the creation of web sites, support groups within the Morse campus, and assistance to elementary and middle school teachers in the creation of health projects for their students. In addition, the most advanced technology will be utilized to train students in technological and presentation skills. The San Diego Science Alliance will introduce a variety of health delivery organization models to the students. SDSA organizations will conduct lectures, activities, and field trips, and will use students as volunteers. This will be the second consecutive year that the Science Alliance will be assisting with this exciting and innovative program. |
Selected students will begin the program with introductory level activities covering all areas while taking a special 10th grade block biology course with teacher Bart Hays. During the 11th grade, students will focus on their particular interest while taking a special block Chemistry class with teacher Paul Loozen. During the 12th grade, students will develop, organize, present, and administer the public health organization. This program will also allow for job shadowing, short internships, and time to set up and administer electronic networks for research, presentation, and communication. The format will primarily focus on problem identification, and students will have the responsibility of solving various problems and will be encouraged to use the local scientific community for support. Hays and Loozen are excited and energized with the possibilities and challenges this program presents and plan to share their experiences at the San Diego Science Educators Association (SDSEA) 2000 conference. As Hays said, "We are especially excited about how a grant this size and a project this ambitious can change a school. We don’t expect miracles but a lot has already changed. We now see how this can work almost anywhere!" |
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Girard Foundation Funds PISCES! |
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| As this newletter goes to press, we are elated to receive news from the Girard Foundation regarding a grant of $20,000 to support the professional development component of the PISCES (Partnerships Involving the Scientific Community in Elementary Schools) Project (see article, page 1). Resources from the Girard Foundation have been identified to provide science curriculum training and resources to the elementary classroom teachers participating in PISCES. To compliment the start up of the university graduate students Science Corps assistance in elementary science instructional programs, the Girard Foundation funds will bring together elementary teachers for initial professional development on K–6 science kits and effective teaching strategies. |
The PISCES Project leadership team is grateful for the interest the Girard Foundation has committed to raising the standards for science instruction in approximately 24 San Diego county elementary school classrooms!
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PISCES Science Corps Off and Running |
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| The San Diego Science Alliance PISCES (Partnerships Involving the Scientific Community in Elementary Science) Project got off to a great start at Carlton Hills Elementary School, Santee School District, earlier this year. The first phase of the program involved graduate student Jeanne Burch, from San Diego State University, working in the classroom with fourth through sixth grade students at Carlton Hills Elementary. With Jeanne’s help, the participating students and teachers were exposed to hands-on projects involving circuits, chemistry, animal habitats, and levers. Jeanne also introduced various items from her lab, such as safety goggles and microscope slides, to give the students a better idea of what she does on a day-to-day basis. When one student complained about having to write too much, Jeanne brought in three years worth of lab journals and notebooks to demonstrate that she too is expected to keep careful notes on all of her lab experiments and scientific work. Results? At the end of the school year, these students expressed an increased interest in pursuing further science education or careers in the science field. Some even documented precise time-lines in their science journals indicating when they expected to graduate from college |
and become scientists. Parent evaluations indicated that many of the students now have an enhanced awareness of how science is used in everyday life. For example, students that completed the "electric circuits" class now have a better understanding of how electricity is used in the home to power light fixtures, appliances, television sets, etc. "Thank you" notes from Joan Miller’s fourth grade class also indicated a greater appreciation for science and scientists as the students created their own personal notes with pictures of Ms. Burch in her lab coat and reminders to "be careful with chemistry." The feedback from the teachers was very positive. With the endorsement of students, parents, and teachers at Carlton Hills Elementary, the PISCES Project will be expanded in Fall 1999. The project will now include more graduate students from SDSU, UCSD, CSU San Marcos, and USD partnering with elementary teachers to deliver science to elementary schools throughout San Diego county. Our thanks to Ernie Nevares, principal at Carlton Hills Elementary School, and Joan Miller, Lisa Caruso, Don Ainsworth, and Kathryn Ducharme for hosting a PISCES Science Corps partner. |
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News of Our Members. . . . . |
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| Leslie Snider, a long time SDSA Board Member and our Community College representative, moved with her husband (Jerry Kashiwada) to Fort Bragg, a coastal town in Mendocino County (population 7000). Jerry does abalone research for the California Department of Fish and Game and Leslie is taking Dendrology and The Lichens of Northern California at the College of the Redwoods. For those of you who interacted with Leslie through the Southern California Biotechnology Center, you will be pleased to know that the connection and opportunities are still in place, with our new contact person being Kathleen Davies . . . SDSA is pleased that Kendra Jeffcoat, Assistant to the President, Palomar College, has joined our Board as our link to the Community Colleges . . . Also new to our Board is Gary Devan, Senior Vice President of Information Systems, Mission Federal Credit Union. He is our Treasurer. |
. . .We welcome Alice B. Hayes, President of the University of San Diego, to our Honorary Advisory Board. . . .In June, 1999, Shawn Carlson, founder of the Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS) and a long time member of the San Diego Science Alliance, was awarded one of the 32 prestigious MacArthur "genius grants" for his work with SAS. Shawn is an adjunct professor of Physics at SDSU. . . .Tony Bottone, a member of the San Diego Chapter of the American Chemical Society (this is how he knew about SDSA) and a sales representative for several local laboratory equipment firms, contacted SDSA for suggestions of where to donate several boxes of usable science lab items (HPLC fittings, filters, glass capillaries, vials, piettors, etc). A match was made with the Elementary Institute of Science. |
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Marine Technology Society Provided Six-Week Summer Internship Opportunity |
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| This summer eight corporate members of the San Diego Section of the Marine Technology Society (MTS) provided six-week summer internship opportunities for a selected group of local high school students. Both the students and their corporate hosts spoke enthusiastically about the opportunity and about their experiences with one another. Last spring MTS worked through the San Diego County Office of Education to announce this new and innovative program. Flyers and applications were sent to all San Diego county high schools. Students were selected by the corporations from the almost one hundred applications received. Four female and four male students were selected from Mount Miguel, Torrey Pines, University City, Ramona, Francis Parker, and Point Loma high schools. Mike Drake-Brockman, Acoustic Systems Manager at Nautronix, said that their student is doing a great job and is fitting right in. "She presents herself far beyond her years. I only hope I can keep her challenged! Maybe she can take my job!" Corporate mentors seem to be pleasantly surprised at how easily these talented high school students adapt and respond to sophisticated technology. Vera T. spent the summer at Racal-Pelagos and was recently involved in the surveying of San Diego Harbor. "We used the company’s surveying vessel, GPS equipment, and multi-beam sounding system to take bathometric measurements. Being in the field was very important for me as I got a more complete picture of the work Racal does, |
and how the information is obtained. I am currently becoming acquainted with side-scan sonar, which is commonly used for research." ". . .how I am being treated—marvelously!" she said. Corporations hosting students included Deep Sea Power and Light, Kongsberg-Simrad, Lockheed-Martin, Nautronix, Oceaneering, Racal-Pelagos, SAIC, and Remote Ocean Systems. In March of last year, Larry Nordell, science teacher at Mount Miguel High School and chairman of the MTS internship program, was honored with a Partnership Award by the San Diego Science Alliance for his role in initiating this corporate partnering program. "Since the early ‘90s I’ve spent a lot of my time in the spring trying to find summer opportunities for students," Larry said. " I’ve seen how these intimate, intense summer experiences change lives. Needless to say, I feel a lot of personal satisfaction in making this program ‘spring to life’." The Marine Technology Society is an international professional society that derives membership from the military, educational institutions, local businesses, and corporate sponsors. MTS’s San Diego Section has been active for many years and supports a number of important educational activities including the Science Olympiad and the Science Fair. Visit their web site at www.mts-sandiego.org. |
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Newsletter Editor: Janet Trentacosta Newsletter Staff: Mark Shults, Pacific Bell Patricia Winter, General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation Contributors: Barbara Friedman, Athena/UCSD CONNECT Ellie Glaser, QUALCOMM Bart Hays, Morse High Jeff Hulewicz, BF Goodrich Aerospace Larry Nordell, Mt. Miguel High Mark Shults, Pacific Bell Nancy Taylor, SDCOE Joy Wochenske, WestEd San Diego Science Alliance, a non-profit organization 6449 Caminito Sinnecock San Diego, CA 92037 (858) 454-7622 Fax: (858) 454-4548 e-mail: pat.winter@gat.com SDSA web site: www.sdsa.org |
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