Women, Minorities and the Sciences

National Science Foundation programs aimed at increasing the participation of women and members of underrepresented minority groups in science, mathematics and engineering have produced significant results — but “there is still a long way to go before individuals from underrepresented groups have full access” to those fields, a report by an NSF committee says.

The study, "Broadening Participation in America’s Science and Engineering Workforce,” was produced by the foundation’s Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering. The panel takes as its starting point that America is producing fewer and fewer scientists at a time when foreigners who have traditionally come to the United States for graduate science study or to work in academe are increasingly turning elsewhere.
“This context further underscores the value and urgency of NSF’s efforts to expand our home-grown [science, technology, engineering and mathemetics] talent pool, and invite bright U.S. citizens from all backgrounds and regions into STEM,” the report says.
Those efforts — including grant programs designed to encourage undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral education and sponsor research on science and technology learning by underrepresented groups, programs specifically designed to support minority scientists, and policy changes aimed at “embedding diversity” in all NSF programs — have had an impact, the panel finds.
Between 1994 and 2003, for instance, as the number of NSF grant proposals over all grew by 33 percent, the number submitted by women rose by 73 percent, members of underrepresented minority groups submitted 69 percent more, and disabled people submitted 51 percent.
The rates at which those groups’ applications were successful were “comparable,” the report says, to the foundation-wide average of 31 percent. But the grants the successful candidates received were, on average, about 15 percent smaller than those awarded to non-minority males.
Despite those increases, far more needs to be done if women and members of underrepresented minority groups are to make their way into science and engineering fields in sufficient numbers, the panel concludes.
Among its recommendations:
While the foundation targets most of its funds to research-intensive universities, the study finds, “most women, minorities, and persons with disabilities ... start their higher education at other types of institutions, and are taught by pre-college teachers who were educated at other types of institutions.” The NSF should focus “attention on the role of community colleges and other institutions whose mission focuses on workforce preparation for underrepresented groups as a vital pathway for access” into science, math, and engineering fields.
The agency should enhance the research capacity of tribal colleges and encourage more faculty exchanges and scientific cooperation between the Native American colleges and other research institutions.
The NSF should conduct more research on why female and minority students are less likely to enter scientific fields.
— Doug Lederman

School owners accused of bilking $13 million in financial aid

By PATRICK WALTERSAssociated Press WriterJune 30, 2005, 4:04 PM EDT
PHILADELPHIA -- A husband and wife who owned a vocational school with a location in New Jersey bilked the federal government out of $13 million in financial aid grants by falsifying school records, prosecutors alleged in an indictment released Thursday. Alexander Lebed, 36, and Larisa Lebed, 33, of Richboro, face more than 120 counts of fraud and money laundering in connection with Pell Grants obtained for CSC Institute from January 1999 through December. The couple allegedly received $4.3 million for themselves personally and put the rest toward promoting the scheme.

"They tricked and manipulated a system that was put in place to help people improve their lives through education and, in a sense, took the taxpayers to school," U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan said in a statement. Pell Grants are awarded to students who have not earned a bachelor's or professional degree, and they do not have to be repaid. The Department of Education uses a formula to determine if a student is financially eligible for the award, which had a maximum of $4,000 in 2002-2003. The federal government authorized the Pell funds to be disbursed directly to the school to pay the students' tuition and other costs for eligible courses. CSC Institute had locations in Philadelphia, Southampton and Cherry Hill, N.J., and offered training for adult students in business, medical and computer fields and English as a second language. It closed in February after the Education Department determined it was no longer eligible to receive financial aid. The Lebeds had employees falsify answers on students' financial aid applications, create fraudulent supporting documents and create fake records for ineligible students in the name of eligible friends or relatives who didn't attend the school, authorities said. Schools are allowed to keep entire Pell awards for some recipients who don't finish their classes. The defendants allegedly deceived the Department of Education so the school could keep whole Pell disbursements for students who had not attended classes, had withdrawn early or had graduated from ineligible short courses. In addition, the couple is accused of paying employees a bonus or commission of $25 to $150 for each student they enrolled _ a violation of department rules _ and ordering them not to tell anyone. The Lebeds have an unlisted telephone number and could not immediately be reached Thursday. A U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman did not immediately comment on the indictment.

FAMU Trustees Deal With an Array of Problems

By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- Forty-one employees have been fired because of payroll discrepancies. The school will lose its golf, swimming and tennis programs. Administrators must find $1.4 million to settle a dispute over a federal grant.The NCAA should announce within a month or two a long list of violations involving the school's football program.Those were some of the issues the Board of Trustees for Florida A&M University discussed Thursday, as leaders of the historically black university try to deal with a wide array of problems confronting the 118-yearold institution.But the news wasn't all bad. Interim President Castell Bryant, who learned the school was overspending its budget when she took over in January, also announced the university has balanced its nearly $400 million annual budget. She also the school was improving the accountability and efficiency of its programs.The trustees also agreed to begin their search for a permanent president with the creation of a search committee that will be announced in September. The last president, Fred Gainous, was fired last year."This has been a challenging time, a very demanding time," said Bryant, who has said she doesn't want to be a candidate for the permanent presidency. "I feel that we have come a long way on the road that we need to travel."Trustee Al Cardenas said while decisions like firing employees or eliminating sports programs are difficult, they are necessary to help the school in the long run."The pain lasts a lot less if you make the tough decisions up front," he said. He predicted FAMU, which serves 13,000 students, would "emerge as a healthy, vibrant institution sooner rather than later."But the scope and difficulty of the problems that school officials are dealing with were illustrated by the results of an ongoing payroll audit that Bryant ordered shortly after she became president.Based on an investigation of an April payroll, Bryant said 41 employees had been fired, including some 27 members of the school's Institute for Urban Policy and Commerce.Among the reasons for the firings was that some employees were being paid for work on the FAMU campus but actually lived in other cities or states and had other jobs.Some employees were collecting two checks from FAMU but were not showing up for their additional jobs or were leaving their primary jobs early to go to their secondary jobs.Altogether, Bryant said the audit revealed 286 employees were being paid for multiple jobs. She said some were legitimately being paid for multiple jobs, while the validity of other arrangements was still being investigated.Three incidents involving $323,000, have been turned over to the state attorney's office for investigation. Another 21 employees have been referred to the school's inspector general's office for more investigation.And mysteriously, 74 checks or electronic vouchers involving more than $3 million were never picked up or cashed. Those cases have been referred to the state Department of Financial Services for further investigation, Bryant said.Bryant said the payroll audit was continuing and she expected more results to be announced later.Meanwhile, as part of the effort to balance the school's budget, the trustees unanimously agreed to eliminate the men's and women's swimming and diving programs and the men's golf and tennis programs. It will save about $640,000, but will impact about 40 students who participate in those programs.Several trustees said they were uneasy with the decision."People of color are woefully underrepresented in these areas," said Trustee R.B. Holmes. "I'm very, very uncomfortable with cutting these four sports -- it literally gives me the hiccups."Golf coach Marvin Green said he understood the school had to "make a tough decision for financial reasons." He said six golfers would be impacted by the decision.But he also said it was important for a school like FAMU to have a golf program to help produce more minority golfers."The only way African-American golf is going to grow at the professional level is through the historically black colleges and universities," he said.The trustees and Bryant said they would look to other sources, including private fund raising, to try to revive the programs. In another budget adjustment, Bryant announced that the athletic budget would only pay to send the school's famed "Marching 100" band to two football games this season in Orlando and Atlanta. She said if the band travels to other games, the expenses will have to come out of another budget.The trustees were also told they could expect to hear from the NCAA in the next month or two about alleged multiple rules violations in the school's football program. Last month, the school fired longtime coach Billy Joe.Mark Walker, Joe's lawyer, asked the trustees to discuss the grounds of his firing to avoid a lawsuit. But school officials said Joe had been kept apprised of the investigation as it went forward to the NCAA.Bryant told the trustees that the school was working on an improvement plan for handling grant money from the National Science Foundation.In a related issue, she said FAMU has agreed to pay back $1.4 million of a previous NSF grant that could not be properly accounted for. Bryant said she wasn't sure where the school would get the money to reimburse the agency.