DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708090297

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DIANE WASHINGTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   89 lines

SCIENCE, MATH PROGRAM LIFTS YOUNG MINDS NOW THAT IT IS OPEN TO WHITES, SOME FEAR THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINORITIES WILL DROP.

Sixteen-year-old John Williams wants to be a doctor. But he wants to be the kind of doctor who does more than diagnose an illness; he wants to conduct research to find the cure.

``In my family, kidney diseases are hereditary,'' said Williams. ``So I need to help find a cure for them. I can't sit around and wait for somebody else to do it.''

That's why Williams was one of more than 1,500 students nationwide who applied for SHARP Plus, a program designed to spark interest in science, math, and engineering among minority and female high school students.

SHARP Plus, which stands for Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program, was created by NASA five years ago. The ``plus'' distinguishes it from another SHARP program for students who live within a 50-mile radius of NASA field centers.

The more than 300 students chosen to participate are placed at 16 colleges throughout the country, including Hampton University and Old Dominion University.

The students learn how to conduct research in one of their areas of interest by spending eight weeks with college professors who volunteer as mentors. The program ended yesterday.

Williams, a rising junior from Albany, Ga., studied the effect of thyroxine, a hormone produced by the thyroid gland, on jellyfish at ODU.

Organizers with the non-profit group that conducts SHARP Plus for NASA, the Quality of Education for Minorities Network, said such programs are important because African-Americans, Hispanics and women are underrepresented in math and science doctoral programs. Less than 10 percent of all doctorates went to minorities in 1995, according to the American Council on Education Office of Minorities in Higher Education, based in Washington. Only 11 percent of engineering Ph.D. recipients were women that year.

One of SHARP's goals is to increase those numbers.

``This program works,'' said Vanere Goodwin, SHARP Plus coordinator at Hampton. ``At the end of the eight weeks, . . . I see more confident, more knowledgeable students who are more focused.''

SHARP Plus prides itself on exposing the students to hands-on research, college experience and enrichment activities.

``We didn't just learn about our individual projects,'' said Sagar Shah , a 16-year-old rising junior from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., who studied at ODU. ``We had activities in resume writing, budgeting, financial aid for college and career choices,'' he said. ``But we also learned about each others' cultures.'' While organizers said the program has been successful, some mentors and participants are concerned about enrollment changes that open SHARP Plus to Caucasian and Asian-American students. They fear that African-Americans and Hispanics will lose opportunities.

In the past, organizers said Caucasian and Asian-American students weren't included because they weren't underrepresented in math, science and engineering fields.

``A couple of years ago, during the affirmative action uproar, federal agencies evaluated the program,'' QEM program manager Laura Lee Davidson said, ``and felt it was in the best interest of the program to open it to everyone.''

While Davidson said diversifying the program is important, the changes have made local coordinators uneasy.

``I wish the program would have stayed like it was,'' said Barbara Hargrave, the SHARP Plus coordinator for ODU and a program mentor. ``Diversity is good, but we really need minority programs that cultivate interest in science and provide the opportunity for them to excel.''

This summer, Hampton University hosted 24 students, 10 male and 14 female, including three Caucasians and four Asian Americans. There were 20 students at Old Dominion: six male and 14 female, including one Caucasian.

Participants echoed the coordinator's concerns.

``Minorities needed this program because we were underrepresented in these professions,'' said Kristen Thomas, a rising senior from South Carolina who participated at Hampton. ``If you include the majority, we'll be dominated again.''

But some are happy to now be included.

``Asians weren't included in affirmative action,'' said Allen Chiu, a Maryland student who studied at Hampton.

``Asians fall through the cracks. Everything should be open to everybody.''

But some participants are hoping to attract other minority students to careers in science and math by being good role models.

``It'll all work out,'' said Lamara King , a rising junior from North Carolina. ``We are setting the pathway for younger kids. If they see us be great engineers and they can relate their face to ours, they'll feel they can do it with or without programs like this.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

From left, Elvin Hernandez Crespo, Christine Salinsky, John Williams

Jr., Chris Wilson, Marimar Aponte and Sagar Shah are students in the

NASA SHARP Plus program at Old Dominion University.

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