In its stewardship role, NSF is responsible for ensuring the nation's
supply of well-trained scientists and engineers. Until recently,
graduate education and postdoctoral training have focused on
developing technical excellence. Although excellence continues to be
a requirement, it is no longer the only benchmark for successful
professional development. If the scientists and engineers of the future
are to meet the nation's changing needs, they must have a broader
view of their professional opportunities, which extend to academia,
industry, government, and the education sector. The next generation
of U.S. scientists and engineers must be flexible and broadly trained
if they are to be successful as professionals and as contributors to
society's interests. To create this new approach to professional
research training, NSF is working with Ph.D.-granting universities to
create and promote new traditions of interdisciplinary teamwork.
NSF provides support not only for the instruments used to develop
technical excellence in graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, but
also for tools that will create new standards in research training. As
part of its support for the Science and Technology Center for
Computer Graphics and Scientific Visualization, NSF provided
funding for high-speed multimedia networking among the five
universities involved in the Center (Cornell University, the University
of Utah, Brown University, the California Institute of Technology,
and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill). Dedicated T1
lines (1.5 million bits/second) support simultaneous audio- and
videoconferencing, remote control of interactive software
demonstrations, and data and graphics sharing. These network links
are used heavily for courses, seminars, workshops, and other
interactions that allow students and faculty at each site to enjoy the
benefits of activities at all sites. Each participating university
contributes a different area of expertise, such
as three-dimensional computer modeling, software-controlled
machining, virtual reality, and computer graphics and rendering. The
NSF-funded network provides graduate students and postdoctoral
fellows with a training experience that is truly more than the sum of
its parts and creates a model for distance learning at all educational
levels.
Scientific instruments can be catalysts for combining research and
education. In many cases, the first chance that students get to actually
do scientific research is during their undergraduate years. For most
students, this research will take place in a library, but an increasing
number of forward-looking colleges and universities are enlisting
undergraduates into research teams traditionally limited to faculty,
postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. Meaningful research
involvement adds depth and impact to the undergraduate experience,
regardless of whether the student goes on to a career in science or
engineering. Genuine research experience makes learning an active
pursuit that combines instruction and inquiry. It helps create a
citizenry that is scientifically and technologically literate and provides
opportunities to advance to higher levels of scientific training.
Research experiences can also validate an individual's curiosity and
promote the habit of lifelong learning. The Instrumentation and
Laboratory Improvement Program in the Foundation's Education and
Human Resources Directorate supports the acquisition of smaller
instruments ($10,000 to $200,000) for use in instruction. NSF also
enables undergraduate research involvement by providing, through
the ARI Program, more costly state-of-the-art research instruments to
faculty who involve undergraduates in their research efforts or
incorporate research into their undergraduate courses.
NSF's Academic Research Infrastructure Program has provided
support to upgrade the infrared telescope facility at the University of
Wyoming's Infrared Observatory (WIRO). Infrared radiation
provides important data concerning the structure and composition of
other galaxies, because it penetrates the gas and dust that block the
visible light emanating from parts of these galaxies. With modern
instruments, infrared radiation can be analyzed to reveal the chemical
composition and physical conditions in these galaxies and similarities
and differences from our own. WIRO is used for innovative
undergraduate educational programs that have brought many students
into contact with research in astronomy and astrophysics.
NSF is active in its support of projects that will ensure the full
participation of all groups in the science and engineering enterprise.
Institutions with high minority enrollments are the leaders in
promoting excellence in science and engineering within groups that
have been underrepresented in these disciplines. These institutions
have struggled with the lack of sophisticated facilities and
instrumentation that would attract outstanding faculty and students.
By providing modern instrumentation to minority institutions, NSF is
developing the potential for excellence in all segments of our diverse
population. The Academic Research Infrastructure Program has
supported the acquisition of a state-of-the-art confocal microscope by
the Department of Physiology at Morehouse School of Medicine
(MSM). Confocal microscopes use laser light to remove out-of-focus
light from images. The microscope creates optical cross-sections at
different levels of a sample, and computer image processing
integrates these sections into a complete three-dimensional image.
Confocal microscopy is being used at MSM to probe the structure of
cells and the organization of biological tissue in a way that is
impossible using conventional microscopes. This instrument has
significantly increased MSM's research capabilities, allowing
minority students and their faculty to probe basic biological questions
and their implications for biomedical problems, including the
processes of cellular breakdown and immunological response.