Renee Juhans
Headquarters, Washington             August 9, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1712)

Karen Horting
Science's Next Wave, Washington
(Phone: 202/326-8965)

RELEASE: 01-162

NASA PROVIDES "SCIENCE'S NEXT WAVE" FOR MINORITY SCHOOLS

     As part of its ongoing commitment to education, NASA has 
teamed with the journal Science to provide Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the Leadership Alliance 
access to a weekly on-line publication devoted to scientific 
training and career development.

The online publication, "Science's Next Wave," provides 
global news, profiles of emerging careers, and advice from 
experts in the scientific community at large. Next Wave is a 
global source of information that is updated weekly and can 
be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from the Internet.

"This resource was initially provided to NASA employees. With 
the assistance of George Reese, Associate Administrator for 
Equal Opportunity Programs, we decided to extend the program 
to include HBCUs when we realized what a great opportunity 
this could be to link the best and brightest minds to 
promising careers in science. We hope that the subscription 
will inform as well as encourage students, especially 
minorities, to pursue science-related career opportunities 
that are available," said Dr. Kathie Olsen, NASA Chief 
Scientist and Acting Associate Administrator for Biological 
and Physical Research at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The subscription will cover the minority schools in the 
Leadership Alliance, including: Clark Atlanta University, 
Delaware State University, Howard University, Morehouse 
College, Morgan State University, Prairie View A&M 
University, Southern University at Baton Rouge, Spelman 
College, Tougaloo University, Xavier University, and the 
University of Puerto Rico system.

"Sadly, the number of underrepresented minorities receiving 
graduate degrees in the sciences is still extremely low. For 
this reason, we are heartened by NASA's commitment to make 
the training and mentoring of underrepresented minority 
science students a top priority," said Ellis Rubinstein, 
editor of Science.

Some of the resources that will be available to the students 
are the Career Development Center for Postdocs and Junior 
Faculty, the Grant Doctor, and the new Postdoc Network.  
These features provide information for beginning scientists, 
tips on writing grants and locating funds, help with time 
management, and question-and-answer sessions. 

More information on "Next Wave" or the Leadership Alliance 
can be found at:

                http://www.nextwave.org

          http://www.leadershipalliance.org

                        -end-