n e w s of t h e w e e k
DOE budget signed with science, security cuts
In energy-related R&D, Congress reduced the President's solar and renewable energy request from $446 million to $362 million, mostly taking the money out of solar research. It increased nuclear-related research spending by $20 million to $288 million. In addition, Richardson was critical of Congress' decision not to provide the $35 million he had sought for cybersecurity upgrades at the DOE weapons labs, especially in light of Congress' harsh and ongoing criticism of DOE's security practices. Jeff'Johnson
Congressional cuts in energy science and security appropriations for fiscal 2000 upset Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, but not enough to prevent President Bill Clinton from signing the bill in September's waning days. The $16.7 billion appropriations bill for the Department of Energy was the first science-funding bill to hit the President's desk and one of few fiscal 2000 appropriations bills to clear Congress and be signed into law before the end of the fiscal year. It came in $440 million below the President's request. Among cuts singled out for criticism by Richardson were $96 million removed from a $196 million request for construction of the Spallation Neutron Source at Four educators with ties to chemistry Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Ten- are among the 10 individuals who have nessee. DOE sources say the department won this year's Presidential Award for will push on with the construction pro- Excellence in Science, Mathematics & gram, and they acknowledge the reduc- Engineering Mentoring. The award tions were not a complete surprise. Rep. honors those who have guided a signifiF. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), House cant number of students over a susScience Committee chairman, had threat- tained period of time. In particular, ened to withhold all funding for the neu- these mentors have encouraged minoritron scattering accelerator because of ties, women, and people with disabilities management problems. to take up careers in scientific, engiOther reductions include nearly all of neering, and other technical fields. the funding DOE had requested for a The winners include Ajay K. Bose, new supercomputer system for civilian professor of chemistry at Stevens Instiapplications. DOE's request was part of tute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., a $366 million presidential information honored for more than 40 years of work, technology initiative, parceled out to several federal departments. Hardest hit in the DOE Science Office was the computational research program, which lost $64 million. Basic Energy Sciences (BES) lost about $6 million for combustion modeling, and the Biological & Environmental Research (BER) climatechange program was reduced by several million dollars. However, both the BES and BER toCastro tals stayed about even with requested Bose amounts. BES received $683 million for research, split among materials science including an undergraduate summer re($405 million), chemical sciences search program; George Castro, associ($209 million), engineering and geo- ate dean of the College of Science at San sciences ($38 million), and energy bio- Jose State University, who, among other sciences ($31 million). BER got around contributions, hired and mentored $400 million, divided roughly among hu- more than 20 minority and female sciman genome and life sciences ($170 mil- ence and engineering students for IBM lion), global change ($120 million), envi- Research; Ram S. Lamba, professor of ronmental remediation ($64 million), and chemistry and dean of academic affairs medical applications ($40 million). In at the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, BER's case, another $40 million was ap- whose "mentees" include nine universipropriated but will simply be passed on to ty science professors and more than 500 pet congressional projects. science teachers; and Zafra M. Lerman,
Mentors' efforts earn presidential award
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OCTOBER 11,1999 C&EN
m head of the Institute for Science Education & Science Communication at Columbia College in Chicago, whose programs led thousands of students to consider college as an option. Five institutions also received the award for their role in enabling students
Lamba
Lerman
from groups underrepresented in science, math, and engineering to pursue and complete their degrees. These institutions are Oregon State University, Corvallis; the University of California, Santa Cruz; the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick; and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The award, administered and funded by the National Science Foundation, includes a presidential certificate and a $10,000 grant to be invested in mentoring activities. It was established in 1996 by the National Science & Technology Council, which is part of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. These mentoring programs can have far-reaching consequences for students whose backgrounds are outside the norm. Lerman, for instance, is tickled that her work at Columbia College, which she characterizes as an art school, has been recognized. Students in her chemistry class use art, music, and drama to demonstrate their scientific knowledge. Several have gone into science communication, and one just went off to Hollywood to work on the "Star Trek" and "X-Files" programs, both as an artist and a science adviser. Another student, who took Lerman's chemistry class while serving a six-year prison sentence for drug charges, ended up teaching fellow inmates what she had learned in Lerman's class. Now released, she is working toward a master's degree in management. The student now says that "chemicals destroyed my life, but a chemistry class saved my life," Lerman relates. Sophie Wilkinson
