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University of Rhode Island Hopes to Have More Minority Scientists

Posted on: Thursday, 14 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

Jul. 14--Brian Brock is one of just five minority graduate students studying science, math and engineering at the University of Rhode Island -- out of 413 graduate students in those fields.

Brock, who is black and grew up in a rural town in South Carolina, is pursuing a master's degree in pharmacology and toxicology. He is also part of a research team that is investigating a link between lead exposure and Alzheimer's disease. He hopes to continue his research and earn a Ph.D.

But first, he'd like to see more minorities enter the hard sciences.

"I really wish it weren't an area of focus, but it is and it needs to be addressed," Brock said of the shortage of minorities in scientific fields. While the 2000 census showed that blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans make up about 26 percent of the U.S. population, they constitute just 8 percent of the science and engineering work force nationally, according to the National Science Foundation's division of research statistics.

To help address this growing disparity, URI recently received $750,000 from the NSF. The five-year grant will be used to recruit and mentor minority graduate students in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

"The United States really isn't producing enough scientists," Brock said. "What we're trying to do is target some of the minority and underrepresented groups so that we can help to fill the gaps and the demands for the future."

Lynn Pasquerella, interim vice provost for graduate studies at URI, said the long-term goal of the grant is to create a diverse group of professors who can serve as role models.

Tapping into domestic diversity is important "for national security reasons, as well as to enhance the profile of excellence in scientific research in our own country," Pasquerella said. The need for a more diverse scientific community intensified in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, she said.

"Since 9/11, the number of international students coming to the U.S. has dropped," she said. Visas to the United States are harder to come by. Top science students are going to Europe, Asia and Australia instead. In the past two years, the United States has experienced a 31-percent drop in international students, Pasquerella said.

Brock, 27, has adjusted to being the only minority in a room. After receiving a bachelor's degree from Benedict College, a historically black college in his home state, he went to Arkansas for an internship with the National Center for Toxicological Research, a division of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Brock has traveled to Mexico and Jamaica and around the United States. Prior to coming to URI, he worked for a pharmaceutical company in Boston for six months, and was one of just two black employees.

"I've always been a person who wants to try something new or take risks," Brock said. "But it can be overwhelming if you've never been outside of your own setting."

Brock says he feels at home at URI. But he knows coming to the university could be difficult for other minority students. He has agreed to help recruit minority graduate students and provide orientation and workshops for them, as part of the grant project.

He has three pieces of advice for such students.

"Be confident in who you are and what you are doing, and don't think about the situation you are in," he said. "URI is a very friendly place, so make as many friends as you can and mix with as many ethnicities as you can." Lastly, "excel, so you can pave the way for other minority students."

Brock works with a team of researchers led by pharmacy Prof. Nasser Zawia, who was born in Yemen. Black and white students from the United States work alongside students from Asia and the Middle East in Zawia's lab.

Ethnic diversity offers a wider range of perspectives and experiences to solve problems, Zawia said.

"I actively recruit students from diverse backgrounds," Zawia said. "Somebody has to take the extra step."

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Source: Providence Journal

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