Minorities Institute for Regional Access to Careers Leading to Engineering and Science

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This prototype project includes, in the first year of operation, several activities to strengthen minority education at the precollege level. It was cooperatively developed by Norfolk State University, Hampton University, Old Dominion University, and the Cooperative Hampton Roads Organizations for Minorities in Engineering (CHROME), a non-profit planning, coordinating, and advocacy organization of higher education institutions, government agencies, public school systems, business and industry, and civic and professional associations. During the first year, a set of activities, based on science and mathematics experiences, and designed to nurture, encourage and motivate minority students are being implemented. These include Saturday Academies of Science, held at Norfolk State University, Hampton University, and Old Dominion University, for seventh and eighth grade students conducted on six successive Saturdays in the fall and repeated again in the spring. Forty students are involved in each Academy, for a total enrollment of 240. Parents are especially urged to attend the orientation session at each Academy. Topics in mathematics, physical sciences and the life sciences are covered and activities are designed in a participatory mode. The culmination of Academy activities will be a region-wide science fair to be held at Norfolk State University. A series of three colloquia designed for precollege teachers, to complement the Saturday Academies, are being held- one on each campus for 40-60 precollege teachers. The colloquia are sequential in nature with themes of: Sensitizing Educators to Phobias in Science; Innovative Concepts to Promote Interest in Science; and, Future Implications for Science. Plans for the second year and beyond will expand the activities to include the undergraduate level.