Thus, the Sloan Foundation through its program will be attempting to reach into high schools and even junior high schools. If students are to be encour­aged to choose engineering, it says, they must come to college with some notion of the financial and other re­wards of an engineering career and rea­son to believe that such a career is in fact open to them. No such awareness generally exists among minority stu­dents at present, Sloan says.

Another aspect of the problem that the foundation hopes to tackle is that of directed early education. Compe­tence in mathematics and in the natu­ral sciences is required by engineering education. But most people, the foun­dation notes, do not or cannot acquire that competence once secondary school is past. So the foundation expects to support programs intended to enhance early education in anticipation of engi­neering study.

In helping to promote awareness of the problems surrounding minorities in engineering, Dr. Pierre has been in­volved with the Engineering Manpower Commission of Engineers Joint Coun­cil. This past spring, he chaired the planning committee for a symposium on minorities in engineering, held in Washington, D.C., and sponsored by the National Academy of Engineering.

One question addressed by that syn-posium was: Why should minorities play a larger role in engineering? One answer was simply a recognition of the need for more engineers. Another was social equality.

But the answers go further and deep­er. A pragmatic reason for more mino­rities in engineering now, Dr. Pierre points out, is that of industry's self-in­terests. For example, having responded to the equal opportunity law, industry has made considerable progress in employing more minority men and women. Most of these employees, how­ever, are in lower-level jobs. Having professional minority people able to move into middle and upper positions helps to remove an internal problem of credibility over advancement policy, the tensions of which can affect pro­ductivity.

As for social equality, Dr. Pierre notes that there may be no such thing as "black engineering" or "Chicano en­gineering." But, he says, as is the case with other fields such as medicine, there are pressing minority needs— particularly of the poor and disadvan­taged—that may be better served by minority professionals. Moreover, Dr. Pierre stresses, there has been a need for development of more minority pro­fessional leadership to advance the na­tion politically and culturally—a need more likely to be met if minorities play a stronger role in the economic growth of the nation.

It is these needs the Sloan Founda­tion hopes ultimately to help meet. Whatever the foundation's role with its earlier programs, minority enrollment

in M.D. training has risen from 850 students in 1968-69 to 3100 in 1972-73. In the same period, minority enroll­ment in graduate schools of manage­ment that the foundation has support­ed has risen from 165 to 790. The prob­lem in engineering is an order of mag­nitude larger, but the foundation hopes to have a similar impact.

Science block plan is working well Freshman science and engineering stu­dents at Northwestern University have an option. They may take the math and science foundation courses that make up the standard freshman-year curriculum, or they may elect to par­ticipate in an interdepartmental "block" program that enables them to study one subject at a time under close faculty supervision. Those who choose the block program are more likely to remain in science or engineering at least through their first year and to progress satisfactorily through their sophomore courses, if freshmen from the last two classes are any indication.

Northwestern's program is beginning its third year this fall and the school has been totting up its experiences with it to date. So far, Northwestern is quite pleased.

The block program combines team teaching, concentrated study blocks, close student-faculty relations, and an opportunity to gain exposure to engi­neering projects in the freshman year. The program, which is selected by 25 to 30% of Northwestern's entering freshmen each year, seems to give stu­dents a better feel for engineering and to better prepare them for more ad­vanced engineering courses, according to Dr. William F. Stevens, professor of chemical engineering and director of the program.

During each teaching block of about three weeks a team of two faculty members and two assistants coordi­nates all of the students' academic ac­tivities. Usually the mornings are spent in team laboratory projects closely re­lated to the theme of the study block, which exposes the students to engi­neering problems. (Students in the reg­ular curriculum don't begin to see en­gineering problems until the sopho­more or junior year.) In the afternoons there are lectures and informal tutorial sessions. Sometimes there also are in­formal discussions with professors in the evenings.

The students receive a provisional grade at the end of each study block. If a student is satisfied with this grade, he need not take the final exam at the end of the quarter. If a student fails a study block and does not improve his grade on the final exam, there are tu­torial sessions throughout the next quarter that he may attend, and he is required to retake the exam at the end

of the next quarter. Dr. Stevens be­lieves that being able to retake exams relieves much of the pressure that often surrounds them.

Both students and faculty who have participated in the program rate it highly. The students say that close relations with the faculty and early ex­posure to engineering problems help them to decide whether they want to continue in engineering. The faculty also likes the close student-faculty relations. Faculty members believe, that the students learn how to keep up with their studies during the short freshman study blocks, and they pre­dict that the students will have fewer problems with upper-class academic loads.

New program for liberal arts seniors A unique twist to senior year chemistry study is in the offing for certain select­ed students next fall as a result of a new program at the University of Ten­nessee. The university has introduced a plan whereby a limited number of "su­perior" undergraduate chemistry ma­jors from liberal arts colleges can spend their senior year in the chemistry de­partment at Knox ville.

The special senior year program pro­vides for a mix of senior undergraduate and first-year graduate courses togeth­er with some research experience. Ar­rangements will be made on an indi­vidual basis, the university says, for a student's undergraduate college to award the baccalaureate degree at the normal time following the year's study. Students will be selected only with permission from their undergraduate college departments.

Selected students will be offered in­dividually tailored teaching assist-antships—probably a fourth to a half of the normal graduate student teaching assistantship load. Stipends would be proportionate.

According to chemistry department head David A. Shirley, the university sees advantages in the program for both the students selected and the de­partment. For the student, the amount of time to attain a graduate degree is shortened with the combined program by up to a year. Also, the student would most likely have a greater choice of problems and better equipment for senior research at the large university than he would have had at the liberal arts college. In addition, the student can get a taste of graduate study before committing himself to graduate school.

On the university's part, it hopes the program will be a vehicle to attract a greater number of superior graduate students. Indeed, it is anticipated, Dr. Shirley says, that the students will enter regular graduate study at Ten­nessee. They won't be required to, however.

14 C&ENOct. 22, 1973