National Science Foundation Offers The Geoinformatics Solicitation Grant

Geoinformatics is the science and technology of developing and using information service sciences in addressing the issues linked to geography, geosciences as well as other branches associated to engineering.

The Division of Earth Sciences, under the supervision of the National Science Foundation, is among the actual departments that deal with the promotion and enhancement of the country's Geoinformatics-related programs.

The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) has constituted means to promote the creation of cyberinfrastructure building activities aimed to eventually enable transformative advances in geosciences research and education.

In line with this objective, the EAR has built a solicitation program with a total anticipated budget of $4,800,000 that will award 5 to 10 eligible applicants the funds that they need in developing their geosciences-related projects.

The aforementioned solicitation program will not support hardware development or major hardware purchases but will normally comprise these particular inclusions:

a) Identify targeted user communities and describe how the proposed activity will address the community's unmet needs

b) Exhibit exemplary awareness and thorough knowledge of present informatics infrastructure and developments that could impact the proposed activity

c) Establish plans for the integration and compatibility of the proposed geoinformatics platform within current geoinformatics projects and activities.

Interested applicants are strongly recommended to contact the program officers of the EAR at the Grants.gov website to be able to discuss their ideas and seek further clarifications.

To be able to take part in this program, applications and proposals need to be electronically submitted to the Grants.gov website on or before January 13, 2012.

Individuals and organizations in the following categories will be regarded as eligible applicants:

a) Universities and colleges accredited by the government and located in the US and its territories

b) Non-profit, non-academic organizations including museums, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the US and are directly associated with educational or research activities

c) For-profit organizations including strong businesses with strong capabilities in scientific or engineering research education

d) State and Local Governments including state educational offices and local school districts

e) Unaffiliated individuals like independent scientists educators and engineers in the US

As stated in the objectives of the Geoinformatics solicitation program in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, the program aims to bolster and enhance the national scientific enterprise via the constant growth of fundamental knowledge and increased comprehension of the complex Earth systems through the assistance of various research opportunities.

The National Science Foundation, otherwise referred to as the NSF, is the agency funding the Geoinformatics solicitation program. The NSF is constantly working into the promotion of the progress of science, the progression of national health, prosperity and welfare, and lastly the noble process of securing the nation's defense.

The primary objective of the Geoinformatics solicitation program is to improve the conduct of research in the field of geosciences by constantly providing support to community-created cyberinfrastructures which in turn integrates knowledge management across the geosciences. Which explains why this solicitation program is very much in keeping with the NSF's effort to promote the nation's interest in the many fields of science.

Iola Bonggay is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants. She maintains Websites providing resources on small business grants and artist grants.

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Books For Teachers: Brian Clegg's Getting Science

Getting Science by Brian Clegg targets an audience of elementary school teachers who feel less than confident about teaching science in their classrooms. While I am not in his target audience, I'm close to it. (I love science and teach in small groups of homeschooled students.) Clegg did some things authors should do. He caught my attention, told me stuff I needed to read or wanted to learn, and kept my attention throughout the book. I learned a bit and further solidified prior knowledge. It's a good book, and after reading this it, I hope many primary school teachers do read it.

Clegg starts his writing with reasons why science can be a little scary. Journal articles and academic writing in general is stuffy and uses inflated words instead of simple-to-understand, everyday language. Science articles weren't always written that way, and they certainly don't need to be written that way, but it is custom and tradition now. It takes a bit of effort to sift through that language, but luckily, you don't need to. You can be an effective and fun science teacher without the stuffy journals. Learn from reading popular books and science shows instead.

Clegg also talks about what science is and should be. Science is an adventure. It should be fun. It should fill you with wonder. Science tries to figure out how the universe works. That doesn't sound so scary, right?

His first chapter talks about how to engage the kids in the lesson. People like people, so he suggests putting the science in context and finding it in real life. What was the scientist who made the discovery like? How did that scientist grow up? What in his or her life led him to think and experiment the way he did in order to make the discovery? In addition to involving the people and a little history, find the science in real life. If you're talking about cell division, you could mention making bread and perhaps bring yeast into the classroom. He suggests sprinkling the discussion with amazing, and gross, facts. Kids like gross. He emphasizes that the kids should do stuff with their hands. Watching a demonstration is better than just hearing about it, but the best bet is to have the kids do the experiment or demonstration themselves. We learn by doing. And mostly, make it fun.

If nothing else, teachers should read the first chapter of the book.

The second chapter talks about why we have labs. People aren't good observers. Many people don't know the difference between causality and correlation. Anecdotes are not data. Disproving is much easier than proving. All of these people facts lead to why we have laboratories. Fortunately, labs are no longer just filled with middle-aged white men in lab coats, and personalities of all different types can be found in scientific laboratories.

Clegg talks about different scientific eras in his third chapter. 500BC to 1500AD is the classical period. During this time, the prevailing "theory" prevailed because it was argued successfully. There really wasn't much science involved. Some of this classical thinking is still around today in the form of astrology and the four elements. The clockwork era of science was from 1500AD (the end of the middle ages) to around 1900AD. This era was filled with scientific discoveries and theories that make sense. Newton said force equals mass times acceleration. That makes sense. Spontaneous generation theories disappeared because people figured out flies deposited eggs on raw meat. Clegg calls the current era counter-intuitive. That is, this era of science doesn't seem to make sense. Just think of the phrases quantum theory, relativity, and light is light but it can act like a wave or a particle.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 talk about cool things in science and Clegg gives suggestions for learning and teaching the topics. What is life? Why don't humans have fur? How does cloning work what are the five states of matter (Yes, five. It's not just solid, liquid, and gas). How do mirrors work? What's the difference between mass and weight? What are black holes? What are wormholes? His explanations are pretty easy to follow.

Chapter 7 makes a case for making science hands on. Chapter 8 talks about finding and seeing science in the real world and how to make experiments come alive, but not in a Weird Science like way. Chapter 9 talks about science on the web. Which web sites are trustworthy, and how can you tell if a site is trust worthy. He also gives hints on how to search the web. Chapter 10 gives ideas on how to keep up to date in science and Chapter 11 tells you to go inspire the world.

The book was easy to read and didn't take a long time. Even so, it managed to pack a lot of good information in it. Are you a primary or elementary school teacher? If so, go to your library and check out this little treasure.

Gwen Nicodemus is a freelance engineer/writer and a homeschooling mom. Visit her website, Notion Nexus, for unit studies, worksheets, notes, and educational videos.

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New Approach Proposed for Science Curriculums

“That is the failing of U.S. education today, that kids are expected to learn a lot of things but not expected to be able to use them,” said Helen Quinn, a retired physicist from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., who led an 18-member committee that spent more than a year devising the framework.

One of the big goals, the committee said in a 282-page report, is “to ensure that by the end of 12th grade, all students have some appreciation of the beauty and wonder of science.”

The report, released Tuesday by the National Research Council, also pushes for incorporating engineering into what is taught to students in elementary school through high school.

It is the latest in decades of efforts to improve the science knowledge of American students, who have typically ranked in the middle of the pack on international comparison tests. The research council, which is the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, last weighed in on science education standards in 1996.

Now that the council has finished a framework, a nonprofit education group, Achieve Inc., will expand it into a set of standards. Similar efforts produced standards for math and language arts that have been adopted by 44 states.

Achieve is aiming to finish work by the end of next year, with drafts available publicly before then. Putting the standards into the classroom would take several more years as textbooks and lesson plans are rewritten.

While Achieve is working with states to come up with standards, the core science — including evolution — is not up for debate.

“What we’re not going to do is compromise the science just to get states comfortable,” said Michael Cohen, the president of Achieve. States will have the final say on whether to adopt the new approach.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York financed most of the $2.26 million effort, and the National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science also participated.

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First-Place Sweep by American Girls at First Google Science Fair

In 11th grade Ms. Bose, a 17-year-old in Fort Worth, tackled ovarian cancer, and that research won her the grand prize and $50,000 in the Google Science Fair last week.

For the winning research Ms. Bose looked at a chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, that is commonly taken by women with ovarian cancer. The problem is that the cancer cells tend to grow resistant to cisplatin over time, and Ms. Bose set out to find a way to counteract that.

She found the answer in a cellular energy protein known as AMPK, or adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase. She observed that when AMPK was paired with cisplatin at the beginning of treatment the combination diminished the effectiveness of cisplatin. But added later on, when the cancer cells were growing resistant, the AMPK worked to maintain the effectiveness of cisplatin, allowing it to continue killing the malignant cells, at least in cell cultures.

“That opens up a lot of new avenues for research,” Ms. Bose said. Her research was supervised by Dr. Alakananda Basu at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.?

More than 10,000 students from 91 countries entered the science fair, which was Google’s first. The entries, submitted over the Web, were winnowed down to 60 semifinalists and then 15 finalists who presented their findings to judges at Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters last week.

Ms. Bose’s research was named best in the age 17-18 category and best of show over all. Her prize includes $50,000 for future college studies, a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands and a separate trip to visit the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland.

Girls swept all three age categories in the competition, a contrast to generations past when women were largely excluded from the science world.

“Personally I think that’s amazing, because throughout my entire life, I’ve heard science is a field where men go into,” Ms. Bose said. “It just starts to show you that women are stepping up in science, and I’m excited that I was able to represent maybe just a little bit of that.” She will start her senior year of high school in the fall.

“At the end, we were like, ‘Yeah, girl power!’?” said Naomi Shah of Portland, Ore., who won the age 15-16 category with a study of the effects of air quality on lungs, particularly for people who have asthma. Ms. Shah recruited 103 test subjects, performed 24-hour air quality measurements at their homes and workplaces and had each blow into a device that measured the force of their breath.

Lauren Hodge of Dallastown, Pa., won the age 13-14 category for research on whether marinades reduce the amount of cancer-causing compounds produced by the grilling of meat. She found that lemon juice and brown sugar cut the level of carcinogens sharply, while soy sauce increased them.

Vint Cerf, Google’s chief Internet evangelist and one of the judges, said that gender did not play a role in deciding the winners. “This was a gender-neutral evaluation of all the work that was done,” he said. Nonetheless, “I was secretly very pleased to see that happen,” Dr. Cerf said. “This is just a reminder that women are fully capable of doing same or better quality work than men can.”

The gender tables are not entirely turned among budding scientists. Nowadays the competitors at science fairs are pretty evenly split between boys and girls, both Ms. Bose and Ms. Shah said, and 9 of the 15 finalists in the Google Science Fair were boys.

“I think that was just, like, pure coincidence,” Ms. Shah said of the girls’ sweep, “because all 15 finalists had great projects.”

Perhaps belying a bit the notion that American students are falling behind in science, the United States dominated the top slots. All three of the winners were American, as were nearly three-quarters of the finalists. About 60 percent of the entries came from Americans.

Dr. Cerf said that a common thread among the finalists was that they had explored science enthusiastically for years with the encouragement of their parents.

For Ms. Bose, it was the blue spinach that got her started. “I actually decided that children didn’t want to eat their vegetables because they were green, and so my fantastic idea for the science fair project was to turn a spinach plant blue,” she recalled.

She repeatedly injected blue food coloring into a spinach plant, and a few weeks later she took to school a shriveled, stained vegetable — she had forgotten to water it — and explained that children would happily eat spinach if only it were blue.

“Sounds like a weird beginning, but after that I just realized that science is cool, it’s something I want to do,” said Ms. Bose, who eventually hopes to get a doctorate and a medical degree so that she can both treat patients and look for new cures. “And it’s just been getting better from there.”

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National Briefing | SCIENCE: Top Science Fair Honors Go to American Girls

In Room for Debate, seeking a new path to practicing law: apprenticeships, shorter programs, better classes.

A big drug maker has taken an important step in making AIDS drugs more available worldwide. But obstacles remain.

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Limits of Technology and the Limits of Science

In 1997, I managed to get a copy of the book "Limits to Growth", which was published in 1972. I knew the basic ideas contained in this book, by reading about it in previous years, but there was a very important idea, which I did not expect to find it there, the idea did not receive the attention it deserves. It a warning from the authors (mostly technical scientists), from putting hope that the technological advances that can come in the future, may resolve the serious problems threatening the world.

Perhaps the reasons behind the neglect of this very important idea,were two reasons. First, it is a terrifying idea, all the hopes of saving civilization, centered on the ability of new technology to do the job, and the second reason is that the Club of Rome (the group who issued a book),did not give strong evidence to confirming it.

This idea is one of the most difficult philosophical questions,and it is central to the issue of the collapse of modern civilization probably the Club of Rome based their expectations on some simple assumptions, such as, the probability of failure to achieve the saving technological developments, in time, given the expected imminence of the collapse, but if we wanted this idea to be established on strong theoretical bases, it is inevitable to go into the depths of philosophy.

I do not want to go, in this book, in the depth of this difficult subject, but I will try to simplify the idea, so that the interested reader, would find the basis for researches.

Technology is the application of the laws of the theory in science, and therefore, if we want to answer the question: "What are the limits of technology?" We must first answer the question: "What are the limits of science?"

Scientists in the field of theoretical physicists were trying,for many decades, to reach a theory they call, "theory of all forces" or "theory of everything", one of the famous scientists known for their dedication to this attempt, was Albert Einstein, these attempts means implicitly assume that there are limits to the theoretical knowledge, but theoretical physicists,did not often depend on philosophical basis to support this trend,and most of these attempts were established only on the personal perceptions of the possibility of achieving this ambitious goal. These attempts remain incomplete and the history of science gives us examples of the stages of previous science, where scientists thought they had already reached these final limits of science, maybe the most famous of these historical stages was the stage in the end of the nineteenth century. After the theory of Max well about the electromagnetic waves and before the explosion of the ideas of quantum and relativity, at the beginning of the twentieth century.

But philosophical thinking takes another course, the Dialectical materialism of the Marxism confirms that there are no limits to science, and in this trend it is followed by most modern philosophies.

It is very important to note that the introduction of the idea of infinite knowledge, in fact, does not solve the problem of an imminent collapse of civilization, but only puts it in a different form. The saving technological achievements, which are still needed very soon, if brought in tremendous intensity, the result will be that the question will change from "the collapse of civilization" to "the collapse of the image that we know, or that we can imagine for civilization", and this result does not differ. In fact, from the previous one, as it, in both cases, all things related to our current life, will end, the validity of this result,was approved by the American thinker Francis Fukuyama, in 1993, the credit for the courage,where the idea was incompatible with his famous idea of the "end of history", which was in the height of popularity at that time.

On the other hand, the adoption of the idea of limited knowledge, certainly, settle the issue in favor of the idea of the collapse of civilization.

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Backyard Science By DK With Fantastic Experiments For Kids To Do In Their Own Backyards

Homeschooling? Teacher? School holidays? Weekends? After school time? Grandparent? If you have toddlers to teens you will find something of interest in this excellent book published by Dorling Kindersley. Publishers recommend Backyard Science for 9 - 12 years old as the ideal audience. Information is presented throughout this quality hardcover book in a clear, colourful and interesting manner. Experiments are well explained outlining all the resources you will need for success and giving clear instructions (younger children will still benefit from adult supervision to get them started in some cases). This is hands on science in the real world not a laboratory.

Today's children are the scientists of the future and it is children who are photographed in the book doing the experiments, so readers will want to be just like the kids in the book. Children are encouraged to draw their own conclusions from over 50 experiments across a variety of science sub-topics. A science strip down the right hand side of the page helps explain the theory behind the experiments and assist with the scientists understanding why they are doing the experiments and what they might expect to see.

How can an ordinary garden be good for science? Even in a small plot you can spend days doing biology, zoology, meteorology and much more. An example of one of the experiments to demonstrate transpiration is to change the colour of the petals on a white flower with food colouring.

Equipment
- Different colours of food colouring
- White flowers
- Vases for flowers
- Water

Method
1. Take some white flowers and put each one in a vase
2. Mix different food colouring and water in the vases
3. Leave them for several hours to see if their stems are like straws

Notes
- Some flowers work better than others, so try different ones
- How long does each take to change colour?
- How do you think the colour got to the flowers?

Learn about root growth, seed dispersal, photosynthesis, flight, insects, night life, rainbows, centrifugal force, rain gauges, weather, shadows, soil science, worm farms, pond habitats, pond life, trees (how old? how tall?), levers, reaction times, balance, heartbeat, night sky studies, moon phases. Backyard science can take a lot of patience, but is great fun so read the science stuff boxes, do the experiments and keep a science diary with drawings, sketches, diagrams, photographs and notes. Remember when studying animals to take care not to harm them and if you move them be sure to return them to where you found them. Have fun discovering science in your backyard!

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Have You Thought About Christian Science Courses For Elementary Grades?

When educating your children at home, you have the freedom to teach them sound science that is presented from a Christian worldview. "Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space," geared at elementary students, fits the bill very well. This text is part of a series by Stephanie L. Redmond which include Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. I enjoyed teaching from this text for a number of reasons including: it requires little to no teacher prep time; it is enjoyable to work through; being from a Christian worldview, it is God-honoring; and it is written in a conversational tone that is easy to read aloud and appeals to the younger audience.

The text has 24 lessons, 2 on the Earth in general (including Creation); 5 covering the lithosphere; 4 covering the hydrosphere; 4 covering the atmosphere; 5 covering weather; and 4 covering all of outer space. The maps, forms and coloring sheets are reproducible. An applicable scripture has been chosen for each lesson. In addition, there is an appendix of recipes and additional activities, another on how to make a folderbook, and another including additional books and resources. We took the book to our local copy center and had them cut off the binding. Then we separated the reproducible sheets and had the text spiral-bound with all the glossaries and appendices.

Altogether, I found this course to be a good core text for my second-grader that was easily supplemented in a few areas. I will be using it again with my younger kids when they hit second grade. And although my second-grader and I completed the entire course, we definitely amended and expanded it to be more in-depth. One example of this was finding all nine planets covered in one short chapter! I thought this was neglecting an opportunity to excite kids about outer space, so we expanded on that section with outside materials. There is no chapter at all about biomes, which I found startling, as there is so much to intrigue children about the variety of habitats and temperature zones on this planet we call home. Again, we supplemented the study of Earth with outside materials.

In a few of the chapters it seemed as though the bulk of the reading is about the author's own experiences, although this contributes to the 'talking to a young child' tone. One of the main things I noticed about Christian Kids Explore was the lack of consistency in material from chapter to chapter. It is a curious mix of technical definitions and conversational banter.

It's always great to find a science course that gives glory to God for his creation. The first lesson was about Creation, but neglected the "on the first day, on the second day..." so we supplemented that with some reading from Genesis. In Lesson three she goes over the theory of Pangea and the worldwide flood, how some scientists and theologians have conflicting ideas. She presents it flawlessly and intelligently. Although the coloring sheets are beautiful, they have a lot of black space that can't be colored. In addition, there is one sheet for the entire unit, not individual sheets to work on while mom reads each chapter.

The benefits in this book for the upper elementary students include lots of definitions in the margins and timelines listing scientists and scientific discoveries. One thing that would have been helpful was a 'year-long list of copies to be made' in case you don't have a copier at home to do it chapter by chapter. I think this book is a good value, especially if you supplement with library materials instead of buying them.

Teresa Dear is a homeschooling mom of four kids. She and her husband of eleven years do not worry about socialization. You can read more about the Classical Education Method in general and her homeschool lifestyle in particular at http://highereducation-mama4x.blogspot.com/. Find out her choices for curriculum and everything else homeschool. She divides her time between education, making a home, shopping curriculum, and stocking her http://www.mama4x.etsy.com/ storefront with handmade greeting cards and vintage ephemera.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Teresa_Dear

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Learn More About the Science of Leadership - A Book Review

Tell me something, are you tired of reading the same old thing in every single book you buy on business leadership? If so, I'd like to recommend one of the coolest books I've ever read on the topic. It's one that makes you think and it is perfect for the more intellectual type. The name of the book is;

"Leadership and the New Science - Learning about Organization from an Ordinary Universe" by Margaret J. Wheatley, 1994.

This is by far one of the most interesting books I've read on leadership, as Margaret draws the comparison using chaos theory, quantum mechanics, structure of atoms, mathematical fractals, and our solar system and universe to explain organizational behavior, and how one should go about leadership. Seriously, this is a cool book that brings out an excellent philosophical debate on what leadership is and how it will work best.

Margaret goes into all kinds of self organizing systems in chemistry, astronomy, patterns, and even natural cycles in Mother Nature, and she compares all this to leadership in business. And then she asked a dubious question why are organizations having problems?

Indeed when I read this book I thought of other patterns in nature such as the patterns of erosion, clouds, Ion attraction, gravity, and even the patterns we see in ancient art. All of these analogies can be used along with Margaret's concept of business leadership.

If you think about it, she's right, and even birds, plants, animal markings, particles, civilizations, everything from the organization of matter, to the makeup of DNA; and from the tiny little atoms to the entire universe there are management structures and hierarchies, just like in business. Indeed, there is a pecking order with animals, and humans in society and government.

Many of these things are quite complex but they work. And from this we can draw conclusions of how best to organize our businesses and what a leader's role really is. Indeed, I think you'll like this book I enjoyed it very much and it sits in my business library. I hope you will consider getting a copy for yourself.

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Science, Engineering, and Innovation - The Storm is Just Over the Horizon - A Book Review

No, we are not talking about Typhoons or Hurricanes, nor are we discussing the Tornados in the Mid West - we are worried about the future of America's competitiveness, it's serious, and it's time we addressed this at a national level. It's time we fixed the problem, without band aids or slogans. Indeed, to really wrap your mind around the challenges ahead, there is a very good book, which I'd like you to read:

"Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5," written by and compiled for members of the 2005 Conference of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine; published by The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. (2010), pp. 104, ISBN: 0-309-16098-7. (doi: 10.4087/FOUNDATIONREVIEW-D-10-00026).

Wow, now that was one heck of an eye-opener indeed, yes, I highly recommend it to you. This report and book can be downloaded in.pdf online, and I suggest you do so, and as it states in the introduction it deals with the following concerns;

"What are the top 10 actions, in priority order, that federal policymakers could take to enhance the science and technology enterprise so that the United States can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st century? What strategy, with several concrete steps, could be used to implement each of those actions?"

Call it a reality check on future action which must be taken here in the United States, and what we need to do about it. Now then, permit me to absolutely trash the insanity and arrogance of these scientists and engineers who state in this report; "While only four percent of the nation's work force is composed of scientists and engineers, this group disproportionately creates jobs for the other 96 percent." I am sorry but that is complete nonsense - entrepreneurs create 100% of the jobs, and we hire them!

Without entrepreneurs, this country is history and cannot compete in the future in global markets. And most of the innovation comes from entrepreneurs, who take discoveries, fund research, pay taxes to fund research, provide all the jobs, and then pick up that ball and run for the touch-down. This report further purports that scientists and engineers enable the entrepreneurs, but it doesn't tell you that without entrepreneurs, the scientists aren't needed.

Now then, where this report is correct is that we do need pure research and funding towards innovation, and we must work on education so we have the proper number of math and science majors, as well as engineering students. It also points out the challenges with global competing with China, and intellectual property theft issues. And yes, it very much is a gathering storm, one we certainly ought to be considering and working on to bridge this gap and cut off this future crisis. Please read this book-report and consider it.

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A Master’s for Science Professionals Sweeps U.S. Schools

The degree, which a few universities quietly pioneered in the mid-1990s, combines graduate studies in science or mathematics and business management courses. In 2008, 58 universities were offering the professional science master’s degree, or P.S.M., according to the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington. By the start of this academic year, the number had nearly doubled to 103, and is set to climb further.

The number is certain to grow because the professional science master’s degree is being adopted by at least six state university systems. In addition, in February, the first P.S.M. program in Europe was created at the Open University in Milton Keynes, northwest of London.

Advocates of the degree say it will become a fixture at many more universities because it promises to satisfy the work force requirements of increasingly technological economies in the United States and abroad.

“I think of it as a 21st-century degree,” said David King, dean of graduate studies and research at the State University of New York in Oswego. “It’s interdisciplinary. It’s a hybrid, which I think is more agile. It’s responsive to rapidly changing needs in terms of the job market.”

Mr. King likens the growth of the P.S.M. to the emergence of the M.B.A. more than a century ago. He heads a systemwide consortium of 16 New York colleges and universities that introduced the P.S.M. on seven campuses in September. (The degree was already being offered at an eighth campus in the consortium, the University of Buffalo.) He said he expected all 16 schools to offer the degree next year.

The professional science master’s degree received an important imprimatur two years ago from a committee of the National Research Council, which inquired into ways to enhance the master’s degree in the natural sciences.

Carol Lynch, director of the professional science master’s program of the Council of Graduate Schools, estimates total P.S.M. enrollment around 5,000. That is a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands enrolled worldwide in M.B.A. programs, but Ms. Lynch said the degree “is on a huge trajectory, and we’re just getting started.”

Already, however, the subject matter of professional science master’s curriculums differs widely (as does tuition, which ranges from a few thousand dollars a year to more than $20,000). Studies in biotechnology and environmental science are in particular demand. Also required are business courses in subjects like project management and communications.

The degree typically involves two years of study, and there is no thesis requirement. But P.S.M. students must work with a “real world” company either in an internship or on a project.

Most enrolled students are Americans, many at large state schools, according to the Council of Graduate Schools.

But there is a large minority of international students pursuing a P.S.M. One of them, Aayush Pandey, 23, is studying biotechnology at Northeastern University in Boston. After earning an undergraduate degree in that subject last year at the Amity Institute of Biotechnology in New Delhi, he found that his options were limited to embarking on a doctorate program with a researcher’s career in mind or working as a low-paid laboratory assistant for an Indian biotech company.

“I didn’t want to do a research-oriented course,” Mr. Pandey said. “I was more interested in industry.” He thought that with a P.S.M. degree in biotechnology, he could stick to a field he liked and prepare for a management-level job. When he completes his degree, he will look for a job with a U.S. biotech company, aiming to save enough money in two to three years to repay his parents the $36,000 that they lent him to cover his tuition.

Northeastern’s biology-oriented P.S.M. classes have attracted international students, particularly from India. Of the 154 students who enrolled this autumn, 76 are from countries other than the United States, with 68 from India.

Northeastern has been increasing its P.S.M. offerings, having inaugurated a course in bioinformatics in 2001 and adding specialties in biotechnology, marine biology and regulatory science.

Murray Gibson, dean of Northeastern’s College of Sciences, said the professional science master’s degree provides a “potential source of revenue,” deepens the school’s partnerships with business and links its professors and students to cutting-edge business research. “It goes two directions. We can service industry and know better what’s going on outside the university,” he said.

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In Budget Crunch, Science Fairs Struggle to Survive

Things do not always go as planned at the competition, which one teacher called a “track-and-field event for nerds.” But a high school sophomore, John Hickernell, said he was happy just to be at the event, the Illinois Science Olympiad, after one team had to back out at the last minute because members could not raise enough money to attend.

“I’m upset about my event,” John said. “Imagine not even getting to compete at all.”

Securing financing for these competitions and for the time-honored local science fair has become increasingly difficult because of the poor economy, organizers say. Sponsors have dropped out of local science fairs, while some schools are scaling back extracurricular activities, including science programs, because of state budget cuts.

In Missouri, two prominent science fairs in the St. Louis area are having financing problems after losing corporate donations. One California school district did not have a science fair last school year, and Louisiana’s statewide competition was almost canceled last spring.

“The donations are down dramatically this year,” said Jill Malcom, the director of the Mastodon Art and Science Regional Fair, one of the St. Louis-area competitions. “We are doing whatever it takes to keep the fair going.”

Science programs are more important than ever because the country needs students who are interested in science to compete in the global economy, said Paula Golden, the director of the Broadcom Foundation, which finances a prominent national science competition for middle school students.

“Without a body of young people who are innovators and scientists and engineers, we cannot sustain any kind of growth economically,” Ms. Golden said. “It is a national crisis.”

The Society for Science & the Public, a nonprofit group that holds an annual international science fair, does not track local science fair financing issues, but a spokesman said the group had received feedback regarding problems.

“I certainly hear all the time that schools are challenged to have science fairs — for financial reasons or because they have to focus on testing,” said the spokesman, Rick Bates.

The Alvord Unified School District in Riverside, Calif., did not hold a science fair last school year because of budget cuts. Students and teachers were disappointed, but officials had to make cuts somewhere, said Cynthia Glover Woods, the district’s director for elementary education.

The district did not plan to hold a science fair this school year until the Alvord Educational Foundation stepped in and offered to find sponsors. The president of the foundation, Grey Frandsen, said he could not believe that students were missing out on a formative experience.

“Here in Southern California, our economy has been decimated,” he said. “The science and technology fields are some areas of bright hope.”

In Louisiana, the regional and statewide science fairs scheduled for last spring were almost canceled. When Louisiana State University lost financing in the state budget, officials eliminated the programs but then reinstated them with private financing.

The Academy of Science — St. Louis Science Fair, scheduled for the spring, lost half of its financing when the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, withdrew as a sponsor after giving $65,000 last school year. Organizers said they were hopeful that another donor would come forward.

The fair’s director, Mary E. Burke, pointed to the two students it sent to an international science fair last school year as examples of how fairs inspire students. One student tested the DNA of a plant he found while traveling in China and determined that it was an unidentified species. Another student got an internship at a laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis after she did a project about why some of her relatives had diabetes and others did not.

“We tell the families that when your child goes ‘huh’ and wonders about this or that, write it down. That is a science project,” Ms. Burke said. “Those are the projects they really love that make them realize science is fun.”

The Mastodon fair has lost dozens of sponsors. Its budget has dropped from $250,000 last year to $118,000 for the March fair. Ms. Malcom, the fair’s director, is scrounging for money to buy the $3 medals for second- and third-place winners and worrying about how to fund scholarships.

“This event really can be the spark that changes a kid’s life,” Ms. Malcom said.

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