| [Wednesday,August 29 2007] |
Economic Development / News / News / |
Western Kentucky University is reaching across the globe to touch the lives of some South African residents through the work of professor Charles McGruder, who recently received a six-year, 350,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation.
The project, a collaboration of Western Kentucky University, the University of Cape Town and the National
Society of Black Physicists, is designed to increase the number of black South African astronomers.
McGruder, the William McCormack Professor in Physics at WKU, has focused on increasing the number of minorities studying science-related fields both here and abroad for at least a decade.
In South Africa, where a minority white government ruled under a system known as apartheid from 1948 to 1994, McGruder's work becomes more and more important.
“As part of apartheid, black South Africans were discouraged from getting higher degrees in important fields for economic development, specifically science and engineering,” McGruder said.
As a result, South Africans today by and large don't feel that science and engineering are for them, he said, despite the government making major investments in the sciences, including astronomy and astrophysics.
Since apartheid's demise, the South African government has constructed the Southern African Large Telescope, the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. The country is bidding to host the Square Kilometer Array project, the world's largest radio telescope, and is planning to construct a powerful SKA Pathfinder telescope.
Since about 80 percent of South Africa's population is black, McGruder said, it's important for the representation of people in science-related fields to reflect the country's demographics.
“It's important because South Africa is making a bold step by spending so much money on basic scientific research,” he said. “It is clear (such spending) is not politically sustainable, if a majority of the population is excluded,” since they won't be able to meet their manpower needs.
“If the majority of black South Africans aren't involved in it, why should the government support it?” he said. “So it's clear that it's only politically sustainable if in the long run, the makeup of the South African astronomical community reflects the demographics.”
As part of the project, two professors each year will travel to South Africa.
While serving a term as president of the National Society of Black Physicists, McGruder received a National Science Foundation grant to travel to South Africa to see how the NSBP could help develop interest in the sciences.
The NSBP determined that members of the group should teach in the National Astrophysics and Space Sciences Program, acting as role models and mentors and should get involved in outreach to historically black colleges and secondary schools to encourage black South Africans to go into science and engineering fields.
McGruder serves as a member of the NASSP steering committee, which provides South African students with master's level training in astronomy and space science and serve as a feeder school for doctoral programs.
The NASSP hopes to reach 100 South African astronomers through the project. The number of astronomers working in South Africa has grown to 60, compared to 36 in 2001 as schools and government agencies hire top-notch astronomers from international countries, according to McGruder. |
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