STRATEGIES FOR RECRUITING AND RETAINING MINORITIES IN PHYSICS AND BIOPHYSICS

Several strategies directed toward increasing the participation of min ority students in physics and biophysics are presented. Since the numb er of minority students entering college with an interest in science a nd mathematics must be increased if we expect to see more students gra duating in science, several programs aimed at increasing the level of instruction of physics and biology in urban middle schools and high sc hools are outlined. We also describe approaches designed to increase t he retention of science majors during the freshman core physics course where many potential science majors are lost. Increasing the number o f minority students at the PhD level will rely increasingly on partner ships between research universities and historically black colleges an d universities (HBCUs) and several programs already in effect are give n as examples of such linkages.