August 22, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - A Western Kentucky University faculty member has received a six-year, $350,000 grant
from the Kellogg Foundation to help South Africa increase its number of black astronomers.
Dr. Charles McGruder, the William McCormack Professor in Physics at WKU, has focused on increasing the number of minorities studying science-related fields. That’s especially important in South Africa where a minority white government ruled under a system known as apartheid from 1948 to 1994.
“As part of apartheid, black South Africans were discouraged from getting higher degrees in important fields for economic development, specifically science and engineering,” Dr. McGruder said. “South Africans today by and large don’t feel that science and engineering are for them.”
But the situation has improved since 1994 when the South African government decided to make major investments in the sciences, including astronomy and astrophysics.
That led to the construction of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, as well as facilities built by other nations. South Africa also is bidding to host the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, the world’s largest radio telescope, and is planning to construct a powerful SKA Pathfinder telescope.
South Africa, however, doesn’t have enough astronomers, especially black astronomers, Dr. McGruder said.
The solution was the creation of a special school – the National Astrophysics and Space Sciences Program (NASSP) – to provide South African students with master’s level training in astronomy and space science and serve as a feeder school for doctoral programs. But the school needed role models and mentors for black astronomers.
While serving a term as president of the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), Dr. 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 their group should teach in the NASSP 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.
“Through our efforts, we have convinced the Kellogg Foundation to fund this project over a six-year period,” said Dr. McGruder, who has been at WKU since 1993 and was head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1993 to 2002.
Three organizations – NSBP, WKU and the University of Cape Town – are collaborating on the project that will send two professors per year to South Africa. “We will not only send professors to teach but we will also send students to serve as role models,” said Dr. McGruder, who serves as a member of the NASSP steering committee and spent part of his summer in South Africa working on the project.
Dr. McGruder is also serving as a role model. “Any time you have an African American in a visible role it has implications for young African Americans,” he said.
He’s also helping WKU expand its international reach and build its reputation for academic excellence. “When any of us are doing things at the national or international level, it helps create a very positive image for this institution,” Dr. McGruder said.
Dr. McGruder said the NASSP hopes to reach 100 South African astronomers as quickly as possible and is already having an impact on South Africa. “We’ve had significant success since the school started with four black South African astronomers now. That’s a lot better than zero,” he said.
The number of astronomers working in South African also has grown to 60 compared to 36 in 2001 as schools and government agencies hire top-notch astronomers from international countries.
“It’s incredibly impressive what South Africans are doing in selected fields of science,” Dr. McGruder said. “It’s very important for the international community to support South Africa in its endeavor because it means a lot for science and because it’s helping the country achieve status at the forefront in science.”
About the Kellogg Foundation: The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.” To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development.
Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. For information, visit the Foundation’s Web site at www.wkkf.org.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Charles McGruder at (270) 745-4357.
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