The Quality of Undergraduate Science Education. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Science of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, Second Session.

The hearing, opened by Rep. Ray Thorton of Arkansas, addressed the perceived imbalance between teaching and research among university professors and the concern that the quality of undergraduate science education within the United States has deteriorated. Witnesses were called to examine factors that contribute to establishing an appropriate balance between research and teaching responsibilities for professors and factors that improve the quality of undergraduate science education. Witnesses included Dr. Charles M. Vest, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Dr. Karl S. Pister, Interim Chancellor, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California; Dr. E. Fred Carlisle, Senior Vice President and Provost, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia; Dr. Pamela A. Ferguson, President Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa; Dr. Homer A. Neal, Chairman, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Dr. Samuel Ward, Professor and Department Head, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; Dr. Jack R. Lohmann, Associate Dean, College of Engineering, and Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia; and Dr. Denice Denton, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Topics discussed by the witnesses included faculty evaluation and promotion; the interaction of teaching and research; the Virginia Tech plan for undergraduate education and faculty rewards; the need for continued research funding; and faculty incentive systems. A copy of "America's Academic Future: A Report of the Presidential Young Investigator Colloquium on U.S. Engineering, Mathematics, and Science Education for the year 2010 and Beyond" is included. (MDH)