Report calls for universities to mentor science students

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(Rachel Fus/ For The Examiner)
Crystal Easter, 18, center, an intern at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, assists Iris Burrell and son Montez, 3, use a new asthma education computer program on Wednesday that Easter and Dr. Richard Lichenstein, director of pediatric emergency medicine research, right, will be testing. A new report calls for more grants for young university faculty members and more mentoring for early-career scientists.

Finley graduated from the Vivien T. Thomas Medical Art Academy charter school in Baltimore a few weeks ago and became a molecular biology intern at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, as part of a mentoring program for high school students. In a few days, he will perform a cloning experiment on his own.

Recruiting younger students, such as 18-year-old Finley, is crucial for American universities to stay competitive in the scientific world, according to a report released last month by an American Academy of Arts and Sciences panel.

The report called on more federal grants to support young university faculty members, but it also called on schools to mentor early-career scientists and provide more money for new facilities and faculty salaries.

“When we recruit a most promising scholar, it takes about a decade to determine if a superstar will arise,” said Dan Mote, president of the University of Maryland, College Park, and a member of the panel. “The scholar’s transition from the career start-up phase through to true distinction in the field is most critical and difficult to support.”

Finley and about a dozen others from the academy will spend 10 weeks at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, studying under professors’ supervision in fields ranging from social work to dentistry to pediatrics.

“It’s nice to see what goes on behind the scenes, with real doctors,” said Crystal Easter, 18, a pediatric intern whose grandmothers and mother were nurses. Easter was at a work session Wednesday in which professors told interns about programs offered by the university.

Jordan Warnick, a professor and assistant dean at the school of medicine, runs university’s internship programs, which enroll hundreds of students. The Vivien T. Thomas school separated from Southwest Baltimore Charter School two years ago, and has worked with the university ever since.

“Without it, students, they may be working at some fast-food restaurant somewhere,” Warnick said of the program.

“They go from not being able to pronounce some words to being able to explain it completely.”

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com