Articles
A woman who reached for the sky helped women reach for the stars
Amelia Earhart has long inspired young women to pursue their dreams, even if they face obstacles to their goals and especially if those dreams will take them beyond traditional careers. Still, in 2006, women held 1.3 million jobs in science and engineering, a third of the 3.7 million held by men. That means plenty of opportunity for women in these fields. Science and engineering careers offer the chance to make new discoveries and to make a difference in the world.
My View: How our economic garden grows
"The recently announced new crop of 50 Indiana Companies to Watch reflects not only the vision of their founding entrepreneurs, but also the future of Indiana."
U.S.News & World Report
July 2009
40 Years After Moon Landing, Time to Launch the Next 'Giant Leap for Mankind'
The Apollo program was a booster rocket for American science. That innovation must be rekindled.
American Executive
March 2008
Purdue University: Discovery Space
"At a time when research dollars are drying up and public universities face growing funding constraints and rising costs, Purdue has established itself as a major regional engine of economic growth, business incubation, and breakthrough research."
LATINA Style
Vol. 14, No. 1, 2008
"I never forgot my dreams of science, and in 1969, shortly after I graduated from Stanford University I was inspired by two events."
The Presidency
Spring 2006
Losing Sleep Over Student Success?
"Whether our concerns are about the future of an individual student, our nation’s competitiveness, or the health and security of the world’s people, the underlying issue is the challenge of making our students' college experience successful."
Hispanic Business
September 2007
2007 Special Report on Diversity: It's Not Rocket Science
France Córdova Blazes Trail for Diversity at the University Level
Woman
Summer 1997
Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground
"We don’t have any idea what our limits are. When you’re out on some of these frontiers, people sometimes don’t understand where you’re going. I want people to feel comfortable with the leading edge."
Mercury
January/February 1992
Women in Astronomy, A Sampler of Issues and Ideas
"Women need encouragement, and this encouragement has to start at home; parents need to value a science career for their daughters."
Science Digest
December 1984
America's Top 100 Young Scientists
"The implications of their work over the next decades will be more profound than we can imagine."
First Gentleman Christian J. Foster
Christian (Chris) Foster is Purdue University's director of Discovery Park K-12 programs that focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Previously, he served as Director of Undergraduate Research in the Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside from 2002 to 2007. Foster reported to the Associate Dean of Research and Undergraduate Student Affairs in the College. As a part of his assignment he oversaw the development of a program of undergraduate research that could be generalized over the entire university. To this point he organized an on-going seminar series for undergraduates that emphasized vital aspects of the research process and how to enter it. In addition, he organized two undergraduate research Web sites, one for the entire campus and one specifically for the College of Engineering.
He also participated in the writing of several grants to fund aspects of programs for undergraduates in research including campus REU’s and International REU’s. He received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to sponsor the 2005 Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR). Last year Foster helped organize the first annual UC Riverside campus-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium and first annual campus Undergraduate Research Journal.
Foster is an experienced science educator with over 30 years of teaching and research to his credit. He serves on several boards that work with science and engineering education. In Fall 2005, he served as chair for the Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research hosted at UC Riverside. This conference annually brings over one thousand undergraduate researchers and their faculty mentors from over 90 universities together for a day of student oral and poster presentations.
At the University of California, Santa Barbara, Foster held the position of Academic Outreach Coordinator in the College of Letters and Science, where he developed and led a college-wide program of educational outreach and managed numerous other projects including the regional Directorship of the UC ArtsBridge Program. Previously, as deputy assistant director for education at NOAA, he led the establishment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's White House Office for the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment program, known as GLOBE.
Foster holds a Master of Science Teaching degree from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Earth Sciences from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. He completed all course requirements for the doctorate in science education at Pennsylvania State University, but left that institution to pursue career opportunities before completing his dissertation.