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Ritter urged young scientists pursuing alternative careers to strive to be the best at their current positions while also preparing themselves for future transitions. Always do more than your peers, she suggests, because employers look at past work when evaluating candidates, no matter what job you're applying for.

The GEM Consortium -- a collaboration of 93 member universities and 48 corporations -- provides funding, a support network, mentoring, and professional development to underrepresented minority graduate students.

Mack asserts, "I've not seen any one profession which would allow me to do as much as I've done and continue to do more than math."

While the overall NSF EHR budget took another round of cuts, Thompson believes individual programs aimed at diversifying the scientific workforce will continue to meet the agency's objective to keep youth "engaged" in science.

Now in its second year, a 9-month postgraduate course in the mathematical sciences recruits promising science, math, and engineering students from various African countries and lecturers from around the world.

"The Faces of Science brings humanity to the scientific achievements of African Americans."

Through it all, she bettered her skills and honed her experience until she could get her dream job--combining her knack for communicating with her science training.

A survey of the top 50 ranked physics departments in 2002 shows that of 1998 physics faculty members, there were 12 of identifiable African heritage.

Time and again, he has changed his professional outlook to satisfy an intellectual question.

SpelBots was created to provide hands-on robotics education and research for women computer science students at Spelman, and to promote robotics and computer technology among minorities.

Although Williams had difficulties pursuing a career as a mathematical researcher, he urges young minorities to be persistent and never give up their dream.

"The Community of Science helps colleges and universities, research institutions, corporations, government agencies, and science societies find funding to support research and also helps them locate specific researchers."

"When I landed in the United States, what I felt I had was a huge advantage because I felt that I was very flexible. That was a unique gift of my Australian education."

NOAA Fisheries, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, has a long history of fostering minority development in the sciences.

Lower-income and underrepresented minority students have been particularly hard-hit by staggering tuition hikes and have more to lose if the current trend continues.

For the past 17 years, the Meyerhoff Program has been enriching the lives of minority students interested in a career in the sciences by preparing them to pursue graduate and professional degrees.

The professors aren't content with just having made it up into the ivory tower; they want to bring others along, as well.

"The court reasoned that race can be a determinant in school admissions, but it cannot be a predominant factor in a school's admissions procedure."

Although Australia may not be ready to go head-to-head with international research juggernauts like the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany, it is building the capital, manpower, and facilities necessary to compete on the international scientific stage.