CARL O. BOSTROM

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES AT THE APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY

After nearly a quarter century of substantial direct participation in the educational programs of The Johns Hopkins University, the formal mission statement of the Applied Physics Laboratory was amended in April 1988 by the Board of Trustees to reflect APL's role in edu­cation. The mission statement now reads as follows; ital­ics denote the 1988 additions to the statement adopted by the Board in 1968.

The general purpose of The Johns Hopkins University can be stated as public service through education, research and the application of knowledge to human affairs. As part of the University, the Applied Physics Laboratory shares this purpose through the application of advanced science and technology to the enhancement of the security of the United States of America, and through basic research and participation in the educational programs of the academic divisions of the University to which its staff and facilities can make an especially favorable contribution.

The largest educational activity of the Applied Phys­ics Laboratory is the part-time graduate program in en­gineering. Begun about 25 years ago as part of the School of Continuing Studies, the master's degree pro­gram in engineering has continued to grow in both size and quality since its incorporation into the G. W. C. Whiting School of Engineering in 1983. The "student body" attending courses at APL now totals over 2000, and significant numbers of students are enrolled at Homewood, Shady Grove (Montgomery County), and several other sites.

Many members of our staff participate in the APL Part-Time Study Program; in the fall of 1988, 224 were enrolled at Johns Hopkins and 11 other area educational institutions, and over 130 were students at the APL Edu­cation Center.

This issue of the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Di­gest is (quite properly) devoted largely to our most visi­ble efforts, namely, the APL contributions to Hopkins graduate programs and our internal education and train­ing activities. But the educational contributions of the Laboratory as an institution, and of its individual staff members, encompass a broad array of activities. Our interests and programs include students at every level, from elementary school to senior postdoctoral; they are aimed at assisting the handicapped, the disadvantaged, the learning disabled, and the very gifted. The activities encompass research and development on the application of technology to teaching, exchange and cooperative pro­grams, the development of curricula and short courses, and financial assistance.

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Educational activities pervade the work and the en­vironment of the Laboratory, making a complete descrip­tion of everything in progress virtually impossible. An excellent summary of the roles played by APL in ex­tramural science education was assembled by Robert W. Hart for the September 1988 Report to The Johns Hop­kins University Trustees Committee on the Applied Phys­ics Laboratory.

At the secondary school level, APL has initiated or actively participated in a number of significant programs, including (1) the MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement) Program, aimed at attracting mid­dle and secondary school minority and female students to careers in those fields; (2) Project Journey, a video­tape guidance program ( eries), also aimed at encourag­ing secondary school students to pursue engineering careers; (3) REAP (Research and Engineering Appren­tice Program), sponsored by the Army, which enables talented, disadvantaged high school seniors and gradu­ates to work and study in a laboratory under the guid­ance of a mentor; (4) a special education program conducted in collaboration with the School of Continu­ing Studies to develop computer-aided instruction tech­niques for teaching the learning disabled, up to the high school level; (5) the Howard County Adopt-a-School Program, in which participating students at Atholton High School can work on a short scientific or engineer­ing project with a Laboratory professional, and high school teachers may work at APL during summer months; and (6) the Howard County Mentor Program, designed to further the development of gifted high school students by enabling them to work with practicing professionals.

APL activities in support of undergraduate education include (1) the Summer Employment Program, in which 40 to 50 science and engineering students from 20 or more colleges and universities around the country are given summer employment and the opportunity to learn about APL's technology and programs through a weekly seminar series; (2) the APL Cooperative Education Pro­gram, conducted under agreements with Drexel Univer­sity, Georgia Institute of Technology, Purdue University, the University of Maryland, Virginia Polytechnic Insti­tute and State University, Rochester Institute of Tech­nology, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania; (3) an Air Force program, in which APL staff are transferring elements of radar technology to King Fahd Uni ersity of Petroleum and Minerals (Saudi Arabia) through lec­tures and a videotape course; and (4) the a al Acade-

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my Program. For the latter program, the Laboratory developed and taught the academy's first curriculum in space technology and has continued to collaborate with academy faculty. Midshipmen and graduates (ensigns) also may spend a few weeks to a few months at the Lab­oratory on "elective training" or temporary duty as­signments.

A description of APL's role in graduate-level educa­tion occupies much of this issue, but several important programs deserve special mention. First among these is the GEM Program (National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering), initiated by The­odore J. Habarth of APL. The purpose of the program is to assist minority students in obtaining master's degrees in engineering through paid summer internships and fi­nancial aid. Today the consortium involves 61 indus­try/laboratory affiliates and 55 universities, and the program accounts for about 130/0 of the U.S. output of minority master of science degrees in engineering.

APL has enjoyed a 12-year relationship with the Na­val Postgraduate School, for which we assist in curricu­lum development (electronic warfare), provide lecturers from time to time, and host annual visits to APL for all students in the electronic warfare curriculum. For stu­dents in antisubmarine warfare, operations analysis, and electronic warfare, APL also participates in the "Exper­ience Tour" programs in which the degree candidates spend six-week working periods at Navy research and development centers. For a number of years, the Labo­ratory has worked with the Naval War College in the development and improvement of war games and the

Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 10, Number 2 (1989)

models that support them. An APL staff member also has been in residence for the past two years at the Na­val War College and has developed and taught a new course on technology and naval warfare.

To promote interaction between APL and other divi­sions of Johns Hopkins, the APL Fellowship Program was established in 1962 to provide a stipend plus full tu­ition for JHU graduate students who carry out their the­sis research at the Laboratory. The research is conducted under the joint supervision of an APL staff member and a faculty member of the University department. Since inception of the program, 15 candidates have success­fully completed thesis research at APL, qualifying for degrees in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematical Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering, and Bio­medical Engineering. Three APL fellows are currently engaged in some stage of their thesis research at the Lab­oratory.

At the graduate and postdoctoral level, the Labora­tory has several programs. The Advisory Board Fellow­ships and Professorships are available to members of the APL senior staff, enabling them to spend an academic year in one of the other divisions of Johns Hopkins. This program began in 1955 with the William S. Parsons Fel­lowship (later amended to permit a professorship) and was subsequently expanded to include the J. H. Fitz­gerald Dunning Professorship and the Merle A. Tuve and Lawrence Hafstad Fellowships. In 1973, the Frank T. McClure Fellowship in Cardiovascular Research was established. It is awarded to promising candidates in car-

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Bostrom

diovascular research, allowing a two-year tenure at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

In support of its research efforts, the Laboratory pro­vides for appointing up to four postdoctoral fellows to its staff for terms of one to two years, and a larger num­ber of postdoctoral research associates, who are usually recruited to fill specific, directly funded research posi­tions for a limited term.

The Laboratory sponsors many scientific and techni­cal conferences and symposia in the Kossiakoff Confer­ence and Education Center, and has been recognized for its contributions to specialized technical training in sever­al areas. For the DoD Very High Speed Integrated Cir­cuit Program, the Laboratory organized or sponsored 15 major workshops, developed a designer's handbook, and provided training for over 2000 engineers from in­dustry and government. An APL-developed short course, "The Fundamental Principles of Electronic Warfare," sponsored by the Association of Old Crows (the Elec­tronic Defense Association), has been presented at 13 sites around the country. Over 1500 people (about 60% of them government employees) have attended this three­day classified technical course.

The Laboratory's support of education also extends to devoting part of its fee to a merit-based Tuition Scholarship Program for children of qualified em­ployees. The program has awarded scholarships, which pay half the undergraduate tuition and fees (up to a max­imum of half the JHU tuition), to 482 students since its inception in 1978. And the Richard B. Kershner Fund provides scholarship support for deserving high school students identified by the Hopkins Center for Talented Youth to attend six-week summer courses in advanced topics in mathematics and science offered at several col­leges in the mid-Atlantic region.

It should be obvious by now that to describe the Ap­plied Physics Laboratory in terms of its research accom­plishments, its major programs, its facilities, or its role in national defense without reference to the scope of its involvement in education is to ignore the one element that permeates and undergirds the APL environment. Whenever I present an overview of the Laboratory to visitors, I make a special point of describing the part­time graduate education programs. These programs rep­resent an unparalleled service to the State of Maryland

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and to the technical work force of the Baltimore­Washington area. Since the majority of this work force is employed to serve the needs and programs of the fed­eral government, the part-time graduate programs have enabled APL to extend its public service contributions well beyond the confines of its own research and devel­opment efforts.

We are part of a great university, and the opportuni­ties to participate in the educational process as both stu­dents and faculty have had a significant influence on the kinds of people attracted to APL. Every element of this broad array of activities in education has resulted from the interest and initiative of individuals or groups of staff members, who have willingly committed time and ener­gy toward the success of these' 'extracurricular" activi­ties. Although the effects are difficult to measure, the Laboratory's prominent role in education reinforces an environment already rich in intellectual stimulation and directly benefits all of our endeavors.

THE AUTHOR

CARL O. BOSTROM, trained in nuclear physics, has spent his scien­tific career in space physics. Since 1980 he has been Director of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Phy ics Laboratory.

An experimental physicist, Dr. Bo trom has designed a variety of scientific instruments for the study of energetic particles in the space en­vironment. These instruments have been included on 27 Navy and

ASA spacecraft. Dr. Bostrom erved as Project Scientist for four avy research satellites associated

with the development of the Tran­sit navigation system. He has been

Principal Investigator for several ASA-sponsored experiments. Born in Port Jefferson, N.Y., he obtained a B.S. in physics from

Franklin and Marshall College in 1956, and M.S. (1958) and Ph.D. (1962) degrees in physics from Yale University. He joined APL in 1960 and led the space physics program from 1964 to 1974. Dr. Bostrom was appointed Chief Scientist of the Space Department in 1974 and Associate Department Head in 1978, and in 1979 held concurrent po­sitions as Head of the Space Department and Deputy Director of the Laboratory .

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