Science And Technology

A team lead by Battelle Memorial Institute has won a five-year, $333 million Defense Department contract to provide biological and chemical detection support at Aberdeen Proving Ground and 11 other hubs around the world. Battelle will administer the program from Aberdeen. The Columbus, Ohio, institute manages or co-manages seven national laboratories for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy. Battelle has been expanding in Harford County, where it has had offices for 20 years.

The state's first attempt at a HOPE scholarship program has fallen short of its predicted enrollment.About 700 high school seniors -- well below the expected 2,000 -- have qualified for grants aimed at encouraging students to major in science and technology."

In an early holiday gift, Gov. Parris N. Glendening handed out hundreds of millions of dollars yesterday for new buildings at Maryland's colleges and universities.Glendening announced the higher education portion of the capital budget at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to an eager audience that included most of the presidents of the state's public schools.Glendening said a five-year $1.23 billion construction budget will be funded with the state budget surplus projected at $925 million, as well as with income from a tax on tobacco products passed last year and money from the settlement with tobacco companies.

Maryland teen-agers now have a new reason to spend all their free time in front of the computer: a chance to win a college scholarship.Under an ambitious program approved yesterday by the General Assembly, the state will pay $3,000 a year to B-average students who study science, engineering and computer fields at Maryland colleges and go to work for local companies.Gov. Parris N. Glendening sought the science and technology scholarships as a way to cultivate a qualified work force to keep high-tech firms from leaving Maryland in search of employees.

Mission: To nurture an awareness of the importance of science and stimulate people of all ages, especially children, to appreciate science and its impact, by creating educational experiences that emphasize the visual and tactile.Latest accomplishment: Bringing higher-profile exhibits such as "Star Trek" and the current "Racecar: The Science of Speed" to the center; more frequent turnover in exhibits and IMAX films.On the horizon: The long-awaited, most successful IMAX film to date, "Everest," opens May 22, taking visitors on a climb to the mountain's 29,028-foot, breathtaking summit.

After a stormy period of downsizing and consolidation that rumbled through the defense industry in Maryland eight years ago, real estate and economic development executives fretted over who would occupy the volumes of office space vacated by defense firms slashing operations near Baltimore-Washington International Airport.The answer is upstart high-tech ventures looking for an affordable place to grow, such as the company founded by David Manyak, a former Merrill Lynch biotechnology analyst.

Catonsville High School moved toward the 21st century yesterday, breaking ground for a science and technology wing to the 44-year-old building.The 70,000-square-foot addition -- scheduled to be completed in July 1999 -- will include laboratories and classrooms as well as a fitness center. The school's outdated media center and library also will be replaced.The $8 million construction project will add space for the equivalent of 600 extra students at the school. The school's enrollment is about 1,350 students this year, about 200 students above its listed capacity.

If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one to hear itOr rather, if a technology company in Maryland can't find workers, will it actually grow?This question is much more than a brain teaser for state business leaders, academics and government officials.The shortage of qualified technology professionals has proved to be a serious impediment. In fact, it is perhaps the most often mentioned concern of business executives who are bemoaning the estimated 10,000 jobs requiring high-technology skills that are going unfilled in Maryland.

WASHINGTON -- Five weeks after being picked to be deputy director of the National Science Foundation, Rita R. Colwell, the 63-year-old president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, will instead be nominated to head the foundation, President Clinton said yesterday.White House officials had formally asked Colwell in January to become the number two official at the foundation, a $3.4 billion-a-year agency that doles out grants for research in physics, biological sciences and engineering.

With high-technology workers in demand these days, college graduates like Carroll S. Little Jr. find themselves in a job-seeker's paradise.A month after picking up his bachelor's degree in computer science from University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the 22-year-old from Olney is headed to Arizona to work for Motorola Corp. as an analyst. Starting salary: $41,000."I was surprised," Little said, at how many companies wooed him -- six -- and how eager they were to pay so much for someone fresh out of school.

Team 888 from Glenelg High School gathered at 7 a.m. Thursday in the school's parking lot, a bit sleep-deprived perhaps, but definitely pumped up. The night before, 12 students had checked off 1,500 pounds of supplies on a lengthy packing list in preparation for their 10-hour journey to the Indiana Robotics Invitational, an elite competition for the top 72 teams in the world. Along with the robot they designed and built, their team was transporting tools, spare parts, extension cords, 12-volt gel batteries and chargers - anything members might possibly need during the two-day event that ended Saturday.

Is the future of a new East Baltimore becoming evident on Washington Street just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital? On a long walk through this decimated and emptied neighborhood, it was easy to see where nearly 1,200 houses (on 100 acres) were knocked down. The empty space created by all that demolition provokes strong emotions. I thought of how the Inner Harbor looked in the mid-1970s or the Charles Center in the 1960s. While walking up a hill, I looked out at landmarks in the distance - the graceful tower on St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church and the stonework on the former Knox Presbyterian Church.

So mayoral ex-boyfriend Ron Lipscomb gets a piece of the huge Uplands housing development even though, as The Sun's John Fritze reports, a city review panel recommended another team. And that's surprising? I was more surprised to see Michael Cryor is in on the deal. Cryor is chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party. It's not the moonlighting that gets me. In a true-blue state like Maryland, maybe selling the Democratic dream isn't full-time work. Little wonder if Cryor also has time to run a company, the Cryor Group, which has a 1.5 percent interest in the $200 million Uplands project.

Facing continued challenges to evolutionary science from religious conservatives who insist that public schools teach alternative explanations, the National Academy of Sciences has issued a new book that outlines the scientific evidence for evolution. "Evolution is one of the bedrock theories in all of modern science, and we are coming to understand better and better as to why that is," said NAS President Ralph Cicerone at a panel discussion of the 86-page booklet, called Science, Evolution and Creationism.

A team lead by Battelle Memorial Institute has won a five-year, $333 million Defense Department contract to provide biological and chemical detection support at Aberdeen Proving Ground and 11 other hubs around the world. Battelle will administer the program from Aberdeen. The Columbus, Ohio, institute manages or co-manages seven national laboratories for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy. Battelle has been expanding in Harford County, where it has had offices for 20 years.

Firefighters to discuss blaze with residents Firefighters will meet with residents at 7 tonight to respond to questions about the Tuesday afternoon fire at a Randallstown apartment complex that displaced more than a dozen families. The fire, which is under investigation, damaged 17 apartments in the three adjoining brick buildings in the Brookhaven Estates complex, said Lt. John Cromwell, a county fire spokesman. "Whenever there's a significant fire or fire death, very typically the fire departments walk through the community to talk about the value of having smoke detectors and to answer questions," Cromwell said.

A steel beam was hoisted yesterday atop the first life sciences building at the East Baltimore biotech park -- marking the halfway point in the structure's completion and providing officials with the opportunity to publicly promote progress in a project designed to transform a once-decayed swath with research facilities and hundreds of units of new housing. "This is a grand milestone for a grand project," said Dr. Edward D. Miller, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, one of several private and public officials to speak before the ceremonial "topping out" of the building.

Alicia Lee plans to do something no one in her immediate family has done. The 17-year-old senior at Woodlawn High School will attend the Johns Hopkins University beginning this fall, and if all goes well, she'll become the first person in her family to earn a bachelor's degree. Lee and many other county students got help with the college application process from Building STEPS Science Technology Education Partnerships, a nonprofit program that helps high-achieving high school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds by guiding them through the application process and providing activities that expose students to college, science, math and technology.

We cover a Hampden resident who sets out to find the perfect addition to her holiday display. IN GO TODAY Sunday Profiling Peabody's director We give a profile of the new director of the Peabody Conservatory, the young Jeff Sharkey. IN A&E TODAY online today NFL ONLINE To check out Bill Ordine and Ken Murray's weekly NFL report, go to: www.baltimoresun.com/nflpod HEALTH REPORTS For recent stories about health, science and technology, go to: www.baltimoresun.com/healthscience

The recent, alarming report by the National Academies of Science on the health of our innovation economy, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future," did the nation a major service by decrying the dismal state of science and math education in the U.S. and the gradual erosion of our world primacy in science and technology. But the report fell short in one crucial area: It failed to address the persistent shortage of women and minorities in science and engineering.