Senator Thad Cochran and undergraduate Mac Alford from Mississippi College discuss populations of freshwater mussels in Mississippi's Amite River as part of a water quality study of the river's drainage basin.	Eileen Friel from the NSF and Maritza Taverez discuss her work on narrow band FeII imaging of supernova remnant in the Magellanic Clouds while an undergraduate at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

In addition to participating in the poster session and meeting with Members of Congress and Congressional staff members, the students signed a statement entitled "An Investment in Tomorrow", in which they urged Members of Congress to "continue, and where possible, to increase the funding of programs that provide undergraduate research opportunities so that more students can have the kind of valuable education [they] have received." They noted that "In the new millennium, our economic competitiveness, medical health, national security and quality of life will depend on how wisely we invest today in research and in those who will replace the current generation of scientists." The statement compared the tradition of undergraduate research with the tradition of craftsmen passing on skills and knowledge to apprentices working by their sides. The program was organized by John Mateja, CUR councilor and co-chair of the CUR Science Policy Committee, with the help of other CUR members and councilors.

The Poster Session on Capitol Hill program started with an orientation session in which Representative Vernon Ehlers, a physicist, urged students to "follow their dreams and to pursue those subjects that interest them and that they are good at". Also welcoming the students to the day's activities were David Schutt (Head of the American Chemical Society Office of Science Policy), Brad Van Dam (from Senator Tom Daschle's office), Tom Wenzel (President of CUR) and Jeanne Narum (CUR councilor). The main event was the afternoon session in which students and their mentors discussed their posters and the importance of undergraduate research with Members of Congress and staff members. Senator Sarbanes was observed kneeling on the floor to get a better look at a Maryland student's poster and saying, with a twinge of astonishment in his voice, "You did this work and you're only an undergraduate?"

Before the visit to Capitol Hill, the students had written to Members of the House and Senate to invite them and their staff to the Undergraduate Research Poster Session and to share their concerns that future generations of scientists be well trained to help solve the nation's environmental, sociological, and energy-related problems. Altogether, the students and their faculty mentors met with approximately 70 House and Senate members, congressional staff, and representatives from various federal agencies and communicated with more than 100 Members of Congress. The students, faculty and CUR members consider the Poster Session on the Hill a resounding success, and CUR anticipates continuing this new program in future years.

After the Poster Session on the Hill, many of the faculty involved stayed in the Washington area for the CUR April Dialogue, held April 11­12, 1997, at the Natcher Conference Center on the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This biennial event provides faculty and administrators from predominately undergraduate institutions (PUIs) the opportunity to interact with representatives from federal agencies and foundations. This year's Dialogue, entitled "The Teaching-Research Connection", included five plenary talks, 36 workshops, and 7 "special dialogue sessions" for the 400 participants. The special dialogue sessions were a new approach to encouraging active discussion and debate among participants on important topics. Each session group of approximately 20 addressed questions such as "What constitutes undergraduate research?" "Why don't undergraduate faculty write more grant proposals?" "How can all students benefit from research?" and "How should technology be effectively used in undergraduate education?" For each of the seven session topics the groups condensed their two discussion periods into a list of five important issues and a list of five recommendations. These recommendations were presented to the entire dialogue participant group at a final wrap-up session Saturday afternoon. CUR plans to forward the recommendations formulated to appropriate agencies and individuals. Also watch this space for further questions and comments on some of these timely issues.

Most of the April Dialogue workshops focused on grant-proposal writing or funding opportunities within specific disciplines, but other workshops included topics such as "What does it mean to be a scholar/teacher at a PUI?" and "Assessment and Evaluation". In the workshop "Shaping the Future?", Joseph Peliccia, from the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation (NSF), presented a summary of the 1996 NSF Advisory Committee report "Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology" and discussed the recommendations in the report with workshop participants. Specific suggestions and their implementation and implications were discussed. In this report, the authors conclude that the imperative national goal is for "all students [to] have access to supportive, excellent undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering and technology and [for] all students [to] learn these subjects by direct experience with the methods and processes of inquiry" (1). They note that "America has produced a significant share of the world's great scientists, while most of its population is virtually illiterate in science" (1). College and university faculty are urged to reassess methodology and goals for the education of a broad spectrum of students.

In a plenary talk, Joseph Bordogna, Acting Director of NSF, spoke of new directions at the Foundation, including the increasing emphasis on the "integration of teaching and research". Alan Ladwig, Associate Administrator for Policy and Planning at NASA, gave a dynamic overview of NASA programs relevant to the undergraduate education community. This was the first CUR event in which NASA participated. Plenary presentations were also given by Daryl Chubin, from the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the White House, and Ruth Kirschstein, Deputy Director of NIH. Kirschstein announced significant changes in AREA (Academic Research Enhancement Awards), including the new policy that these awards will now be renewable. In his plenary session, Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, demonstrated that he personally is a strong supporter of both science research and science education. He also urged us to recognize the continuing great need for effective communication with the Congress as a whole on the importance of science and science education to our society.

Our "investment in tomorrow" needs to include not only a continued commitment to our undergraduate science majors but also a renewed commitment to providing a quality comprehensive science education for all students. Essential for preparing our nation for the 21st century is increased scientific literacy for the general college-educated population. In an increasingly technological world, individuals from every facet of society are asked to make or help make decisions requiring informed judgments on technical matters. Furthermore, a renewed commitment to the scientific education of all students is a critical step toward enlisting the understanding of and support for science and scientific research, which Congressman Boehlert reminded us is so critically needed in Washington today and in the future.

Garth Robins from Ohio State University illustrates a point regarding thin film metallic tri-layer magnetization effects to a congressional staff member during the poster session	John Ferguson explains his work and the work of Heather Henderson, both students at Lyon College in Arkansas, on experimental rate constants for unimolecular HF elimination and bimolecular disproportionation-combination reactions to a congressional staff member.

Literature Cited

1. Advisory Committee to the National Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources. Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology; National Science Foundation: Washington, DC, 1996.