Batelle Scientist To Address Science Workforce Issues

There aren't enough women and minorities in the science and engineering workforce, and a Battelle employee is doing something about it.

Dr. Robert Casillas has been elected to serve as a member of The National Academy of Sciences Committee on Capitalizing on the Diversity of the Science and Engineering Workforce in Industry. His term runs from April of 2008 through October 30, 2009.

The committee, operating under the oversight of the National Academies Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, will analyze and synthesize all of the most recent data on the subject of diversity in the science and engineering workforce and develop practices to recruit, retain and advance women and underrepresented minorities as they increase their presence in
industry. It will identify and evaluate best practices, draw findings and conclusions and develop recommendations for the corporations that rely on the skills of scientists and engineers and provide guidance to Congress, funding agencies, corporations and industrial leaders.

Women are entering the science and engineering workforce at a rate higher than minorities. Hispanics are the largest portion of the U.S. population after whites, then African-Americans and Asian/Pacific Islanders. These groups will make up more than 50 percent of the nation's workforce by 2050. But only a fraction of these minority populations are represented in the science, technical, engineering and mathematics professional occupations.


Not only is the appointment an honor for Casillas, he says it's appropriate because of his Hispanic heritage. "It's important to me to foster opportunities for others," he says. He serves on Battelle's Multicultural Employee Resource Group and is a member of the Society of
Toxicology and its Dermal Toxicology and Hispanic Toxicologists Specialty Sections.

Casillas, the vice president and manager of Battelle's Biomedical Science and Technology product line, is responsible for a multimillion dollar annual business volume and supervises more than 240 personnel at research locations in Ohio and Maryland. Dr. Casillas' research
specialization is in medical countermeasures against chemical and biological threat agents.

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White Supremacists Blame Immigration, Asians for Virginia Tech Tragedy, ADL Says

In the wake of the tragic shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, extremists and white supremacists and conspiracy-oriented Internet forums and Web sites have focused on the ethnicity of the killer in an attempt to blame Asians, immigrants and other minorities for the deaths and to spread a message of hate, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

"Extremists are using the Virginia Tech shootings to spread a message of hate against immigrants, particularly Asians," says Abraham Foxman, ADL national director. "They are using the shooter's Asian ethnicity as an excuse to pile on hate against Asians, Blacks, Jews and immigrants. It is yet another example of how the neo-Nazis and haters are seeking to create an atmosphere of divisiveness around the immigration debate and to engender fear of minority groups living in America."

Some white supremacists groups have posted virulently anti-immigrant, racist and anti-Semitic videos on YouTube, the popular mainstream videosharing site, with deceptive titles such as "Virginia Tech Shooting Update" that make them appear as if they were legitimate news clips dealing withthe aftermath of the shooting, ADL says.

Additional examples are available on ADL's Web site.

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Study Finds Banks Less Available to Working Class, Minority Communities

A new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition finds that most of the largest metropolitan areas of the United States have markedly lower numbers of bank branches in working class and minority communities than in the upper class and white neighborhoods.

Are Banks on the Map? An Analysis of Bank Branch Location in Working Class Neighborhoods draws the clear connection that without access to basic banking services, modest income families spend more of their limited resources for simple financial transactions.

"Despite the purchasing power that is clearly available in urban areas, these emerging markets have been left out of the mainstream bank ing industry," says John Taylor, NCRC president and CEO. "Without banks in the neighborhood, un-banked families are paying exorbitant fees for services that are practically free for the rest of us. How can anyone climb out of poverty if they have to pay $35 to a check casher on a $585 payroll check?"

In Are Banks on the Map? NCRC surveys 25 of the largest metropolitan municipalities, including their surrounding areas (MSAs), and maps out the number of bank branches located in communities based on income-level and minority population. This report shows in 24 out of 25 MSAs, urban areas that have dense populations have fewer bank branches -- therefore fewer mainstream banking opportunities -- than the less populated suburbs. Without the ability to build relationships with the regulated banking community, working class and minority neighborhoods are more likely to use"fringe" services, such as payday lenders and pawnshops, for small loans. They are also more likely to have their home loans originated with mortgage brokers and subprime lenders, which often led to foreclosures and unmanageable monthly payments.

"There are an estimated 14 million US households that do not have regular access to bank services," says Taylor. "If banks develop and expandtheir products needed by these communities, they would be helping themselves and the people they're chartered to assist."

At the top of the list with favorable bank branch/customer ratio, San Francisco, Miami, and Boston had higher than average number of branches in minority neighborhoods, whereas Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago had relatively fewer in these communities.

Based on the findings in this report, NCRC calls for more attention tobe directed to the regulated and unregulated financial services available in these communities and for the strengthening of the Service Test of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA requires banks to meet the needs ofthe communities in which they are located. By enhancing the Service Test, the public will be able to adequately measure the number of branches in various communities to evaluate whether banks are providing the quality and quantity need in those areas.

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