Known as the Annual Science Conference, the event's objectives include encouraging minority students and women, another underrepresented group in scientific fields, to pursue careers in science, Counter writes.

Counter, who is also an associate professor of neurology, says this conference "involves over 50 undergraduate students of all races and cultural backgrounds."

Each conference also features "a nationally known keynote speaker," according to Counter. Past speakers have included Jaime Escalante, the calculus teacher whose story served as the basis for the movie Stand and Deliver and Mae Jemsion, the first black female astronaut.

According to Counter, "Dean Lewis and President [Neil L.] Rudenstine have supported the Foundation's...efforts to encourage minority students to enter the field of science."

But not all bodies in Harvard have made minority participation in the sciences as high a priority as the Foundation has.

Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70-'73 says her office makes no special exceptions for minority applicants who express an interest in a scientific field.

"We don't try to match up categories," she says. "Also, we're smart enough to know that many students change their concentrations."