Nationally we are only beginning to explore how Community Colleges (CC), Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) and non-research institutions can enrich the flow of students into STEM majors and careers, especially under-represented minorities and those with disabilities. Over the past 15 years our team at Howard University (HBCU), Gallaudet Universities (deaf and hard of hearing students) and Prince George's CC (MSI) has created ways to effectively couple students and faculty to research and research universities (Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and Harvard) and as importantly, to introduce research universities to this underutilized talent pool of talent in mutually respectful partnerships. These programs were supported by granting agencies as well as the participating institutions and have paid rich dividends to many STEM students at all institutions. Student internships have a low multiplier effect. Structured faculty involvement provides a more sophisticated intellectual exchange which continues for years and in our case for over a decade, At CCs and MSIs there is a focus on teaching. Faculty are isolated from their fields. Association with research institutions provides CC/MSI partners and students with new opportunities. Moreover CC/MSI student and faculty partners can change attitudes of faculty and students at R1s. Three important principles we discovered are that faculty need to select students from their institution, that there has to be pre-program training for research students, and that funding has to be provided to maintain involvement CC and MSI students during the year as well as for follow on activities such as seminars at the CC and MSI. Over the years our CC/MSI students have won NSF graduate fellowships as well as earning PhDs from research universities. CC students have graduated from R1 STEM undergraduate programs. The experiences that the CC/MSI students gained immunized them to transfer shock when the went on to study at research centered universities. They were able to share their experiences with fellow students who confronted the same issues. An unexpected outcome was that CC students became aware of REU programs and applied. At Gallaudet and PGCC undergraduate labs have been re-equipped or refurnished using institutional and grant funds. At PGCC a new engineering curriculum has been instituted and new stand alone grants supporting STEM education have been funded. These are all outgrowths of the early student research support efforts.

How institutional partnerships can successfully support early student research experiences at CCs and MSIs

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.