Scientific Wishes Granted

Queens College is teaming up with nearby community colleges in two innovative projects subsidized by the National Science Foundation. One will send undergraduates abroad for fieldwork, the other will help them get valuable experience close to home.

Studying in the Wild
Believing that nothing fires up a student’s interest in pursuing a career in research science like doing fieldwork in an exotic locale, a new initiative of Queens College and Nassau Community College will provide 12 lucky students an opportunity to do exactly that.

Funded by a half-million dollar NSF grant, the four-year program—URM: Mentoring Urban Undergraduate Students in an Integrated Ecological Research Experience—will encourage urban undergraduates, especially those from underrepresented minorities, to participate in research. “A lot of people in ecology and evolution have come to these areas because of their love of being in the field and working with nature,” explains URM’s program director, Stephane Boissinot (Biology). “When you’re in the field and see the lions, the zebras, and monkeys, it really changes your perspective. In ecology and evolution, if you go to a conference, there are absolutely no minorities. Zero. One of the reasons might be that they have no opportunities to be exposed to these experiences.”

Experience in the field also increases a student’s chances of attending graduate school, notes Boissinot.

The NSF grant will fund a pair of two-year programs, with six students in each program. Students will be recruited early in their undergraduate careers from introductory biology and anthropology courses. They will have options to study baboons in Ethiopia, marine organisms in Panama, crustaceans in the Israeli desert, and insects in several European countries. Their faculty mentors will help them select a research topic, determine a proper program of related courses, and guide them in cutting-edge lab work. Students will receive annual stipends of $12,000, in addition to $3,500 to cover expenses for travel and for attending conferences.

Fieldwork will take place over six weeks in the summer. “I don’t think we can take them much longer than that,” says Boissinot, alluding to the fact that most of the undergraduates will be leaving New York for the first time.

Along with Boissinot, four other QC faculty—Michael Hickerson (Biology), Else Fjerdingstad (Biology), Mitchell Baker (Biology), and Larissa Swedell (Anthropology)—will take part in the program, along with Christine Tuaillon, a member of the biology faculty at Nassau.

Boissinot believes the QC’s selection—it was one of fewer than 10 programs selected from 150 applicants— reflects the determination of the participating departments to hire faculty who can become part of core research groups. “We used to hire based on our teaching needs, but now we create research groups,” he explains. “So now, when we write one of these big grants, we can say we have the critical mass of people to have a program.

“When you have one of these grants encouraging minority participation, it puts you in the loop and you can apply for more,” he observes, citing QC’s successful MARC program to increase minority participation in research science. “I think that it also reflects that we are the perfect place for this kind of undergraduate research grant as we have a very diverse population of students.”
 
Strengthening Chemical bonds for students
For similar reasons, QC was well positioned to collaborate with Queensborough Community College and Brookhaven National Laboratory on a five-year project funded with a $2 million NSF grant. Its goal? To enlarge the pool of Queensborough students who complete associate degrees in the sciences and then continue in baccalaureate programs—and beyond—in chemistry, biology, or biochemistry.

“The two colleges have good interdepartmental relations,” says Math and Sciences Dean Tom Strekas, who participated in writing the successful grant proposal. “Several former CUNY doctoral graduates who did research at QC are on the faculty at Queensborough, and professors at both schools have done collaborative work with researchers at Brookhaven.” With NSF support, these institutions hope to create a reproducible model for recruiting and nurturing science majors.

The project emphasizes faculty mentoring and peer-to-peer support for Queensborough graduates. “QC will facilitate to any degree possible their transfer here,” says Strekas. “We’ll have our own peer advisors—preferably students who came from the community college.”

Another key component is getting students exposed to research as early as possible; a summer program, open by competitive application, will allow up to six Queensborough participants to do research at QC or Brookhaven and earn a $3000 stipend. “Lots of biology and chemistry professors will be involved,” promises Strekas. “Doctoral students will be involved too—working with undergraduates is part of their training.”

As the program proceeds, faculty members will compile and analyze data, as they would in an experiment. But one indication of success will be easy to observe. “We should see the number of Queensborough transfers increase,” explains Strekas.