Chemical Education Today
Building on Cultural Diversity To Create a Climate of Excellence at New York's Queensborough Community College by Paris D. N. Svoronos Department of Chemistry, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, New York 11364
[email protected] Queensborough Community College (QCC) is one of the six community colleges of The City University of New York (CUNY) and is located in Bayside, eastern Queens, a borough of New York City. As of fall 2009, Queensborough has more than 15,500 enrolled students representing 143 countries with 46% of the students speaking a language other than English at home. The student body's demographic makeup is roughly one-quarter Caucasian, one-quarter African American, one-quarter Hispanic, and one-quarter Asian or Pacific Islander. Because of these demographics, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded QCC (in conjunction with John Jay College, a senior college of CUNY) a Title V grant that supports Hispanic students. In 2008, the American Chemical Society (ACS) selected QCC's chemistry department to host the 40th Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting (MARM). This honor was a source of great pride, as it was the first time MARM was held at a community college and the first time ever in New York City. During this conference, I was awarded the Stanley Israel Award in recognition of “individuals and/or institutions that have advanced diversity in the chemical sciences and significantly stimulated or fostered activities that promote inclusiveness within the region.” I refused to accept it just for myself, however. I requested, and it was granted, that the award be shared by the entire QCC chemistry department. QCC's Cultivation and Support of Undergraduate Research QCC's chemistry department is active in undergraduate research. Each year, roughly 30 students conduct research under the mentorship of nine full-time faculty members, four adjunct faculty members, and three lab technicians. The countries of birth of the faculty mentors include Guyana, Iran, South Korea, Romania, Cuba, Greece, India, Russia, China, Chile, and Turkey, as well as the United States. Two-thirds of the research students are female, and most of them were not born in the United States. In 2003, two female students, one the daughter of an Iranian diplomat and the other the daughter of a Russian Jewish immigrant who grew up in Israel, collaborated on a research project that led to a total of six ACS presentations (both poster and PowerPoint presentations). Because of their teamwork and accomplishment, these young women were awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Racial Harmony at QCC's 2003 commencement that same year. Currently, their research is being prepared for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. 1294
Journal of Chemical Education
_
_
Grants Awarded for Undergraduate Research and Activities The Five-Year NSF STEP Grant Because QCC's diverse faculty and student body collaborate regularly and closely, several grants have been awarded to our chemistry department. In 2007, a $2,000,000, five-year (Grant Award Number: 0652963) NSF STEP grant was awarded to QCC's departments of chemistry and biological sciences in conjunction with corresponding departments at Queens College (a CUNY senior college located nearby in Queens) and the Brookhaven National Laboratory in eastern Long Island. The principal investigator (myself), together with the co-PIs (Melvin Gorelick, of QCC's biology department, and Thomas Strekas of the Queens College chemistry department) work together to create a seamless transition for our students to the senior college environment using an array of research opportunities as the centerpiece of their academic grooming. We carry out this transition by encouraging selected students to participate in the winter and summer experiences at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. (The students are compensated for this and have local accommodations.) The NSF STEP grant also supports other activities that advance students in our chemistry and biochemistry programs. For example, honors students conduct 2-h group tutorial sessions on the model of peer-led exercises. Such tutorial work is similar to what graduate students do as teaching assistants with recitations in large universities. This experience is invaluable to the student tutors because it builds their confidence in front of an audience and enhances their knowledge of chemistry concepts. This experience also benefits the students who seek help; they feel more comfortable asking questions and coming to the blackboard in front of a student tutor than with their instructor. This creates a unique cohort of students in the STEM fields, irrespective of their ethnic or religious backgrounds. The Three-Year Advanced Technological Education Grant Another collaborative grant involves a three-year Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant (Grant Award Number: 0703107) in conjunction with York College (another CUNY senior college, Panayiotis Meleties, PI) and the Division of Environmental Protection (DEP) of New York City. In this project, typically 8-10 students are selected for a summer experience in which they analyze water samples for heavy metals, ions, and bacteria. Our department also encourages students to enroll in semester-long internships at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where they test for traces of aflatoxins and other metabolites and pesticides in imported food using
_
Vol. 87 No. 12 December 2010 pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc r 2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc. 10.1021/ed100692y Published on Web 10/12/2010
Chemical Education Today • Since 2002, 10 students have been selected as New York All-USA Today Academic members. • Since 2005, students have been accepted to REU programs at Cornell, Rutgers, and Princeton (through City College). • Two female students have been chosen as ACS scholars: Rosa Rosales, a native of Peru, in 2006; and Nadia Aboley, a native of Ivory Coast, in 2007. • Two female students were honored by the American Association of University Women-New York chapter: Surinam-born Alana Doonachar in 2007, and New Jersey-born Emily Hughes in 2008. • Our students have transferred to prestigious institutions, including The Cooper Union, the SUNY-Stony Brook Honors program, Cornell University, and the University of Southern California, as well as several CUNY and State University of New York (SUNY) institutions.
advanced instrumentation. These opportunities provide our students with insight into the real-world expectations when they apply for a job in chemistry and related industries. Undergraduate Participation at Conferences and in Publications Undergraduate students are highly regarded when research is included on their resumes. And this becomes significant only if an outcome, such as a conference presentation or a publication, is attached. Undergraduate research first began at QCC in 2000 with one student being mentored by two faculty members. The number of students has expanded to 30 students in 2010, all making multiple presentations at ACS conferences. Expenses were originally covered by departmental travel funds and student government allocations, but funding these activities became too expensive and required outside grant support. The STEM grant therefore became particularly useful and has supported trips to MARM and national ACS meetings, including the 238th in Washington, DC, where QCC students made 25 undergraduate poster presentations. At the 240th National Meeting of ACS (August 2010) in Boston, 29 posters were presented by QCC students, in addition to the first ever talk and slide presentation by one of our college's students. These presentations have been exhilarating experiences for the students who start dreaming about postundergraduate careers, often in STEM fields (1). This has also led to collaborative projects between QCC's chemistry and biology departments. There is some attrition with research students, but careful selection and continuous communication with the students has kept this to a minimum. The greatest outcome of QCC's cultivation of undergraduate research has been the publication of papers in peer-reviewed journals. Since 2002, 12 such articles have appeared bearing our students' names (2). The bulk of the work has actually been completed by the students while they were at QCC, and the publication appeared approximately a year after their transfer to a four-year institution. Naturally, this has helped the faculty involved, as such an accomplishment combines both the teaching element and the scholarly publications' requirement when tenure and promotion decisions are made. Example Honors Awarded to Specific Students QCC's support of its students in research, conference attendance, and publication benefits its undergraduates' applications to competitive programs, offering them better transfer opportunities and easier employment outcomes. Consider these examples of the honors our students have received: • In 2002, Hong Kong-native Berman Tsun was the first QCC student to be awarded the Barry Goldwater Scholarship for Academic Excellence in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, one of only two community college students nationwide.
r 2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
_
Support from QCC's Administration QCC's administration has been supportive of our efforts; this despite budgetary constraints, as QCC is part of a public university system funded by city and state monies. To this end, since 2005 an annual Queensborough Honors Conference has been held at the end of every spring semester with the inclusion of four more CUNY community colleges since 2009. The administration has provided the allocation of Perkins grant funds to establish the first undergraduate research lab currently used by our students, a lab fully equipped with fume hoods and cabinets. QCC has also provided us with vans for transporting our students when conferences are within a reasonable distance. QCC's president, provost, vice presidents, and deans have always made the extra effort to attend both CUNY and college conferences and provide moral support to our students and show their appreciation. Why QCC Matters It is through the dedicated mentorship, interdepartmental coordination, hard work, and sacrifice of QCC faculty and students that lives are changed and minds are steered toward the STEM disciplines. Students learn that starting at a community college is not a disadvantage. In the United States, nobody really cares where you come from; everybody wants to know what you have achieved. Literature Cited 1. QCC Chemistry Department Student Presentations Web Page. http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/Chemistry/presentations.asp (accessed Sep 2010). 2. QCC Chemistry Department Student Publications Web Page. http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/Chemistry/publications.asp (accessed Sep 2010).
pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
_
Vol. 87 No. 12 December 2010
_
Journal of Chemical Education
1295
