KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice

Minutes of the Meeting of Tue, 4/25/2023, 11:00am via Zoom

Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator

Present:  Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO Faculty), Shawna Brandle (KCC HIS Faculty), Dmitry Brogun (KCC BIO faculty), Carrie Jedlicka (KCC Library), Lilja Nielsen (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty), Mike Rosson (KCC Library),

The meeting began at 11:00am.

1. Mary welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming.
2. Mary mentioned that Nancy Hensel’s book on Undergraduate Research in Community Colleges has been sent to each person in the group via inter-office mail. Let Mary know if you did not receive your copy.
3. Mary mentioned that she has not heard from any of the high school College Now Science teachers regarding the science seminar for KCC and high school students to showcase their work. She will attempt to contact them again.
4. Dmitry shared there will be student CRSP presentations on Fri 4/28/2023, 9:30-4pm, if anyone is interested in attending.
5. Marina (Ouedraogo) could not make the meeting, but asked if there is anything she could assist with in sharing with the advisement of students. We discussed sharing the following with her – CSTEP, CRSP, Bridges – the name and email of the person in charge, and the address of the webpage on the KCC website for each for her to distribute to students.  Mary will get that list to her and the group.  (See bottom of these minutes)
6. Christina Colon could not make the meeting, but she emailed Mary asking her to get opinions on whether a field station at Floyd Bennett Field would be considered an asset for undergraduate research for KCC students. Christina went on to say that there may be monitoring/research opportunities for our students on environmental impacts of wind farms offshore and workforce opportunities.  Maybe the RV CUNY 1 could ferry students to/from Floyd Bennett Field.  There was discussion.  Dmitry shared that he is on the Committee for the Jamaica Bay Institute. He explained that CUNY got money, but it will take a few years for things to happen.  Lawmakers were lobbied.  This can benefit KCC.  We have to see what the Institute has to offer KCC, and what the timeline is for the future.  CUNY has several buildings at Floyd Bennett Field.  We have resources here at KCC.  Everything is very preliminary now.  We will get updates.  Discussion followed.
7. KCC has a boat (KCC 1) that Christina and Kristin Polizzotto were involved with. Dimitry wants to do sampling.  The boat is hybrid or electric.  We can get an update on the boat.
8. Shawna shared her department is beginning to interview for an Environmental Politics Assistant Professor. She looks forward to introducing that person to our FIG group.  This will be a Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics (STEP) person.  Maybe interdisciplinary research can be done (Environment, Climate, Wind).  She mentioned the wind project.  They will be looking to Bio.
9. Mary gave an update on the research project her Biostatistics class is doing monitoring the various garbage pails at specific locations at KCC. The students are in week 5/6 collecting their data.  Some hurdles include not enough people passing by, and people throwing out items in the wrong pail.  However, the students are not discouraged and are moving forward with their work.
10. Grace gave an update on the barcoding project she is pursuing. She and Dmitry discussed meta bar coding.
11. Grace is also continuing to work on soil analysis and Winogradsky columns. She is pursuing a collaboration with the KCC Urban Farm on this.
12. Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting.
13. The next meeting of our FIG will be on Tue 5/23/2023 at 11am via Zoom. Mary will send out the Zoom info.

Meeting adjourned at 11:40am.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz

List of Research Opportunities for Marina to Share with Students

CSTEP = Collegiate Science &Technology Entry Program

Faculty contact = Prof. Craig Hinkley, S229, 718-368- 5783, Craig.Hinkley@kbcc.cuny.edu

Link to webpage on KCC website:  https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/academicdepartments/bio/c_step/

CSTEP Office = S218 , 718-368-5503

Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program

Faculty contact = Prof. Anna Rozenboym, S132,718-368-6703, Anna.Rozenboym@kbcc.cuny.edu

Link to webpage on KCC website: https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/academicdepartments/bio/bridges/index.html

CRSP = CUNY Research Scholars  Program

Faculty contact = Prof. Farshad Tamari, S117, Farshad.Tamara@kbcc.cuny.edu

Link to web page on KCC website:  https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/CRSP/

LSAMP = Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation

Faculty contact = Not listed

Link to web page on KCC website:  https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/academic/programs/amp/amp_mission.html