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Minutes of the Meeting of the FIG Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice 11/29/2023
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Wed, 11/29/2023, 10:00am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Dmitry Brogun (KCC BIO Faculty), Lilja Nielsen (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty), Kristin Polizzotto (KCC BIO Faculty)
The meeting began at 10:05am.
- Mary welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming.
- Mary gave an update on the Bird Research Project her BIO2100 class did this semester. The project is almost over. Data collection ended and the students submitted their reports. Initially, only 3 of the 5 groups submitted their reports. This is unusual. All groups usually submit on time. The two groups finally submitted, but the quality of the work was below par. The students will present their work with PowerPoint presentations on 12/6/2023 (last day of lab).
- Lilja reported on ABRCMS 2023 (Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students) in Phoenix, AZ. A small group of students (about 7) from KCC attended. All but one was presenting at a conference for the first time. It was a great experience for the students. There were several keynote speakers. One spoke on sleep research. One was in a wheelchair and advocated for individuals with disabilities. Our students did poster presentations. None of them won this year, but they presented well. The students attended the exhibitions and saw many internship opportunities. Lilja took the students around to the various exhibitors.
- Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting and post them to the Commons.
- When this FIG will meet again is to be determined (Spring or Fall 2024), and there will be a new facilitator.
Meeting adjourned at 10:39am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
Minutes of the 2nd Meeting of the Semester for the FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Wed, 10/11/2023, 10:00am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Homar Barcena (KCC PHYS SCI Faculty), Dmitry Brogun (KCC BIO Faculty), Christina Colon (KCC BIO Faculty), Lilja Nielsen (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty), Kristin Polizzotto (KCC BIO Faculty)
The meeting began at 10:00am.
- Mary welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming.
- Mary apologized for forgetting to include in the minutes from the last meeting the following link Christina provided. Here it is:
https://www.amnh.org/research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/convening-and-connecting/sccs-ny
- Mary gave an update on her BIO2100 Comparative Anatomy students using the beach for the Bird Research Project. One week no officers came to the beach. Last week an officer tried to call her students off the beach and Mary explained to him that her class had permission to be there. She had to show her ID and the email giving the class permission to be there. Discussion followed.
- Christina asked if the teaching labs are wired for Wi-Fi, and if technology can be used in the labs. According to the safety sheets, technology (cell phones, laptops, notebooks, etc.) is not to be used in the labs. Discussion followed. Are chargers a fire risk? We could let students know the risks (ex. spillage of fluids on keyboards) before they use the technology. Kristin suggested that a meeting could be set up with Ed Rios/Celeste Creegan/Kenneth Green to discuss the rules on campus for using facilities and how doing research with students could be more accessible. Kristin/Mary will contact Mary Dawson about setting up this type of meeting.
- Christina discussed the Jamaica Bay/Floyd Bennett Field research undertaking by CUNY with other partners. CUNY would want us to use this facility (a building), but what about the rules there? There was a meeting last week where CUNY signed on with Floyd Bennett Field, but it is not clear what this would mean for KCC. Brooklyn College is involved. $12.5M was allocated to CUNY. This is not enough for the building, staff and maintenance. Discussion followed.
- Dmitry shared that his students won first prize at the CRSP conference this summer. At the CUNY-wide Research Day the same students won first prize in the Molecular and Cell Division.
- Mary shared that the results of the research project her BIO/MAT9100 – Biostatistics class did last semester on usage of the garbage bins on campus will be presented by her at the KCC Sustainability Meeting on 10/19/2023.
- Christina and Dmitry discussed encouraging the decrease of waste as opposed to recycling. Dmitry has his BIO1400 class do presentations on microplastics/plastics. Christina said recycling is a myth and spoke about this.
- Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting and post them to the Commons.
- The next meeting of our FIG will be via Zoom on Wed Nov 29, 2023, at 10am. Zoom info to follow.
Meeting adjourned at 10:39am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
Minutes for the First meeting of the FIG Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice Wed 9/27/2023 via Zoom
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Wed, 9/27/2023, 10:00am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Dmitry Brogun (KCC BIO Faculty), Christina Colon (KCC BIO Faculty), K), Carrie Jedlicka (KCC Library), Lilja Nielsen (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty), Stephanie Palumbo (New Dorp High School College Now Science Research Instructor), Mike Rosson (KCC Library), Laura Spinu (KCC faculty), Farshad Tamari (KCC BIO Faculty)
The meeting began at 10:00am.
- Mary welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming.
- Mary shared the obstacle she had getting permission for her BIO21 Comparative Anatomy class to access the KCC Beach, because it is closed. The outcome was that she must chaperone the students when they are on the beach on Wednesdays, 12:40-12:55pm. Mary suggested that if anyone wants their students to access anything on campus, they ask for permission well before the semester starts. Discussion followed as CRSP, CSTEP, etc., students may face the same issue.
- Farshad shared info and updates about CRSP and the projects students have been engaged with. KCC CRSP students will attend and present their work at ABRCMS in Phoenix, AZ in Nov 2023 (Botanical Gardens are nearby to explore). ABRCMS is the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. He had two students with whom he was working. Farshad shared that he asked VP Rios for permission to use small samples from plants on the KCC campus and was given permission to do so.
- Farshad shared that this year CRSP recruited on the app and got many students and faculty. There is a waiting list for both students and faculty. The 19 available slots for KCC students are full (this is the max we are funded for). Laura has several students. Farshad encouraged reaching out to students anyway because they could do projects next year.
- Lilja shared that she has two CSTEP students currently assembling posters for MACUB and ABRCMS.
- Publicity for research might be available from Dean Gordon Alley-Young.
- Christina currently has one CSTEP student (she had another who did work and graduated) who is a rock star – the poster is done already. Originally, the student was working on studying coyotes on Long Island, but there were challenges with that project, so the student studied bird acoustic biodiversity. AI and Merlin were used to identify birds. Field work was involved. S248 Research Lab is too hot, so the project has morphed.
- Mary spoke about ABRCMS and the wonderful experience it is for the students.
- Christina shared that the AMNH has a 3-day conference on conservation science for high school to post doc students. It is in a hybrid format and costs $75 per attendee. This year the conference is Wed, Thu, Fri, Oct. 4, 5, 6. It is good for high school students.
- Christina shared that there is a 2-day outdoor marine event at Pier 84 in NYC on Fri 9/29 for schools and Sat 9/30 for families. It is good to bring children. There will be many science-based organizations there. The students/the public can rub elbows with researchers at these events.
- Christina shared that Kathy Nolan (MACUB President) will be a speaker at Columbia Teachers College on Tue 10/3/2023 at 6pm. The event is free. Students are welcome.
- Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting.
- The next meeting of our FIG will be via Zoom on Wed Oct 11, 2023, at 10am. Zoom info to follow.
Meeting adjourned at 10:40am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
Minutes of the 5/23/2023 Meeting of the FIG Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Tue, 5/23/2023, 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), Christina Colon (KCC BIO Faculty), Kathy Giaimo (KCC Institutional Advancement), 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.
- Mary welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming.
- Mary shared there have been some issues with the research project her Biostatistics class is doing. One student dropped the class, two students have stopped coming. Half the class lost a week of data due to the recent water main break at KCC. Instead of each student having 8 weeks of data, they have 7, 8 or 9 weeks of data. Discussion took place on what to do with the data (how many weeks to include, which weeks, etc.). Suggestions included: charting when the students collected their data to see if they did it on the same days/times, using 7 weeks and letting the students who have 8 or 9 weeks of data to submit their analysis for extra credit, in the future using a Google doc to have the students submit their data each week, letting the students discuss and decide what to do. Mary will share the report with this FIG group she and her class submit to the KCC Sustainability Committee. Shawna shared the report could be put into CUNY Academic Works, and explained how the Works works. She also shared the website: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/
- Christina gave an update on the climate monitoring station that will hopefully be placed at the KCC dock by Rich Rivera, a former KCC student and current doctoral student at the CUNY Grad Center in conjunction with his research for his degree. Ed Rios, NOAA and the KCC Maritime Program are working on this with Rich.
- Christina shared she is planning two horseshoe crab tagging dates at Plumb Beach, Wed 5/31/2023 and Wed 6/7/2023, both 1-3pm. All are welcome to come and participate. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is working on tagging, too. Mary will mention this to her BIO3300 class if they would like to earn extra credit.
- Shawna asked if we knew of anyone at KCC who could help her find support for undergraduate research. We suggested she speak with Mable Chee.
- Christina discussed doing remote research. She gives students data chips with data to work with. She doesn’t see the students much. Lilja mentioned a similar problem. There are lost samples doing online sequences, and students having a lack of lab skills. Mike suggested using Microsoft Teams and simulations. Mary suggested speaking with Grace or Marie McGovern regarding writing quality simulations. Christina uses SimBio. SimBio gives instant feedback, makes it difficult to be dishonest, and runs experiments. There is a fee ($25), and the students pay the fee. It gives the students experience with data, developing a hypothesis, etc. Lilja mentioned there could be a problem with the fee in a multiple section course such as BIO1100. Christina the following website: https://www.biointeractive.org/
- Shawna shared that her department is in the final stages of hiring an Environmental Politics Assistant Professor. She will have more to share in Fall 2023.
- Mary will send out the End of Semester Survey and the minutes from this meeting.
- The next meeting of our FIG will be in Fall 2023. Mary will send out a Doodle poll in the Fall.
- Mary thanked everyone for their participation in this FIG this semester.
Meeting adjourned at 11:35am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
Minutes of the 2nd Spring 2023 Meeting of the FIG Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
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.
- Mary welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming.
- 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.
- 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.
- Dmitry shared there will be student CRSP presentations on Fri 4/28/2023, 9:30-4pm, if anyone is interested in attending.
- 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)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Grace gave an update on the barcoding project she is pursuing. She and Dmitry discussed meta bar coding.
- Grace is also continuing to work on soil analysis and Winogradsky columns. She is pursuing a collaboration with the KCC Urban Farm on this.
- Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting.
- 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
Minutes of the First Meeting – Spring 2023 of the FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Tue, 4/4/2023, 11:00am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO Faculty), Dmitry Brogun (KCC BIO faculty), Christina Colon (KCC BIO Faculty), Carrie Jedlicka (KCC Library), Lilja Nielsen (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty), Marina Ouedraogo (KCC BUS/Advisement), Mike Rosson (KCC Library),
The meeting began at 11:00am.
- Mary welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming, and we introduced ourselves to the group.
- Mary shared that Nancy Hensel’s book on Undergraduate Research in Community Colleges will be sent to each person in the group via inter-office mail.
- Mike shared integrating the Library with different departments and working with faculty to help with their research and literature reviews. Resources have been developed for easy retrieval. He wants to get Science Direct for the Library for use.
- Carrie shared they are available to help with literature searches, meetings, strategies, annotations, etc.
- Christina shared in Ecology the students study predation. They found baleen on the beach. She said that AI fails if the question isn’t worded properly. She also discussed phrenology work with the trees on the KCC campus.
- Lilja shared that CSTEP has been studying oysters for 11 years, and they are seeing in genetic sequences where different populations are along the East Coast of the US. Even though the students study sequence data and get a “snapshot” view, all of the “snap shots” put together provide interesting results. Lilja and Craig impress upon the students that their “snap shots” are important to the project.
- We discussed students as co-authors. Lilja shared acknowledging students rather than giving them authorship for several reasons, such as students who have moved on and are no longer able to be reached, the amount of work a student actually did on the project, etc. Christina shared she goes back to posters for authorship.
- Mike spoke of his daughter’s high school and college and suggested we have a STEM Video Conference Showcase online (via Zoom) with both high school and KCC students presenting their work. Mary will approach College Now and the College Now Science Faculty at the high schools to see if they would be interested in doing this and when. Lilja was a judge for Brooklyn College Science Scholars Day. We may want to contact Jenny Basil about our idea.
- Grace is working with the KCC Urban Farm to get soil samples for the BIO50 – General Microbiology class to set up Winogradsky columns to study microbial ecology. She has the students compare layers in the columns with soil from the KCC Urban Farm vs. sand from Great Kills Beach, Staten Island. In the last few years, the column layers have been unremarkable. For the future she plans columns with cultivated vs. uncultivated soil. She also shared the KCC Urban Farm plans to do aquaponics.
- Grace and Christina discussed the DNA Bar Coding session they attended in the winter.
- Grace discussed working with the Culinary Program on pizza dough microorganisms.
- Dmitry discussed his research. He got a grant for Bar Coding. Students will present at the CUNY Symposium. Students compared compost vs. uncomposted soil and looked at biomarkers.
- Grace and Dmitry discussed collaborating using Bar Coding.
- Christina discussed outreach she does for CSTEP, the Rockaway Beach Alliance, bringing students to high schools, outreach to the KCC Summer Camp, Plumb Beach, Middle School students, her work with horseshoe crabs and Cornell, and field trips with her Ecology class (including families).
- Lilja suggested it would be nice to have a list of research opportunities. We will work on this.
- Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting and the Pre-Semester Survey again.
- The next meeting of our FIG will be set up via a Doodle Mary will send out and its results.
Meeting adjourned at 11:52am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
FIG Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice 4th and last meeting of the Fall 2022 Semester Minutes
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Fri, 12/2/2022, 10:00am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO Faculty), Christina Colon (KCC BIO Faculty),
Lilja Nielsen (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty)
Meeting began at 10:00am.
- Mary welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming.
- Mary shared how her BIO2100 students did on their Bird Research Project reports. Some struggled with the content and format. Next time she will share a module with her students she wrote on Writing a Lab Report. It may help the students.
- We discussed how students often do not read prompts or understand what they are reading. Opportunities can be given to re-submit work. Flexible deadlines are an option but that could mean too much work grading at the end of the semester. Revision can be critical to learning.
- We discussed students often do not read other students posts.
- One thing we do not accept is cheating.
- Christina sent Grace her Next Generation Sequencing Data for use in a research project in BIO5000 in the spring of 2023.
- Grace mentioned the Information Literacy class that Jeffrey Delgado offers in the library and online for classes. The Bridges/CSTEP students attend this class each spring early in the semester to help them with their literature searches for their summer research projects.
- Christina shared that her non-majors Bio class did a great job with the literature search this semester. She has her students use Google Scholar. Students picked great sources. She has students gather data. She discussed the structure of her paper and gives a template. She also has her students do Peer Review. It helps them. She also has her students do a Self-Evaluation by having them complete a rubric.
- We discussed taking students outside on the campus to gather data in BIO3300 (Non-majors Bio) and BIO5300 (Ecology). Christina took her BIO5300 class on several field trips last semester to the NY Aquarium, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Prospect Park, and AMNH to gather data on organisms. She gets permission and an approved release form before the semester starts for all the trips at once. The students meet her at each location and use the SEEK app. Grace shared that she uses the SEEK app to identify lichens. Christina does the trips during class time (12:40-4pm).
- Mary will send out the minutes from this meeting and the Post-Semester Survey.
- The next meeting of our FIG will be in the Spring 2023 semester.
Meeting adjourned at 11:00am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
FIG Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice meeting Minutes of 10/28/2022
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Fri, 10/28/2022, 10:00am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO Faculty), Shawna Brandle (KCC Hist/Phil/Pol Sci Faculty),
Christina Colon (KCC BIO Faculty), Jodie Delsol (KCC STEM Advisor), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty)
Meeting began at 10:00am.
- Mary welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming.
- Grace shared her attempts to reach out to other CUNY faculty to do research with her BIO50 (General Microbiology) in the spring. Christina shared she has microbiome data she is willing to share on horseshoe crabs, Eukaryotes, Prokaryotes and sediments. If Grace will not be able to collect data this spring, she will work with Christina to use these data. Christina has data sets students can use on soil profiles. Mary shared that she did this last spring when she used oyster data Kristin Polizzotto collected to have her BIO9100 (Biostatistics) students analyze and study. Mary suggested Grace check with Craig Hinkley on analyzing genetic data as he is knowledgeable about Bioinformatics.
- Shawna shared that she has a grant for a student research lab. She will have three students working with her who have not been selected yet. She will be studying in social science Historically Marginalized People in American Government. She is working on getting IRB approval but has had difficulties because to sign up students she needs IRB approval, but she cannot sign up the students until she has IRB approval. We discussed this situation. Christina was able to get an IRB exemption for a cohort of students on a project. There was discussion on putting students as PIs on grants and putting names and changing them later through IRB revisions. There is a new IRB Coordinator at CUNY Central.
- There was discussion as Shawna is embarking on her research project and Grace, Christina and Mary offered insight/advice as follows:
- Give the students deadlines for various pieces of the work, or work with the students to develop deadlines to that the work progresses in a timely fashion.
- Start with more students so that by the end of the project you have enough students, because some may opt to discontinue.
- Students sometimes came become overwhelmed with the project. Look at what needs to be done and set mini goals so that over time the whole project is completed.
- Some students are more capable of higher-level thinking and can manage more than others. Tailor projects accordingly. Use pictures, data, audio.
- Let the students know that we do not know what we are going to get when we do research, and that’s part of the excitement of it.
- Negative data are still data.
- Impress upon students the importance of maintaining constants so they do not become variables.
- Especially in a new project, rely on a collaborator. Be transparent. Make scientists understand the abilities of the students.
- There are apps that may help depending on the area (ex. the Merlin app for bird chirps, the SEEK by iNaturalist app for identifying species).
- Christina shared she uses Pivot tables in Excel and taught her students to use them as well in their research.
- We congratulated Jodie on earning her Doctorate degree. She is helping to train new STEM advisors (E102).
- Anyone wanting to use the STEM Lab (Library) for use with Melissa Riggio students, contact Michael Danza.
- The next meeting of our FIG will be on Fri, Dec 2, 2022, at 10am via Zoom (Zoom info to be sent out).
Meeting adjourned at 11:00am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice – Minutes of the Meeting of Fri 10/7/2022
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Fri, 10/7/2022, 10:15am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty)
Meeting began at 10:15am.
- Mary welcomed Grace and thanked her for coming.
- Mary shared that her students are doing better with the research project the BIO2100 – Comparative Anatomy class is continuing this semester; that is, identifying and cataloging the birds in the environs of the KCC campus. The students are getting into a routine for collecting data and are taking some really nice photos of the birds. Mary has encouraged her students to enter data into the data table as they collect them to avoid errors and to not be overwhelmed with this task later in the semester.
- Mary shared the SEEK by iNaturalist app that Grace suggested at the last meeting with her Comparative Anatomy class to help them identify birds for their research project. The students have used it on their cell phones and have found it helpful with identifying birds they are not sure of. The app uses your cell phone to take a picture of an organism and then identifies the species. It is easy to use and free to download.
- Grace shared that the Winogradsky project in Microbiology has not had the greatest results over the last several years. Mary and Grace brainstormed ideas for future class research projects. Grace is working on several ideas for her BIO50 – General Microbiology class for the spring 2023 semester. She hopes to have more details to share at the next meeting.
- Mary had several websites with data available for research that she will share at the next meeting.
- Mary will send out a Doodle to set up the next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 11:00am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
FIG Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice 1st Meeting Fall 2022 Semester 9-23-2022
KCC FIG – Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice
Minutes of the Meeting of Fri, 9/23/2022, 10:30am via Zoom
Mary Theresa Ortiz – Facilitator
Present: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO Faculty), Mary Theresa Ortiz (KCC BIO Faculty)
Meeting began at 10:30am.
- Mary welcomed Grace and thanked her for coming.
- Mary shared the research project the BIO2100 – Comparative Anatomy class is continuing this semester; that is, identifying and cataloging the birds in the environs of the KCC campus. She shared that there are some issues she is dealing with this semester, such as the students not showing up to their designated observing locations, the students not getting clear photos of the birds (some have old phones that don’t take good photos), and lack of understanding about submitting valid data. She is working with her class to work through these issues.
- Grace suggested a phone app called, SEEK, from the Nat Geo site. It uses your cell phone to take a picture of an organism and then identifies the species. It is easy to use and free to download. Grace has successfully used it on several occasions, and it works well. Mary has a hard copy bird reference from National Geographic that can be used to verify the students’ findings.
- Grace and Mary discussed how important it is to impress upon the students how wrong falsifying data is.
- Mary and Grace brainstormed ideas for future class research projects. More on this at the next meeting.
- Mary had several websites with data available for research that she will share at the next meeting.
- Our next (second) meeting will be on Fri, Oct 7, 2022, at 10:15am via Zoom.
Meeting adjourned at 11:30am.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz
