The Undergraduate Science Research Experience (USRE) and its Transformative Nature for Houston Community College Student
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The Undergraduate Science Research Experience (USRE) and its Transformative Nature for Houston Community College Students Bartlett M. Sheinberg The West Houston Center for Science and Engineering, Houston Community CollegeNorthwest, Houston, TX 77084, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Since 2005 the author has provided community college science and engineering students the opportunity to conduct substantive summer research projects in the areas of materials science, physical sciences, engineering disciplines and other multidisciplinary research areas. To date, nineteen students have participated in research experiences at regional universities and NASAJohnson Space Center. This paper will examine the genesis of the program, providing an overview of the program structure, the role that materials research has played in the success of the various student experiences, and thoughts on future directions and improvements. INTRODUCTION As noted in reports of regional and national scope [1,2,3,4,5,6] there exists a continuing search by state and federal agencies, congress, state legislatures and higher education institutions to identify successful secondary and post-secondary educational frameworks which successfully promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for talented and motivated students across the country. These reports acknowledge numerous projects on the state and national levels which are testing and validating various approaches and outcomes with regard to recruitment and retention strategies, and whose objectives are to increase the absolute number of scientists and engineers who are prepared to enter the technical workforce. The projects described in these reports recognize several key common issues and goals: the recruitment of young men and women, from a variety backgrounds and economic strata, into STEM disciplines; providing opportunity and a well defined structure to for students to obtain their baccalaureate and graduate degrees in a reasonable time duration; and generating a consistent and relevant knowledge infrastructure for middle school through graduate school which supports STEM educational alignment. These reports also mention the large untapped pool of talented students, especially those who are beginning their STEM education at community colleges [7], and who are firstgeneration and originate from recognized underrepresented populations. An important role of community colleges, in concert with secondary and other post-secondary educational institutions, is to provide an exploratory path from which students can become aware of the various economic, technical and social challenges existing today, in the future and how STEM fields can provide solutions to those challenges. In this regard, numerous federal agencies have established a successful track record in identifying and recruiting talented STEM students to address many of these challenges. These programs provide opportunity and exploration for high school, college and graduate students to explore STEM fields at various government a
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