Abdramane Serme, PhD
BMCC/CUNY-The City University of New York BMCC/CUNY-The City University of New York
Email: [email protected]
Mathematics department coordinator of the S-STEM, C-STEP and LSAMP scholarship programs.
Myth: Students in community colleges are not able to
conduct research in mathematics.
Fact: Students come to community colleges immature,
Fact: Students come to community colleges immature,
unprepared (Brock, 2010) to do college work.
Fact: There is no AMATYC grant to support student
research/mentoring programs (conv. about AMATYC)
Fact: High school teachers reject responsibility to junior
The faculty members of the mathematics department
at Borough of Manhattan Community College
(BMCC) have mentored over 140 students in various student research programs since 2008.
The goal of this talk is to share BMCC’s experience in
student research/mentoring programs.
BMCC has five major student research programs
The Honors program
The Cleo and Zack project
The C-STEP (Collegiate Science and technology
The C-STEP (Collegiate Science and technology
Entry Program)
The S-STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics)
The LSAMP (Louis Stroke Alliance for Minority
The shortage of students trained in mathematics is a well
documented (Herzig, 2004).
Many students enter and exit community colleges with
Many students enter and exit community colleges with
no or little knowledge about the rigor and responsibility of doing research.
The research project is a way to hone their writing skills
and to master techniques such as writing an abstract and references in a report, oral presentation, computer
software programs such as Matlab, Mathematica and Maple.
All students in a research program grant funded by the NSF must pass six modules provided by CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative)
Responsible conduct of research
Responsible conduct of research
Research misconduct, a case study: plagiarism Publication practices
Responsible authorship Collaborative research
54% of students admitted to plagiarism from
the internet (plagiarism.org).
Tackle that problem early by talking about it
Tackle that problem early by talking about it
and allowing students to be confronted by it.
Every faculty member engaged in mentoring
students is required to educate his mentee on plagiarism.
Students will succeed better academically when they
feel more integrated into the college community.
Informal contacts (outside the classroom) between
college students and faculty members have a positive impact on students' academic performance, retention impact on students' academic performance, retention and career goals (Bernier, Larose, & Soucy, 2005).
Implemented the right way, with passion and close
supervision, student mentoring programs may help integrate more students especially mathematics major students.
Integration may in the long run affect the retention
Underrepresented minorities comprise a very low percentage of students in higher education (Herndon & Hirt, 2004).
According to the OECD's (Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 25th among their peers from 34 countries on a Student Assessment (PISA), fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 25th among their peers from 34 countries on a mathematics test (Hechinger, 2010).
http://nces.ed.gov/timss/results07_math07.asp TIMSS (Trends in Inter. Math and Science Study).
Developing robust research/mentoring programs for students majoring in mathematics has become even more important.
At the start of each semester, clear goals to encourage strengthening the college's STEM program are set.
The chair exhibits a strong sense of leadership by :
Being very involved in grant writing.
Encouraging faculty members to team up to write
grants.
Making sure that at least one grant is written on
Every semester all BMCC students engaged in
any mentoring program are invited to the
BMCC Annual Poster Presentation. Certificate of participation are distributed to participants.
Students engaged in mentoring/research
project are encouraged to present at conference outside BMCC.
Workshops on how to present at conferences
Private providers and Institutional providers.
MAA ( http://www.maa.org/)
• MAA tensor women and girls grant, grants for • MAA tensor women and girls grant, grants for
underrepresented female students.
• MAA through NREUP (National Research Experience for
Undergraduates Program).
AMS
(http://www.ams.org/programs/students/progra msforstudents)
US Department of Education (USDE)
• Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP)
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iduesmsi/applicant.html
• Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
(FIPSE) http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/fipse/index.html
National Science Foundation (NSF) http://www.nsf.gov/
• Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (TUE-STEM) formally know as CCLI Program
BMCC takes students mentoring programs very seriously and is very well organized
The scholarships coordinator has the following responsibilities:
The point person for student’s recruitment
Pair students with faculty members
Centralizes all the recruitment effort s for the department
Go physically class by class starting from remedial classes to higher level classes to talk to students
Distribute flyers in class or during students organized events in order to gain awareness
Remind all the faculty members by email
The scholarships coordinator may send letters to all
mathematics major students or potential candidates’ based on their GPA or based on their history of
participation in the research programs.
Some other clubs such as the Hispanic, Caribbean,
African, …etc., student government associations may be targeted depending on the recruitment goal.
Talk and distribute flyers to the student’s association
Each professor in the department is encouraged to distribute flyers and recruit qualified students in his/her class.
The mathematics major coordinator:
Will alert all the mathematics major students by email about Will alert all the mathematics major students by email about
the scholarships availability
One of three authorized to register mathematics major students
Identify qualified students for a particular scholarship
Early recruitment of students with potential in mathematics in remedial classes
Dropout rate is one of the main challenges with student mentoring programs.
Research project difficult or at a higher level.
Not enough interest in the research project offered to
him/her.
No connection with his/her project or mentor.
The choice of the project is extremely important:
A student in a college algebra class will not be given
a project dealing with integration.
Assess the students knowledge by some questions.
Assess the students knowledge by some questions.
Assess the students area of interest: Ask the mentee if
he/she has an interest in financial mathematics, history of mathematics, biological mathematics, algebra, differential equations, etc.
Encourage Teamwork: Divide the same problem into two
or more parts for two or more students.
Mathematics or physics research projects on gadgets
used by students in their everyday life are very well liked and constitute an extra source of motivation for students.
Student's algebra, calculus or physics textbook is a good
source of research projects.
Very good source of research projects. One may use
(Simmons, 2007) or (Gaughan, 1991).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zn47lpyG28 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zn47lpyG28
Bernier, A., Larose, S., & Soucy, N., (2005). "Academic mentoring in college: The
interactive role of student's and mentor's interpersonal dispositions." Research in Higher Education, 46(1).
Brock, T. (2010). "Young Adults and Higher Education: Barriers and
Breakthroughs to success." The Future of Children, 20(1), 109-132.
Gaughan, D. E., (1991) "Student Research Projects in Calculus.", Spectrum Series,
The Mathematical Association of America. The Mathematical Association of America.
Hechinger, J., (2010). "U.S. Teens lag as China soars on International Test",
www.blooberg.com/news.
Herbdon, K. M. & Hirt, B. J., (2004). "Black students and their families: What
leads to success in college." Journal of Black Studies, 34(4), 489-513.
Herzig H. A. (2004). "Becoming Mathematicians: Women and Students of Color
Choosing and Leaving Doctoral mathematics." Review of Educational Research, 74(2), 171-214 .
Simmons F., G., (2007). "Calculus Germs: Brief Lives and Memorable
https://ntsms01.bmcc.cuny.edu/mail/ase rme.nsf/0/2674E2930659D4858525793E004 F95AB/$File/Cstep%20Flyer.pdf?OpenEle F95AB/$File/Cstep%20Flyer.pdf?OpenEle ment&FileName=Cstep%20Flyer.pdf
