Research Opportunities for 2YC Geoscience Students Through a

Partnership with a 4YC

Gretchen L. Miller and Adrianne A. LeinbachNatural Sciences Department

glmiller@waketech.eduaaleinbach@waketech.edu

Teaching For DiversityREC Center Medium Ice Overlook RoomThursday, July 16, 2015, 2:00 PMEarth Educators’ Rendezvous – Boulder, CO

About Wake Tech

• Largest community college in North Carolina– Over 28,000 curriculum students– Approximately 49% are minorities

• Introductory Geology at Wake Tech– 8 full-time, 3 adjunct faculty– ~700 students per semester– Approximately 31% minorities over last 3 years

Partnership with NC State University

• National Science Foundation (NSF) Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences (OEDG) grant: Diversity in the Geosciences, Making a Pathway to Success– Wake Tech students participate in paid summer research

internships at NC State– Students present their research projects at a poster session at

the end of the summer– Program has been very successful in first 4 years

This work partially supported by the National Science Foundation award GEO-1107916. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Recruiting and Supporting Majorsat Wake Tech

• All Wake Tech faculty actively involved– Identifying students in introductory geoscience

courses with interest and aptitude– Individual mentoring of interested students

• Maintain email list – Scholarships and internships– Career information & training opportunities– Speakers & field trips

Support with Transfer Process• Most Wake Tech geoscience majors transfer to

NC State University due to proximity• Many students start taking geoscience classes

at NC State while still completing A.S. degree at Wake Tech

Research Applicants2012 2013 2014 2015

Number of Applicants 12 15 27 18

Students Matched to Research Project 9 10 13 10

Students Completing Research Project 8 8 12 In progress

Diverse Applicant Pool:• Racial/Ethnic Minority• Female• First Generation • Military Veteran• Non-Traditional

Success Stories

• Students from first summer starting to graduate from 4YCs with geoscience degree

• One student from first summer has been mentoring new students each year– Just accepted to graduate program at NC State and

overseeing some aspects of this program• 6 students from summer 2014 working on

projects again this summer– Many mentoring the new students

Students Taking Ownership

• Program successful because of students• Students want to display posters at other

venues & share experiences• Community developing among students– Especially took off with students from summer

2014 research projects

First Elected Officers of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists

(AEG) Wake Tech Student Chapter*

*The first AEG student chapter at a 2YC!