Ecc GS-Lsamp picture

Ecc GS-Lsamp picture

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Essex County College


LSAMP
Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Grant
Spring 2010 Report

ESSEX COUNTY COLLEGE
Office of Dean of Faculty/Academic Affairs
LSAMP 2009-2010 Report
Nadia Lvov
Project Director

Summary

Program Overview
ECC LSAMP - Spring 2010

The Garden State LSAMP Program was initiated by the National Science Foundation to meet the increasing demand for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professionals.
With a grant from the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), 89 minority STEM majors were recruited and received help from the ECC LSAMP program in the spring of 2010.

Partnering with Rutgers University, Montclair University, Bloomfield College, William Paterson University, Farleigh Dickinson University, NJCU, Kean University’s LSAMP programs, Essex County College, under the direction of Professor Nadia Lvov, is managed through monthly meetings and reporting with ECC’s partners.
ECC’s LSAMP program is highly supported by faculty and administration of Essex County College.
Project Director
Nadia Lvov, M.S., Assistant Professor, Division of Mathematics and Physics
Administrative Support
Ladylease G. White, Ph.D., Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs
Mentoring Program/Summer Program
Brooke Orosz, Ph. D, Instructor, Division of Mathematics and Physics
Jeffrey Lee, Ph. D, Associate Professor, Division of Biology and Chemistry

Mentoring Program Assistant
Chengwen Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Mathematics and Physics

Summer Program Assistant
Betty Foster, Director of Special Programs

ECC’s LSAMP program has provided many opportunities to its STEM majors during the Fall 2009 and the Spring 2010 semester. From pairing mentors with STEM majors (requiring additional help in selected courses) to seminars in STEM topics, LSAMP majors are being provided with support and opportunities traditionally not accessible to minority or community college students. Research projects (the installation of a computer operated telescope), Summer Internships (where students are able to get hands-on experience in their field) and LSAMP Get-Togethers (where STEM majors are able to meet and network with other students working toward a career in the science and technologies fields) are just a few more examples of the opportunities provided to LSAMP students.
The overall success of ECC’s LSAMP program can be judged by the number of students interested in joining the program. While it is unusual for a two year college to be part of this type of grant program, ECC and ECC students have benefited greatly from its opportunities for academic enrichment, research and employment.

Events and Seminars
LSAMP Events and Seminars

The LSAMP Program provided several events and seminars of interest to STEM majors during the Spring 2010 semester. Following are some of the seminars hosted by LSAMP:

March 4, 2010: “Career Opportunities in Earth and Environmental Sciences”
“Drinking Water Resources in Newark, N.J.”
Dr. Alexander Gates
Chairperson Environmental Science Dept.
Rutgers University Newark.
Dr. Gates spoke to ECC LSAMP students about the conditions of the water resources in Newark, N.J. and on career opportunities in the field of Earth and Environmental Sciences. At the end of the seminar students were invited to ask questions and participate in discussions. Approximately 25 students attended.

March 23, 2010: “Choosing a Career in STEM”
Giancarlo D. Sunga
Lead Engineer, System Protection, PSE&G

“Graduate School Admissions and programs in Science, Engineering And Mathematics”
Dr. Jeffrey Lee
Division of Biology and Chemistry, ECC

“ECC-LSAMP Get-Together”
Nadia Lvov, ECC LSAMP Project Director
GUEST: Lucy Foster
Coordinator of GS-LSAMP program
Rutgers -Newark

Professor Brooke Orosz, Division of Mathematics and Physics, ECC, spoke to the students about the requirements for ECC’s Summer Intern Program.


LSAMP students were given the time to meet and talk with other STEM majors about their goals and experiences in the program.

April 13, 2010: “Transfer Day”
ECC’s LSAMP hosted “Transfer Day ” for students majoring in STEM disciplines with eight area colleges and universities (GS-LSAMP participants) present to provide students with assistance in transferring to a four year school. Seventy seven ECC students received help and assistance.

LSAMP Mentoring Program

The LSAMP Program paired honor students with other LSAMP students needing additional help in STEM courses. This program provided benefits to both the mentor and the mentees. Tutors were given the opportunity for employment and the experience of teaching. Students being helped were given the opportunity to improve their grades and maintain the higher GPA’s needed to transfer to four year colleges and universities.
The spring semester provided 8 tutors to 15 students in the subjects of Math 100, 119, 121, Physics 101 and Chemistry 103.

Student Mentors
Jessica Coronel
Ketler Cajuste
Joshua Villalva
Mateus Leal
Kseniya Kudlai
Michael Augustine
Corneille Adanou
David Valdez

LSAMP Research Project – Telescope

This semesters’ research project was the installation of one of the four computer operated telescopes here at ECC. A project team of four LSAMP students was assembled to study lenses and apply that knowledge to the operation of the telescope. The team was lead by Nadia Lvov, physics professor and the optics lab was supervised by George Skea, Physics physics lab technician.
The telescope project team met two times a week and the project was divided into 2 parts. The first part of the project was the study of and experimentation with optics. The second part was the assembly and operation of the telescope. The objective set for the team was an optics lab that could be used by the ECC Astronomy class and a report of the functions and sightings of the telescope. Participating students also had an opportunity to obtain teaching experience by conducting laboratory exercise they developed to the astronomy class.

Telescope Project Team:
Mateus Leal
Karen Brady
Wilbert Pagan
David Valdez

Study in Lenses – Part One
Under the direction of Lab Technician George Skea, the telescope project team met twice a week in the physics lab for a month to study and experiment with lenses.

On March 17, 2010 the team presented their optics lab and findings to the Physics 113, Astronomy class.

Installation of Telescope – Part Two of Research Project
The telescope project team assembled one of the four computer operated telescopes housed at ECC. The telescope had been tentatively assembled, however, it was quickly apparent that the telescope needed to be precisely assembled for it to move correctly.
The telescope came with software that allowed for the automation of locating stars, planets and galaxies as and taking pictures of the images seen through the telescope. Students installed the computer software was and set it up with the location and time of Newark, N.J.

The telescope was tested outside of the main building of ECC. A permanent location for the telescopes is planned with the construction that is occurring in the science labs wing, in the meantime the telescope was carried outside for testing.
After a few corrections were made to the telescope, the team was able to find a few planets and stars. More testing is needed and additional lenses are needed to complete the project.
The imaging capabilities of the telescope and software have not been tested as of this report.

LSAMP Summer Internship

Fifteen ECC students has participated in 2010 Summer research program:
Six of these students took part in the "Geoscience Scholars Program" offered by the Earth and Environmental Science Department at Rutgers-Newark'. This program was designed to encourage interest in the sciences in eight and ninth grade students. The ECC LSAMP Interns assisted teachers and Rutgers' TAs in the labs and on field trips. Laboratory projects included: identification of rocks, testing soil and water samples, measuring radioactivity in samples, determining liquifaction and slope stability, understanding ground water transport, and earthquakes.

Three students worked at the Computer Science Department of Kean University on three dimensional modeling of Manhattan and network security.

Four students joined research groups at the laboratories of the Stevens Institute of Technology, to study application of nanotechnology in medicine, properties of new materials and methods of improving solar cells characteristics

Two ECC students majoring in Mathematics conducted a study of blood cell motion at a laboratory of Montclair State University. They modeled blood as viscous fluid and derived equation that describes the flow of blood in vessels using Noveir –Stokes equation of fluid dynamics.

Comments from students on Summer Program:

“It is a very good opportunity to learn cutting-edge technology for community college student.”

“It was strongly interesting and powerfully educative”

“ The program strongly develops self-confidence in communication skills and research abilities”

“A great experience to a world that known only by few”

LSAMP October Seminar
“SUMMER REASERCH PROJECTS PRESENTED BY ECC STUDENTS”
On October 26 students who participated in the 2010 summer research program presented their projects to ECC community. Twenty three students majoring in STEM disciplines attended the seminar. Prof. Nadia Lvov provided information on requirements and dates of the 2011 summer program. Dean White encouraged students to use the opportunity and to participated in the summer research program

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