A Decade of Facilitating Programmatic Successes through Interactive Summer Research Experience Nadia Lvov Associate Professor/ECC LSAMP Project Director Division of Mathematics and Physics Essex County College Dmitriy Kalantarov Adjunct Professor/LSAMP Summer Research Coordinator

SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM

Participating Institutions Montclair State University William Paterson University Fairleigh Dickinson University Rutgers-Newark Kean University New Jersey City University Essex County College Rutgers-New Brunswick Essex County College (ECC) is the only two year college participating in this grant !

GS-LSAMP: SUMMER RESEARCH On average 10-20 ECC students participate in research projects every summer at: Rutgers University: Geoscience Program Montclair State University: Biology, Applied Mathematics, Physics Kean University: Computer Science New Jersey City University: GIS systems Stevens Institute of Technology: Engineering With stipends ranging from $900 to $1500.

Leveraging internal and external support to sustain the effort 1. Essex County College (ECC)  faculty build collaborative teams with faculty and administration of four-year schools. Faculty from the partnering Garden State -LSAMP colleges and universities are invited to speak on a monthly ECC LSAMP seminar. Students are encourage to email guest  speakers regarding research opportunities  and transfer questions. 2. Essex County College LSAMP actively collaborate with the college EOF  and PBI programs. 3. ECC administration supervises collaboration between  STEM departments within the college and conducts regular interdepartmental LSAMP meetings. These meetings are very helpful in informing ECC community about departmental LSAMP activities and promote sharing of the resources between the ECC STEM departments.

A Follow-Up Study of Summer Research Program Participants 60 students were surveyed Respondents were students who participated in the program from 2005-2016 The purpose of the survey was to track the impact of the summer research experience on students future careers in the STEM fields

Summary More than 85% of the students still remain in some form of STEM relate field. Of the polled respondents, 90% (54 out of 60) graduated from ECC with an associate degree in a STEM related field. After leaving ECC 93.3% (56 respondents) transferred to four year institution, and remaining 6.67% (4 respondents) went directly to work. Of those who went to work after getting a degree 32 out of 37 students (86.45%) received carrier in a STEM related field.

“It had a great impact in my academic life, since then I decided I will go for more than my Bachelors and decided to pursuit my Masters” – Milton P. “…I was able to network with students and professionals from other areas and at the end who you know counts a lot. ” – Luis. A “The summer research was an incredible experience. Not only did it assure my passion for engineering, I believe, it helped me get into the school I wanted to get into the most; the fact being that I conducted research at Steven's Institute of Technology” – Ramulo Q. “Being part of the summer program really helped open my eyes to the numerous opportunities I have available. Being able to work with professors and Students from 4 year universities helped empower me in pursuing my education beyond my Associate degree.” – Omar B. “The summer research experience was definitely and a huge plus to my resume! Almost every job interview I've been through they were interested to hear what type of research I did and who did I work for ! I highly recommend it to any student in ECC.” – Achrof. A

Dmitriy Kalantarov DKalantarov@gmail.com Nadia Lvov Lvov@essex.edu