NSF-CSEMS Annual Report for Year 6: 8/01/06 – 8/01/07
PROJECT PERSONNEL
The following faculty and staff of Suffolk County Community College (SCCC) spent at least 100 hours working on CSEMS grant-related activities during AY 2006-07 and were paid by Suffolk County Community College:
Name Title/Position Person
Months
Dunnagan, Nancy College Director of Financial Aid 2/3
Russo, Michael L. PI and Academic Chair of Computer Science 4/3
Additional SCCC personnel who worked less than 40 hours on the CSEMS project.
Name Title/Position Person
Months
Faculty Leadership Group and Student Mentors
Breeden, Thomas Academic Chair of Physical Science 1/5
Chu, Elizabeth Assistant Academic Chair, Mathematics 1/10
Chen, Xingbin Associate Professor of Computer Science 1/10
Mandia, Scott Assistant Academic Chair, Physical Science 1/10
Michev, Dr. Iordan Co-PI and Associate Professor of Mathematics 1/10
Reissig, Dennis Academic Chair, Mathematics 1/10
Russo, Michael Academic Chair, Computer Science, Chair 1/10
Simon, Michael Instructor of Construction Technology 1/10
Other Advisory and Clerical Staff
Oldfield, Margery Interim Assistant Dean of Grants Development 1/10
Lagonegro, James Director of Enrollment Information and Reporting 1/10
Perillo, Dolores Senior Clerk Typist 1/6
Monza, Monza Clerk Typist 1/6
Bancroft, Rose Office Systems Analyst 1/20
Lesser, Deborah Senior Budget Analyst-Office of Bus./Fin. Svc. 1/10
Rowe, Kate Executive Director, Admissions and Enrollment 1/20
Note: 1 Person-Month = 160.0 work hours.
Synopsis of the Activities/Work conducted by SCCC personnel:
· Michael L. Russo – Principal Investigator and chair of the faculty leadership group. Provided overall administrative oversight for year 2 of the NSF-CSEMS project in collaboration with the offices of academic affairs, admissions and enrollment management, legal, planning, and information services, and business and financial services. He chaired the faculty leadership group, planning and presiding over meetings and working individually with each member of the group to determine the best options for recruiting and evaluating potential CSEMS recipients. Russo sent solicitation letters to all academically qualified students, in conjunction with enrollment services personnel, at the beginning of each semester. He initially screened all CSEMS applications, checking for academic and financial eligibility, and presented candidates to the selection committee for final approval. He created and distributed brochures to advertise the scholarship and oversees the development and maintenance of the Suffolk CSEMS Web site.
· Dolores Perillo and Aida Monza – Provided clerical support for the management of the grant, by working extensively with SCCC's Computer Science/Information Technology professors and the College's Office of Admissions to identify eligible CSEMS grant recipients. She also sent out applications to potential recipients and collected all of the completed applications. Finally, she was assigned responsibility for uploading information about SCCC's CSEM Scholarship recipients to NSF's CSEMS website.
· Deborah Lesser: In collaboration with her supervisor, Mr. John Bullard, the Associate Dean of Business and Financial Services, Deborah assisted with the management of CSEMS funds.
· Nancy Dunnagan: Provided assistance in determining the financial eligibility of potential scholarship recipients and in counseling students on financial eligibility and FAFSA preparation and submission.
· Thomas Breeden: Professor Breeden successfully petitioned the Suffolk County Legislature to provide a $60,000 grant to supplement the NSF CSEMS grant with awards for academically qualified students in computers science, engineering, and mathematics who do not meet the financial eligibility criteria of the NSF grant. This increased the number of scholarship recipients to around 30 students per semester, allowing for more varied interaction among scholars.
· Iordan Michev: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group and student mentor.
PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
The State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY-SB): Dr. David L. Ferguson, Professor of Technology and Society and Applied Mathematics, continued to provide numerous consultations on various topics associated with selection of students and the administration of SCCC's CSEMS Grant. He and his office staff helped us to identify venues by which SCCC students could more seamlessly transfer to SUNY-Stony Brook in the future, and continue receive CSEMS scholarships at that institution.
Sensor Consortium for Security and Medical Sensor Systems: This SUNY at Stony Brook grant has the goal of promoting and increasing awareness of entrepreneurship and technology transfer activities on Long Island with a focus on national security and medical sensor systems. Suffolk County Community College is part of the four-school consortium, which includes Stony Brook University, Farmingdale State College of Technology, Hofstra University, and Suffolk. Each school sends four students to participate in each of four technical projects. Students take a course on entrepreneurship at Stony Book, participate in different aspects of project development, and receive a stipend.
No students from this year’s CSEMS group is participating in the consortium, but some have applied for next year.
Other Collaborators or Contacts
Brookhaven National Laboratory: Michael Russo collaborated with Noel Blackburn and other scientists at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory to develop internship opportunities for SCCC's CSEMS grant recipients. This year we had three CSEMS students obtain community College internships at Brookhaven Lab; they were Rachael Millings, Elizabeth Millings, and William McMahon. As of this date we are waiting for funding approval for their internships.
Suffolk County Legislature: We have collaborated with the Suffolk County Legislature for additional CSEMS funds to use for students who do not make the financial eligibility criteria established for the NSF CSEMS grant. The Legislature has allocate $60,000 per year to supplement the NSF-CSEMS program, and this will continue after the CSEMS grant ends. These supplementary CSEMS awards began in the fall of 2004 and have been approved in our latest budget.
ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS
This section will serve as your report to your program officer of your project's activities and findings; please describe what you have done and what you have learned, broken down into four categories:
Describe the major research/education activities of the project: What have been your major research and education activities (experiments, observations, simulations, presentations, etc.)?
The major activity for our program is to identify and encourage qualified people to study in the targeted areas and to mentor scholarship awardees through their Suffolk programs.
Activities:
· Multi-campus Faculty Leadership Group (FLG) meetings: The PI (Russo) met together and individually with the FLG members to screen applications. The faculty leadership group, and its student selection committee, subsequently defined the roles of team members, refined the grant project schedule, and initiated contact with the cooperating SCCC Offices and Departments, interested secondary school representatives, and various community groups.
· Coordinate project recruitment efforts with Office of Enrollment Management: Michael Russo (PI), and other SCCC staff collaborated in the maintenance of the CSEMS Website, flyer, and brochure for distribution to potential scholars.
· Initiate full-scale recruitment of CSEM Scholars: Personnel connected with SCCC's Office of Admissions/Enrollment Management and the Honors Program assisted in recruiting potential CSEM Scholars. Letters were sent to all students enrolled or entering in the appropriate majors who had a 3.0 GPA (or B average from high school). Student responses were sent directly to M. Russo, who screened applicants for financial eligibility. CSEMS flyers, posters, and brochures were also distributed to high schools and students who were interested.
· Advising/Mentoring of CSEM Scholars: The mentoring program for CSEMS students has matured to the point that each student is in contact with his or her faculty mentor throughout the semester. Mentors advise students on courses and schedules, on field related job and internship opportunities, and on academic difficulties. They are the safety net provided to CSEMS students, who have considerable academic demands placed upon them when they enter the program.
· Academic Enrichment:
· Self-esteem Building:
Describe the major findings from the activities identified above.
The major work done on our CSEMS grant is devoted to acquiring, stimulating, and mentoring scholarship students. During the 11 semesters that we have had the grant we have supported CSEMS students, including thirteen that were added this year, for a total of 126 student-semesters, awarding $195,695.50 in scholarships. Following is a status report on all of the students who have been part of the Suffolk CSEMS program since it began in the spring of 2002. This list is presented in reverse chronological order.
Spring 2007
· Nizar Chrabekh, mathematics: Mr. Chrabekh is continuing his studies as a mathematics major and is schedule to complete his associates degree in December of 2007; he plans to continue his studies at a four-year institution
· Sageed Khan, information technology: Mr. Khan is continuing his studies in information technology and is scheduled to complete his associates degree in December of 2007.
· William McMahon, electrical technology: Mr. McMahon is scheduled to complete his associates degree in electrical technology this semester and will continue his studies at a four-year institution in the fall of 2007. He has been awarded a community college internship at Brookhaven National Lab for this summer.
· Yasmin Towfika, computer science: Ms. Towfika is making excellent progress in her studies here and has several semester to go to complete the computer science program. As our NSF CSEMS grant ends in August, she will continue her NSF funding with our new STEM grant that will begin in fall of 2007
Fall 2006
· Brian Callen, mathematics: Mr. Callen will receive his associates degree this semester and will continue in the fall at a four year institution. His goal is to become a teacher of mathematics.
· Rafal Kanas, Construction Technology: Mr. Kanas will complete is associates degree this semester and will continue his studies in civil engineering at a four-year institution.
· Phong Luu, computer science: Mr. Luu left Suffolk County Community College after the fall 2006 semester to begin a four-year computer science program at another institution.
· Luis Marin, information technology: Mr. Marin should finish his associates degree in information technology at the end of the summer session. He will continue his studies at a four-year institution in the fall 2007 semester.
· Rachel Millings, mathematics: Ms. Millings will finish her associates degree in mathematics this semester. She has been awarded a community college internship at Brookhaven National Lab for this summer, and will continue her education in mathematics in the fall 2007 semester.
· Elizabeth Millings, mathematics: Ms. Millings has one more semester to complete her associates degree. She will continue in the fall 2007 semester in our STEM program that replaces this CSEMS grant that ends in August. Ms. Millings has been awarded a community college internship at Brookhaven National Lab for this summer.
Spring 2006
· Christopher Wagoner, information technology: Mr. Wagoner will complete his associates degree at Suffolk County Community College at the end of this semester; he plans to continue his studies in the fall of 2007 at a four-year institution.
Fall 2005
· Alexander Ergun, construction technology: Mr Ergun will complete the construction technology program at the end of this semester and will continue at a four-year institution in the fall 2007 semester.
· Steven Janketic, information technology: Mr. Janketic completed his associates degree in information technology in the spring of 2006 and is continuing his studies at a four-year institution.
· Sing-Kahm Phoune, information technology: Mr. Phoune completed his associates degree in information technology in the spring of 2006 and is continuing his studies at a four-year institution.
· Nicholas Russo, computer science: Mr. Russo was making progress in our computer science program but has recently changed his major to the arts and sciences general studies emphasis. Although he will be at Suffolk County Community College for one more semester, he will not be eligible to continue in the STEM program.
· Marc Sing, construction technology: Mr. Sing left Suffolk County Community College after the fall 2005 semester and has not yet returned to complete his degree.
Spring 2005
· Nicholas Fierro, mathematics: Mr. Fierro is doing solid work in mathematics and will finish his work at Suffolk at the end of the summer. He was funded for one semester, spring 2005. He plans to continue to obtain New York State certification as a secondary school mathematics teacher.
· John Meyer, electrical science: Mr. Meyer has been funded for one semester so far, and is making good progress in engineering science. He will be continued next semester if the grant continues.
· Philip Parr, information technology: Mr. Parr will finish his associates degree in information technology at the end of this semester. He has been working full time over the past year in the field of IT and will continue to do so in the near future. He plans eventually to complete a four-year degree attending college part time in the evenings..
· Anthony Ramos, mathematics: Mr. Ramos receive one semester of funding and will receive his A.S. degree this semester. He is planning on continuing in a program of study that leads to certification as a secondary mathematics teacher.
· Lucas Robak, construction technology: Mr. Robak was funded for one semester, spring 2005, and is making solid progress in his studies. He will continue in the CSEMS program if the scholarship continues.
· Brian Tucker, computer science: Mr Tucker was funded for one semester, spring 2005, and is doing well in his studies. He will continue in the CSEMS program if the scholarship continues.
Fall 2004
· Carmen Abolo, information technology: Ms. Abolo was funded for the fall 2004 and spring 2005 semesters and continues to make solid progress in the networking track of our information technology program. She will continue in the CSEMS program if the scholarship continues.
· William Giugliano, mathematics: Mr. Giugliano has spent two semesters in the CSEMS program beginning in the fall of 2004.
· Matthew Hopkins, engineering science: Mr. Hopkins spent two semesters in the CSEMS program and continues to make solid progress in engineering science. He will continue at Suffolk in the fall of 2005.
· Gary Kostyrka, mathematics: Mr. Kostyrka left the CSEMS program after is GPA dropped well below the minimum NSF requirement. He is continuing his studies in mathematics at Suffolk.
· Joseph Lanier, computer science: Mr. Lanier has received two semesters of CSEMS funding and continues to make excellent progress towards an A.S. in computer science. He will be a full-time student as Suffolk in the fall of 2005. He works part time as a college aide in the Ammerman Campus computing center, and will continue in that job through the summer.
· Karin Noe, information technology: Ms. Noe has receive two semesters of support from the CSEMS program, and she received her A.A.S. degree in May 2005, and is planning on continuing her education at a four-year school.
· Christine Thompson, information technology: Ms. Thompson received one semester of funding from CSEMS in fall of 2004, and then left the college because of personal difficulties.