NSF CSEMS Annual Report s1

NSF-CSEMS Annual Report for Year 1: 8/15/01 – 8/14/02

PARTICIPANTS

· What people have worked on your project?

The following faculty and staff of Suffolk County Community College (SCCC) spent more than 500 hours working on CSEMS grant-related activities during AY 2001-02 and were paid by SCCC:

NAME TITLE/POSITION # PERSON-MOs

Bello, Carl R. College Director of Financial Aid 1/3 month

Erhardt, Karleen Director of Publications < 1/10 mo

Friedman, Elaine College Director of Grants < 1/10 mo

Gopinath, Gobi PI & Assoc. Dean Instructional Comp. 2/3 "

Haggerty, Denise Professional Assistant - SCCC Honors Program < 1/10 mo

Krecker, Maureen Principal Clerk - Academic & Campus Affairs 7/8 "

Lesser (Marcu), Deborah Senior Budget Analyst-Office of Bus./Fin. Svc. < 1/10 mo

Maione, Robin L. Principal Clerk Typist - Central Admissions 1/3 "

Oldfield, Dr. Margery Grant Specialist - Grants Office 1/4 "

Rowe, Dr. Kate B. Exec. Dir.-Admissions & Enrollment Management 1/3 "

Santomassino, Laurel Prof. Asst. - Central Enrollment Management 1/3 "

Weissberg, Dr. Michael Co-PI & Vice-President for Student Affairs - 0 -

(Dr. Weissberg has requested to be replaced on this project; the request to replace him

with another Co-PI will be submitted to NSF in AY 2002-03.)

Additional SCCC personnel who worked < ¼ month (primarily on committee-related work):

FACULTY LEADERSHIP GROUP:

NAME TITLE/POSITION # PERSON-MOs

Arrigon, Robert Executive Dean of Academic Affairs < 1/10 mo

Breeden, Thomas Academic Chair of Physical Science-AMM < 1/10 mo

Broomell, Beverly Academic Chair of Mathematics-AMM < 1/10 mo

Canniff, James Vice-President for Academic & Campus Affairs < 1/10 mo

Freedman, Josephine Asst. Academic Chair of Comp. Sci./Info. Tech. < 1/10 mo

Maritato, Peter Academic Chair of Engineering Technology-AMM < 1/10 mo

Michev, Dr. Iordan Co-PI & Associate Professor of Mathematics-AMM < 1/10 mo

Smith, Laura Professor of Computer Science/Info. Tech.-AMM < 1/10 mo

Warasila, Dr. Robert Asst. Academic Chair of Physical Science-AMM < 1/10 mo

Wright, Jane-Marie Academic Chair of Mathematics-WES < 1/10 mo

Note: 1 Person-Month = 151.667 work hours (52 weeks x 5 days/week x 7 hours/day ÷ 12)

Synopsis of the Activities/Work conducted by SCCC personnel:

o Carl Bello: Aided in verifying FASFA eligibility of potential CSEMS recipients (because it is a "needs-based" scholarship). He also served on the student selection committee, which interviewed and screened the first set of candidates.

o Elaine Friedman: Collaborated with the Office of Business and Financial Services and the Office of Legal, Planning, and Information Services to establish the CSEMS project. She also provided advice for the PI and FLG on an "as needed" basis.

o Gobi Gopinath: As PI, he provided overall administrative oversight for the entire NSF-CSEMS project for Year 1, in collaboration with SCCC staff in the Office of Academic Affairs, Office of Admissions and Enrollment Management, Office of Legal, Planning and Information Services, and Office of Business and Financial Services. He formed the Faculty Leadership Group (FLG), meeting individually with each member of the group to determine the best options for recruiting potential CSEMS recipients. Working with the FLG, he also established and participated as a member of the first student selection committee, which interviewed the first group of candidates in the Spring of 2002, and selected 3 recipients. He supervised the preparation and production of the CSEMS brochure and poster, both of which have been used as a recruitment tool to increase the number of CSEM Scholars at SCCC.

o Maureen Krecker – 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.

o Deborah (Marcu) 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.

o Robin Maione - Provided additional clerical support in recruiting potential CSEM Scholars; collected applications from recently enrolled freshmen; prescreened freshman applicants, and created both the CSEMS application and CSEMS poster with help from Karleen Erhardt, Director of Publications.

o Dr. Margery Oldfield: Collaborated with the Office of Business and Financial Services and the Office of Legal, Planning, and Information Services to establish the CSEMS project and budget. She also served on the student selection committee, which interviewed and screened the first set of candidates, provided answers to all questions related to administration of the CSEMS grant and management of the CSEMS budget, assisted in the production of the CSEMS application, poster, and brochure, and provided advice for the PI, Co-PIs, and FLG on an "as needed" basis.

o Dr. Kate Rowe: Provided assistance in recruiting and identifying new students who may be eligible for the CSEMS scholarship. She also served on the student selection committee, which interviewed and screened the first set of candidates.

o Laurel Santomassino: Provided additional clerical support in recruiting potential CSEM Scholars.

Activities/Work conducted by Committee Members:

o Robert Arrigon: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group (FLG).

o Thomas Breeden: He disseminated information about the availability of the new CSEMS scholarships to SCCC students in the Engineering Science Curriculum and local communities. Through is participation in SCCC's STEP program he maintains contact with science teachers in several local school districts with large minority populations.

o Beverly Broomell: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group.

o James Canniff: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group.

o Josephine Freedman: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group.

o Denise Haggerty: Served as a member of the student selection committee, which interviewed and screened the first set of candidates.

o Peter Maritato: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group as well as on the student selection committee, which interviewed and screened the first set of candidates. He disseminated information about the availability of the new CSEMS scholarships to SCCC students enrolled in Engineering Science and Technology Curricula. He also did outreach to local community school districts including visits.

o Iordan Michev: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group.

o Laura Smith: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group.

o Robert Warasila: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group as well as on the student selection committee, which interviewed and screened the first set of candidates. He also disseminated information about the availability of the new CSEMS scholarships to SCCC students and local communities in his role as Professor of Physics.

o Jane-Marie Wright: Served as a member of the Faculty Leadership Group.

· What other organizations have been involved as partners?

The State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY-SB): Dr. David L. Ferguson, Professor of Technology and Society and Applied Mathematics, provided 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.

· Have you had other collaborators or contacts? YES

The former PI (Gobi Gopinath) collaborated with Arnold Peskin and other scientists at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory to develop internship opportunities for SCCC's CSEMS grant recipients.

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 principal activity was to initiate the CSEMS scholarship program at SCCC, to establish the Faculty Leadership Group, and the process for selecting CSEM Scholars.

Activities (from Spring/Summer 2002Timetable):

· College-wide announcement of NSF-CSEM Scholarships by SCCC: Press releases about the CSEMS grant project were released via the college's Internet distribution list (scclist), in SUNY-Today (an online publication), the Nyquist Report, the newsletter of the Council for Resource Development, as well as local newspapers. In addition, Student Trustee Nina Steffek wrote an article in the COMPASS, the SCCC - Ammerman Campus newspaper.

· Multi-campus Faculty Leadership Group (FLG) meetings: The PI (Gopinath) and Co-PI (Michev) met together and individually with the following FLG members: Kate Rowe, Laura Smith, Josephine Freedman, Bob Warasila, Tom Breeden, Peter Maritato, Jane-Marie Wright, Iordan Michev, Carl Bello, Beverly Brommell, Bob Arrigon. The FLG, and its student selection committee, subsequently defined the roles of team members, refined the grant project schedule/timetable, and initiated contact with the cooperating SCCC Offices and Departments, interested secondary school representatives, and various community groups.

· Meeting between PI's and college-wide assessment coordinator: This activity has not yet been initiated since Dr. Alice Fornari, has been promoted to an Associate Dean position; this job vacancy has yet to be filled.

· Coordinate project recruitment efforts with Office of Enrollment Management: Gobi Gopinath (PI), Robin Maione, Karleen Erhardt, Margery Oldfield and other SCCC staff collaborated in the development a CSEMS poster, 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. Maureen Krecker sent out & received applications from current and potential SCCC students for the Spring '02 and Fall '02 semesters (during the summer). CSEMS flyers, posters, and brochures were also distributed to high schools & students who were interested.

· Selection Committee issues Recommendations to Faculty Leadership Group: The first selection committee meeting was held on January 18, 2002; the FLG Members were notified of the selection of 3 scholarship recipients. Since there were so few potential CSEMS recipients who met the criterion of "low income" status, the FLG decided that this step in the selection process should be eliminated in the future, and that all eligible students should be recommended to receive the scholarship.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ABOUT OTHER GRANT-RELATED ACTIVITIES:

· Advising/Mentoring of CSEM Scholars: Gobi Gopinath (PI), Laura Smith, Josephine Freedman, and other SCCC faculty met with the first 3 CSEM Scholars individually in Spring '02 to discuss their schedules, career aspirations, and plans for graduation. The number of faculty advisors/mentors will increase in AY 2002-03, as more CSEM Scholars join the program.

· Academic Enrichment: Activity not yet initiated (only 3 Scholars in Spring '02); it is currently anticipated that these activities will be initiated during AY 2002-03.

· Self-esteem Building: Activity not yet initiated (only 3 Scholars in Spring '02); it is currently anticipated that these activities will be initiated during AY 2002-03.

· Describe the major findings from the activities identified above.

The original procedure suggested for selecting CSEM Scholars seems unwarranted at this time due to lower than expected numbers of qualified students each semester. Even though there were many academically qualified students who were interested in the scholarship, the "needs-based" aspect of this scholarship program made it difficult to find students who met all of the CSEMS criteria. The restrictions imposed upon SCCC's CSEM Scholars Program by the low income requirements in a region which has been identified as one of the most expensive areas to live in the United States appears to preclude funding of large numbers of candidates.

· Describe the opportunities for training/development provided by your project.

NONE

· Describe outreach activities your project has undertaken.

§ Mailed out CSEMS brochures to high school counselors throughout Long Island

§ Mailed out brochure to all freshmen who enrolled for the Fall semester during the summer '02.

§ College administrators, faculty, and staff spoke abut the CSEMS grant at various college events.

§ Current SCCC students were screened according to the CSEMS criteria, and were mailed CSEMS application packages.

§ Various SCCC advisory committees, including the Board of Trustees, were notified about the CSEM Scholarship program.

PUBLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS

· What Have You Published in Journals?

NOTHING

· Do you have any major journal publications to report?

· What Books or Other One-Time Publications Have You Produced?

NONE

· Do you have any books or major one-time publications to report?

· Internet Dissemination

A web site was established duplicating the poster information, http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/Web/. A more comprehensive web site is now under development that will serve as the focus of the project.

· Other Specific Products Have you developed any other specific product of significance?

CONTRIBUTIONS: Now we invite you to explain ways in which your work, your findings, and specific products of your project are significant. Describe the unique contributions, major accomplishments, innovations and successes of your project relative to : 1.the principal discipline(s) of the project; 2.other disciplines of science or engineering; 3.the development of human resources; 4.the physical, institutional, or information resources that form the infrastructure for research and education; and 5.other aspects of public welfare beyond science and engineering, such as commercial technology, the economy, cost-efficient environmental protection, or solutions to social problems.