PROJECT SUMMARY
Many high school students are discouraged from pursuing a degree in engineering or the physical sciences due to feelings of inadequate preparation, apprehension concerning mathematics, and lack of a connection to an academic learning community in the sciences. Otherwise promising students fail to see the connection between the physical sciences, everyday life, and potential careers. This problem can be exasperated in the freshman year, when many become disillusioned due to a lack of organizational skills and a support structure dedicated to increasing their potential for success. Oneonta’s departments of Physics & Astronomy and Chemistry & Biochemistry have a core group of new faculty and the capacity to increase the number of majors. We seek to substantially increase enrollment, retention, and success of future students in both of these departments and the 3+2 cooperative engineering degree program we offer. Our integrated plan called PR2EPS: Preparation, Recruitment, Retention & Excellence in the Physical Sciences starts with pro-active recruitment of students who would attend a summer camp that focuses on skill and confidence building using multi-disciplinary approaches (including mathematics) and a set of both technological and team-building social skills to solve problems. For example, in one of two-three exercises during the 5 day residential camp, students would construct a vessel which will remotely collect a water sample from an otherwise inaccessible area of a local pond, and return the sample to the team for chemical analysis. They will be responsible for all facets of the projects, working in teams of 3-4 students plus a counselor with a scientific background. Those who subsequently attend Oneonta, through a guaranteed-acceptance admissions policy, and major in the targeted programs, will be eligible for a modest financial incentive. The retention component of the program includes community building and academic support activities that will focus on freshman, as well as established upper-level majors. These will include: (1) mandatory freshman year, interdisciplinary, seminar and skill-building courses that will emphasize fundamental mathematical and problem-solving skills, as well as provide insight into potential careers in the physical sciences; (2) a physical science walk-in tutoring center overseen by faculty and staffed by upper level majors that provides peer-led mentoring and tutoring; and (3) regular freshman guidance by a single faculty advisor who is qualified from both the educational and scientific perspectives. In our commitment to excellence, selected first year participants with the most promise will be invited back to work during subsequent years’ summer camp as peer-leaders or to conduct research with faculty participants or other research-active faculty on campus. As students progress past the sophomore year, they will be encouraged to participate in more focused research on campus or in external (e.g., REU funded) research programs and be taken to a national scientific meeting to meet peer and senior scientists from other institutions. In addition to an Internal Advisory Committee, we intend to employ an external reviewer who can provide targeted, rapid evaluation of the program’s benchmarks so that operational changes to insure participants’ success can be implemented as needed. Our desire is to attract 16-24 new, freshman majors in the aforementioned disciplines during each year of the program with a retention rate of 60-75% remaining within a physical science or related major. Our recruitment efforts will include targeting students from economically disadvantaged geographical areas surrounding SUNY Oneonta. The broader impacts of this project include the availability of enhanced tutoring facilities and personnel that will be made available to ALL physical science students at Oneonta; the preparation of a cadre of physical science majors with superior problem solving, team-work and intellectual skills; and an general awareness of the opportunities for students which will be broadcast to the local high schools during our annual visits. From the standpoint of intellectual merit, the project will work to increase the number of physical science students capable of excelling in their chosen fields due to increased faculty attention, increased emphasis on hands-on scientific practice and an introduction to research that begins when they are in high school and continues into their academic career as collegiate-level scientists. This project should become a model for fostering the development of increased numbers of exceedingly successful majors in the physical science and engineering disciplines.

About the PR2EPS Program - PowerPoint

Addressing the Declince in Physical
Science Graduates - PowerPoint

IJEE Paper
Annual Report 2004
Annual Report 2004 Tables

Post Solar Flare Loops

Produced by
J.E. Wijk
Observatoire de Nice & ESTEC

B. Schumieder
Observatoire de Paris, Meudon