The City University of New York

1. Making STEM Education/Research Relevant -Experiences in a Minority Serving College in a Multi-Cultural City Dr. Leon P. JohnsonMedgar Evers College, CUNYEngaging Multicultural Audiences in Planetary ScienceMarch 11, 2007Lunar and Planetary InstituteHouston, Texas

2. The City University of New York • The nation's largest urban public university • 11 Senior Colleges • 6 Community Colleges • Honors College • Graduate School and University Center • CUNY Graduate School of Journalism • CUNY School of Law at Queens College • CUNY School of Professional Studies • Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education • 226,000 degree-credit students • 230,000 adult, continuing and professional education students

3. The City University of New York • The undergraduate student body is diverse, • 30% African American • 28% White • 27% Hispanic • 16% Asian • < 1% Native-American (0.2%). • Percentages in STEM do not reflex those percentages • Graduate STEM is worse • They speak 131 native languages in addition to English • Represent 172 countries

4. CUNY • 38% of first-time freshmen are born outside of the U.S. mainland • 68% attended New York City public high schools • 45% of CUNY undergraduates work more than 20 hours/ week • 62% attend school full-time • 61% of undergraduates are female • 25% quarter support children • 31% are 25 or older

5. Traditional Experience • African Americans entering science in the 60’s and 70’s adapted to the “chalk and talk” pedagogy or didn’t survive • In 60’s academic support due to space race (NDA loans, scholarships) • No role models • A few caring faculty at undergraduate and graduate levels

6. Where are we now? • Low achievement due to inappropriate learning strategies – chalk and talk doesn’t work. • Curriculum does not match learning style. • Little recruitment beyond college fairs and high school visits. • Space Science interest? African Americans are vocation oriented.

7. Educational needs of African- Americans (and others) • Visual learning style, not auditory • Hands-on learning, active learning • Cooperative learning (group learning) • Peer support (study groups) - Support for each other • Role models (professionals) - Want to connect with African American scientists, engineers and mathematicians - African American faculty

8. Motivating Students for STEM Careers • Integrate research and research related activities into curricula. • Studies indicate that students exposed to research in STEM areas tend to pursue careers and/or attend graduate studies in these areas.

9. Undergraduate Research Experience • Most do not include local faculty • NASA scientist - faculty relationship - student preparation prior to internship - student continues research on home campus GSFC/CUNY Summer Internship Program Student presentation at AAS; attended TSU/JPL Program

10. Heliophysics/Sun-Earth Interaction • Queensborough Community College faculty/student research group • Solar Wind Proton Flux and its Effect on the Earth’s Magnetosphere and Ionosphere • Solar events and related fluctuations in the interplanetary magnetic field • Composition of the solar wind • Tracking of solar storms

11. Planetary Atmospheres • LaGuardia Community College, New York City College of Technology, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies • Composition and distribution of aerosols in the atmospheres of Earth and Jupiter. • Handheld polarimeter for aerosol validation • HST observations of the Great Dark Spot on Jupiter “A handheld polarimeter for aerosol remote sensing”, Proceedingsof SPIE Volume #5888, Remote and In Situ Sensing, Polarization Science and Remote Sensing II, J. W. Frost, F. Nasraddine,J. Rodriguez,I. Andino, and B. Cairns, August 2005 “Hubble Space Telescope Observations in 1997 of a Dark, Oval, Vortex Spot in Jupiter’s Stratosphere”, James Frost, Juan Rodriquez and Fouad Nasraddine; 35th Annual Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, Sept, 2003.

12. Geo-Astrobiology • The City College of New York faculty and students research groups - • Bacteria-Spore-Aerosol Interactions in Astrobiology • Planetary Aerosols • First Planetology course in CUNY Padillla, Diomaris, and Steiner,Jeffrey. C. “Satellite Characterization of Biomass Burning: Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscope Study of Combustion Experiments.”Eos Trans. AGU, Fall Meet. (2005).

13. Near Earth Objects –Photometry and Astrometry • Faculty and student research team at the College of Staten Island • Find and track asteroids and occasionally comets - astrometry and photometry • The identification of targets, known and unknown, is done by a process known as “blinking”. • This is an excellent topic to introduce students to the scientific process

14. COSMOS Evolution Survey • York College, Borough of Manhattan Community College and Hayden Planetarium of the AMNH team (faculty and students) - the starburst galaxies in z-COSMOS - rich community of astronomers and resources - provides invaluable exposure to a young scientist • Radio Astronomy at York College - Radio telescope saw first light Summer, 2005 - students set up instrument

15. Environmental Science Medgar Evers College team Analysis of: • Particulate matter and VOCs in ambient and indoor air • Faucet tap water • Ozone measurements in the community • Soil in playgrounds • Handheld sunphotometers (particular matter - optical depth measurements) "Urban Air: Real Samples for Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry" Hope, W. W. and Johnson, L. P.;; Anal Chem. 2000, Volume 72, Number 13, pages 460A-467A.

16. MECSAT • Medgar Evers College satellite science and technology program • Provide a small-scale vehicle for atmospheric and environmental investigations • Space mission analysis and design • AURA satellite ozone instruments - ground truth • Partnerships with University of Rhode Island, University of Vermont and GSFC • Upcoming collaborations with GISS, The City College of New York and LaGuardia Community College NASA MUCERPI NASA MUSPIN New York & Vermont Space Grant Consortiums HP http://nytimes.feedroom.com/?fr_story=1d6731dac615838ff2ca77528d1801c083dbbe25

19. Dr. Shermane Austin, MECSAT Project Director

20. Burst height: 30-35 km

21. MECSAT students, faculty and partners featured in a New York Times Podcast Location: Itunes:NewYorkTimes:science:mappingozone

22. The Fabrication and Erection of the Radio JOVE Antenna A correlation between height and received data

23. { jcooke411@hotmail.com} Jordan Sandrini-CookeMedgar Evers College Department of Physical, Environmental and Computer Sciences NASA New York City Research Initiative _ NYCRI Aeronautics, Earth and Space Science Academy - AESSA    [Radio JOVE Instructor] Kevin Brathwaite [NYCRI Project Director] Leon P. Johnson, Ph.D. [Administration] Fulvia Jordan    [College of Staten Island Observatory] Irving Robbins, Ph.D. [NASA GISS Education Programs Specialist] Frank Scalzo, Ph.D. mailto:

24. Results Throughout the many times we’ve done the Radio JOVE experiment, our results have varied because of certain inevitable interference. Everywhere we went it was nearly impossible to escape from overhead planes. Below is a graph of the data we got on our last and most efficient day in the field. This graph shows a radio burst occurring without a concrete definition as to why. This eliminates the possibility that this burst is from a man made electrical source (i.e. a plane or cargo truck).

26. Conclusions • Formal Education • Hands-on inquiry-based curriculum integrating range of learning styles • Transformation of traditional classroom environments • Role models • Informal Education • Provide research opportunities engaging students in investigations/scientific inquiry • Relationship to student experience is a plus • Role models