The City Tech I-Cubed Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

The City Tech I³ Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration addresses three NSF I³ goals: broadening participation, integrating research and education, and developing a global workforce. The incubator will broaden participation by enabling our students, the majority of whom are underrepresented in STEM programs of study and professions, to learn science, mathematics, and engineering technology applications in laboratories that have been transformed to reflect the collaborative interdisciplinary approaches of advanced science and industry labs today. The incubator will provide new opportunities to fuse STEM education and STEM research by creating an institution-wide focus on inquiry based research as a means of learning and doing science in labs, in faculty-led research projects outside the classroom, and in industry settings in the New York metropolitan area, where our students will seek their futures. Finally, the incubator will contribute to the development of a global workforce by enhancing and expanding the role of industry representatives in communicating their needs and practices to the college and reciprocally using the college to meet their own technological workforce needs.

The City Tech I³ Incubator will weave together dimensions of four current NSF-funded projects: Metropolitan Mentors Network: Growing an Urban Talent Pool in New York City (STEP), Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Ground-Based and Satellite Remote Sensing at NOAA-CREST (REU), S-STEM Scholarships for Students, and Research, Reflect, Plan: ADVANCE IT-START at New York City College of Technology (ADVANCE). Mechanisms of integration are 1) creation of a multi-dimensional model of lab practice across all STEM departments as a tool for benchmarking lab transformation; 2) creation of a cross-project matrix for grant funded projects that charts diversity goals, outreach to high schools, research engagement of students, involvement of industry, and significant learning outcomes; 3) a management structure led by the provost, two academic deans, and a biologist on the faculty that will be continuously advised by a City Tech I³ Incubator Advisory Board comprising members of departmental advisory boards and the PIs of current grant-funded STEM initiatives; 4) location of professional development activities for the wider STEM faculty in the Faculty Commons, a college-wide center for teaching and learning; and 5) enhancing communications by using the cross-project matrix as a communication tool and establishing a strong web presence for all I³ activities.

The City Tech I-Cubed Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration brings together NSF/EHR awards from the ADVANCE, NSF-STEP and S-STEM programs, as well as other work, around the I³ integrative themes for broadening participation, developing a globally engaged workforce, and the integration of research and education.

Project Work: