Research at Predominantly Two-Year Campuses of Penn State

This chapter describes undergraduate research conducted at three Pennsylvania State University satellite campuses which do not offer a chemistry degree. An overview of both the challenges and the strategies associated with conducting research, most of it collaborative, on these two-year campuses is presented. Included in this chapter is a summary of the varied undergraduate projects that provide students an opportunity to obtain valuable research experience that will provide a solid foundation when they transfer to a degree-granting campus. Among the three authors, 29, 200+, and 43 undergraduates from the Abington, Brandywine, and Schuylkill campuses, respectively, have participated in research. The projects described, most of which are ongoing, have to date resulted in peer-reviewed publications with undergraduate co-authors from Abington (6), Brandywine (35), and Schuylkill (26) campuses. Undergraduate coauthors have reported that their published work has been a major topic in their interviews at professional schools or jobs that sets them apart from their peers. The majority of the students at these three campus locations are from low to middle-income socio-economic backgrounds, many of whom are first-generation college students. Approximately twenty percent of the students conducting research are minorities, and approximately fourteen percent of the undergraduate co-authors are minorities. The projects, which range in focus from synthetic organic chemistry, pedagogical methodologies, and chemical history, have proven useful to the students in furthering their career goals while enabling faculty to meet research expectations at these two-year campuses.