Engaging Community College Students in University Research

The future competitiveness of the US economy will depend on its ability to attract talent and foster innovation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. In this paper, we present our National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored undergraduate research internship program, Internships in Nanosystems Science Engineering and Technology (INSET), and discuss our strategies to attract and support the academic advancement of community college (CC) students in STEM fields. In particular, we show that by partnering with CC administrators and faculty, the program has been successful in designing an accessible research immersion opportunity at the university and attracting a large number of underrepresented students. We discuss the results of our program evaluation, which includes long-term tracking of former interns, and which shows that many of the students experienced significant gains in their interest and confidence in obtaining an advanced degree in STEM. We conclude by offering our program as a successful model for university/CC partnerships, which can be implemented at other institutions.