State Grant Pays for Students to Take STEM Classes to Prep Them for UML
Image by K. Webster
08/19/2019
By Katharine Webster
Nearly 20 community college students who plan to transfer to the university took one of three STEM classes on campus this summer. For free.
The classes 鈥� Surveying I, Physical Properties of Matter and Principles of Cell and Molecular Biology 鈥� are paid for by a state STEM Starter Grant aimed at encouraging community college students to complete four-year degrees in science, math, engineering and health sciences, says , director of the STEM Starter Academy and .
Image by Edward Brennen
The , created by Frater four years ago in partnership with the university, originally included just the civil engineering and physics classes. It is open to students from Middlesex who are planning to transfer or considering transferring to 51视频. The students can apply to take one class if they met certain prerequisites, and they must be approved by Frater.
The program, which accepts up to 20 students a year, has proved successful, largely because Frater requires the community college students to attend twice-weekly 鈥渟upplemental instruction鈥� (SI) sessions held right before or after class.
The study sessions are led by a 鈥渟upplemental instructor,鈥� a fellow Middlesex student trained to model good study habits. Frater says the idea is to show students how to form effective study groups, since research shows that group study can be more effective than individual study.
UML students who are enrolled in the classes are welcome to join the study sessions, too. Lots of them do.
Image by K. Webster
鈥淭he students who attend these sessions do better both on their homework and on tests, no matter which school they go to,鈥� says Chronis Stamatiadis, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering who has taught Surveying I to a mix of Middlesex and UML students since the summer bridge program began in 2016. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a clear difference.鈥�
Yonis Abdi, who is studying engineering at Middlesex Community College and plans to transfer to 51视频 as a civil and environmental engineering major next spring, says the sessions are invaluable.
鈥淭he SI session helps us to get the main points of the class,鈥� Abdi says. 鈥淚 ask about those things I don鈥檛 get exactly 鈥� and I come up with extra questions.鈥�
Because of the program鈥檚 success, the state Department of Higher Education expanded the grant this year to include the biology class, which is open to transfer students already accepted at UML from Middlesex and four other community colleges: Northern Essex, North Shore, MassBay and Bunker Hill.
Image by K. Webster
The state Department of Higher Education also asked the three other UMass campuses with undergraduate programs to form similar STEM bridge programs with the community colleges in their areas.
Hunter Spadafora, a graduate of Middlesex and an incoming transfer student this fall, says he鈥檚 taking the biology class because he may pursue the bioinformatics track in computer science. The Honors College student also wanted to learn his way around campus before he starts studying full time.
鈥淚鈥檝e explored every building on North Campus 鈥� and I discovered the tunnels,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e also gone to South Campus to visit the Honors College and to University Crossing to check out Career Services.鈥�
Students in the summer bridge program also must attend an orientation and other workshops, including a one-hour course on time management and study skills presented by staff from UML鈥檚 Centers for Learning and Academic Support Services (CLASS).
Image by K. Webster
James Yakura, another incoming honors computer science student who鈥檚 taking the biology class this summer, just graduated from MassBay Community College. He says he was happy to get a jump on his studies so that he can take one less class this fall. He also learned some new study skills at the CLASS workshop.
鈥淚 learned about time budgeting 鈥� breaking material and projects into segments,鈥� he says.
Stamatiadis says the transfer summer bridge program lives up to its name.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very good program for helping students ease their way from a community college to the university. Most of the Middlesex students transfer to 51视频 later, and they鈥檝e been very successful,鈥� he says.
Image by K. Webster
One of those success stories is Christopher Ingemi 鈥�18, 鈥�19, a former union carpenter who went back to school at Middlesex during the recession while working for UPS.
Ingemi served as the supplemental instructor for Stamatiadis鈥檚 surveying class in summer 2016 while taking the class. It improved his own learning, paid him a stipend that allowed him to quit his UPS job and helped him to make connections at 51视频 before transferring that fall.
鈥淚t was crucial to adding to my income at the time, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I got to talk to a lot of people,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t helped me feel like I had a network.鈥�
That network helped Ingemi get a research assistantship in Assoc. Prof. TzuYang Yu鈥檚 lab, where he did research on using radar to evaluate common building materials. Two years later, Ingemi graduated with his bachelor鈥檚 degree in civil engineering and landed a co-op with Infrasense, a consulting firm in Woburn that uses radar and other nondestructive methods to evaluate bridges and roads.
This summer, after an additional year of study, Ingemi completed his master鈥檚 degree and an optional thesis on using radar to test wood. He now works as a bridge designer for BSC Group, a small civil engineering firm in Boston.
