Building Mathematics Research Communities at Two-Year Colleges (BMRCTYC)

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing and studying a scalable model to support mathematics research cultures at two-year colleges across the United States. Undergraduate research is a widely recognized high-impact educational practice that strengthens student engagement, persistence, and preparation for STEM pathways, and this project aims to expand those opportunities for two-year college students and faculty through locally supported Mathematics Research Communities. This Track 1 ITYC project on a longstanding model at Fullerton College prepares faculty to adapt and implement Mathematics Research Communities suited to their local campuses. These communities are designed to create regular opportunities for students and faculty to engage with inquiry in mathematical sciences through colloquia, research seminars or labs, structured faculty-student mentoring, and connections to national research mentoring networks. This project is significant because it plans to broaden opportunities for inquiry grounded in the mathematical sciences in the first two years of college, support faculty capacity for research mentoring, and generate evidence about the conditions under which two-year colleges can develop research-supportive environments that foster student curiosity, belonging, and continued engagement in STEM. Led by Fullerton College, this project plans to draw on the national reach and activities of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges’ (AMATYC) Research and Mentoring Experiences for Students and Faculty Academic Network (ANet) to support the adaptation, implementation, and study of a Mathematics Research Community model through a staged expansion to eight participating two-year colleges over three years. The primary goals of the project are to: (1) develop and study a flexible, multi-component model that supports two-year college Mathematics Research Communities; (2) prepare and support Faculty Research Coordinators to implement local model components, including colloquia, research seminars or courses, structured mentoring, and supports that prepare students and faculty for collaborative inquiry; (3) investigate how different two-year college contexts shape the implementation and sustainability of Mathematics Research Communities; and (4) disseminate adaptable implementation resources, research-supportive materials, and project findings through AMATYC and other national professional networks. The project plans to use a mixed methods approach to study how the model is implemented across participating colleges and how students, faculty, and institutions experience and support research community development. The project plans to draw on information from students, faculty, project activities, and research-related products to examine participant experiences, faculty mentoring capacity, student engagement, local adaptation of the model, and pathways to continue STEM learning and research opportunities. Findings are expected to inform adaptable resources for other two-year colleges and contribute new knowledge about the conditions under which two-year colleges can build and sustain Mathematics Research Communities. The NSF IUSE: Innovation in Two-Year College STEM Education (ITYC) Program seeks to accelerate and advance knowledge about the impact of emerging and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.