Undergraduate research is beneficial to students’ education and career development. However, first and second-year undergraduates, and particularly community college students, rarely have the opportunity to fully engage in challenging, hands-on research experience early in their academic careers. The research program at Massasoit Community College provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in high-quality ecological research much earlier than the typical undergraduate. The required level of engagement, dedication, and persistence is achieved largely by the students’ belief that the research project is real and meaningful. In this case, the project is an ecological study monitoring the status of wild bees. Overall, the program requires students to develop critical thinking ability as well as so-called “soft skills” with a goal of producing more capable, independent and confident students. The two-year time frame forces students to move from trainee to trainer quickly and facilitates a tight-knit and self-supportive group. The plight of wild bees in an ever-urbanizing world provides a captivating research question that can be addressed by relatively simple and inexpensive methods.
Results/Conclusions
15 to 20 students are employed year-round for data collection, analysis and presentation. Despite different backgrounds and academic goals, every student researcher receives specific training in fieldwork, database management, scientific writing, and public speaking to ensure consistency and a high quality of work. Also, with support from mentors and peers, students must access and interpret the primary literature to ensure project comprehension and strong scientific literacy. Students also design and implement all project-related tasks and activities, gaining valuable organizational, collaborative and problem-solving skills. Over four years of bi-weekly sampling, 10,757 bees were collected and identified to 36 genera and 140 species —including 40 new species to Plymouth County records. Additionally, 26 student researchers have presented their scientific work at Ecological Society of America conferences, while almost all interns participated at local symposia. In conclusion, this program will continue to gather publication-quality data while enhancing first and second-year undergraduates practical research experiences in community college. Dedication to both research and educational goals maximizes student skills and often allows them to transfer to four-year programs that were previously out of reach, with skills that will benefit them for their entire careers.