The City Tech I-Cubed Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration

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The City Tech I3 Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration addressesthree NSF I3 goals: broadening participation, integrating research and education, and developing aglobal workforce. The incubator will broaden participation by enabling our students, the majorityof whom are underrepresented in STEM programs of study and professions, to learn science,mathematics, and engineering technology applications in laboratories that have been transformedto reflect the collaborative interdisciplinary approaches of advanced science and industry labstoday. The incubator will provide new opportunities to fuse STEM education and STEM researchby creating an institution-wide focus on inquiry based research as a means of learning and doingscience in labs, in faculty-led research projects outside the classroom, and in industry settings inthe New York metropolitan area, where our students will seek their futures. Finally, the incubatorwill contribute to the development of a global workforce by enhancing and expanding the role ofindustry representatives in communicating their needs and practices to the college andreciprocally using the college to meet their own technological workforce needs.The City Tech I3 Incubator will weave together dimensions of four current NSF-funded projects:Metropolitan Mentors Network: Growing an Urban Talent Pool in New York City (STEP),Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Ground-Based and Satellite Remote Sensing atNOAA-CREST (REU), S-STEM Scholarships for Students, and Research, Reflect, Plan:ADVANCE IT-START at New York City College of Technology (ADVANCE). Mechanisms ofintegration are 1) creation of a multi-dimensional model of lab practice across all STEMdepartments as a tool for benchmarking lab transformation; 2) creation of a cross-project matrixfor grant funded projects that charts diversity goals, outreach to high schools, researchengagement of students, involvement of industry, and significant learning outcomes; 3) amanagement structure led by the provost, two academic deans, and a biologist on the faculty thatwill be continuously advised by a City Tech I3Incubator Advisory Board comprising members ofdepartmental advisory boards and the PIs of current grant-funded STEM initiatives; 4) location ofprofessional development activities for the wider STEM faculty in the Faculty Commons, acollege-wide center for teaching and learning; and 5) enhancing communications by using thecross-project matrix as a communication tool and establishing a strong web presence for all I3activities.The City Tech I-Cubed Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration brings together NSF/EHR awards from the ADVANCE, NSF-STEP and S-STEM programs, as well as other work, around the I3 integrative themes for broadening participation, developing a globally engaged workforce, and the integration of research and education.