I Needed That

"Instead of just focusing on the presentations themselves, they coached students on how to navigate an academic conference. That included tips like 'wear comfortable shoes, because you'll be standing and walking most of the day' and 'be sure to hydrate, since you'll be talking to a lot of people.' They even recommended backpacks as alternatives to shoulder bags, on the grounds that backpacks distribute weight more evenly and you'll feel the difference by the end of the day."

"Undergraduate research nationally tends to be dominated by STEM fields and four-year schools. In a room of hundreds of people, when I asked for a show of hands from folks representing community colleges, I saw fewer than 10. Walking through the exhibits at NCUR, the STEM disciplines clearly dominated the group."

"Community colleges generally don't have the lab facilities of four-year institutions, and they aren't built around faculty research. The students, by definition, are relatively early in their academic careers."

Westmoreland and CCAC community colleges maintain unusually strong undergraduate research programs and regularly send students to present at conferences. Faculty advisers prepare students not only for presentations but also for the practical realities of attending academic conferences, offering guidance on comfortable footwear, hydration, and appropriate bags. Undergraduate research nationally is dominated by STEM fields and four-year institutions, with community colleges representing a small minority at major conferences like the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. Despite lacking the laboratory facilities and research-focused infrastructure of four-year universities, these community colleges successfully engage students early in their academic careers in meaningful research experiences.

Read at Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs