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[Letitia Thomas] I currently direct the LSAMP program, the Lewis Stokes Alliance for Minority
Participation. That program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and
it was created to assist underrepresented students in science,
technology, engineering and math disciplines.
[Andrea Martinez] In my neighborhood, if you
wanted to be successful you had to be a lawyer or doctor. Through the
LSAMP program I got to go to Canada to perform some research about the
environment and plastic pollution in the Great Lakes.
[Letitia] The summer program is a huge
part of our grant program here at the University at Buffalo. We serve anywhere
from 10 to 12 undergraduate students and they really get a chance to see what
hands-on research is really like.
[Maria Camila Lopez] I didn't have a clue what earthquake
engineering was about. That's the point of research: learning what you don't know
about and that learning curve is what I think is the most exciting part.
[Shayne McKay] I found quick success in the lab when it came to working with my hands and that's what
really motivated me because I found the niche, something that I was naturally
good at, that I can only get better in.
[Pinar Okumus] They bring a different maybe more fresh
perspective. It helps them with their classwork later on and some of my
students, actually undergraduates, decide to stay on for their graduate study so
that's perfect for us because we want that continuation.
[Jason Benedict] And it really is
exciting to get to spend time with them, to influence them, to maybe shape them a
little bit but you know that these are gonna be kids that are going to go on
and succeed and do great things.
[Letitia] We tell our faculty members, "you teach them
science and we'll do the rest." We provide our students with what we like to call
soft skills. We also provide them with a research methods workshop.
[Professor] This is something that you don't get on Google you don't get this sort of analysis of
your search results in an opportunity to filter or refine your search set.
[Kendra Claiborne] I think the most that we're learning from research in general is how it can be
applied to you know everyday aspects, and how is it important for people.
[Kate Hilliman] We're doing our science afloat program which is a three hour environmental and
nautical science program on the Spirit of Buffalo.
[Letitia] One of the things we wanted to
focus on for our summer program is giving our students a community service experience.
[Deshawn Henry] The fact that they're just doing is mainly just for volunteering
and from the bottom of their heart it shows the true passion that they have
for what they do.
[Letitia] We have a number of high school programs on campus and I
think we really have created a wonderful pipeline.
[Cameron Hall] I actually didn't know about
anything about STEM professions until I did STEM. The most fun for me was
probably the internship that I was exposed to.
[Chiania Feagins] I learned that it's best to
keep your GPA going up and up as you go into high school so I'm planning ahead
so therefore I can probably get accepted into this College.
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[Letitia] Our expectation is that after our students do our summer program that they
move on to other programs. We want our students to be competitive for industry
internships. We want our students to do research abroad.
[Maria] We went to Istanbul, Turkey
looking at ancient places and historical places. That was really
interesting from looking at it from the civil engineering side because you see
how old the practice is.
[Pinar] You are serving as a role model to these students and my
goal is for these students to become very successful and I know that they
have the potential to be, and they're gonna then serve as the role models for
the next generation.
[Andrea] The truth is, I can go anywhere and I can do anything and
that's what a degree in EE going to bring me.
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