CID Summer 2005 Convening: Supporting Intellectual Community

Topic 1: Creating and Nurturing Robust Intellectual Communities

SUNY Stony Brook University - Chemistry Department

Building a Community of Scientists

Students in the Chemistry Department at Stony Brook are immersed in an intellectual community from the start of their research work, when they first join a research lab. In addition, students are assigned a thesis committee from the end of their first year. Beyond these specific support structures, the department has the potential to provide a wider community through social and professional events, shared governance, and shared resources.

Celebrating a successful Ph.D. defense at the University Café

Research Groups

All Ph.D. students in our department are members of research laboratories, or "groups". Group sizes at Stony Brook vary from less than 4 to more than 15 graduate students, with one faculty advisor. Groups often also include postdoctoral and undergraduate researchers.

The research group provides the primary intellectual community for each graduate student. Most labs have weekly Group Meetings, where students gain much of their in-depth scientific knowledge and professional skills such as public speaking. In addition, research groups often organize their own social events. The strength of the sense of community within individual research groups varies, depending on the advisor and the makeup of the group.

Students eating lunch in the grad lounge

Shared Departmental Resources

The department aids the development of intellectual community by providing shared resources, and training in how to use them. Such resources include:

Goals for the Community

Developing a sense of community in the department is important to maintain satisfaction among students, postdocs, and faculty, and to encourage collaborations.
A strong intellectual community will attract prospective students, improve research productivity, and increase the breadth of our students' professional and research skills.

Summer department barbeque

Advancement-to-Candidacy Committee (ACC)

Students in the Chemistry Department at Stony Brook are assigned their thesis committees (ACCs) relatively early, at the end of their first year. Each ACC includes the student's advisor, as well as two other faculty members, one of whom serves as Chair.

In response to student feedback in our Graduate Program Assessment, the policies and requirements for the ACC have been changed to increase the intellectual involvement of the ACC in each student's graduate career:

Winter holiday party

*As a result of the Graduate Program Assessment, we instituted a program of brown-bag lunches for interested students to meet with visiting seminar speakers.

Chemistry Research Day
A Snapshot describing the annual department-wide celebration of chemistry research at Stony Brook. The event includes lunch, a poster session, and a public lecture.

Students enjoy the GSO/GCS barbeque.

Graduate Chemical Society

Students in the chemistry department have recently created a social and pre-professional organization, the Graduate Chemical Society, whose purpose is to bring together graduate students, faculty, and staff from chemistry-related departments at Stony Brook. The GCS is an official university club, receiving funding from the Graduate Student Organization (GSO), that strives to improve integration and communication within the SBU chemical research community. A further goal is to publicize the chemistry research achievements of Stony Brook graduate students within the local and campus communities. The GCS provides support to major chemistry department events and activities, including the annual GSO/GCS Summer Barbeque, the chemistry holiday party, and Chemistry Research Day.

Assessing Our Community

A year and a half ago, our CID team organized a full assessment of our graduate program, from the point of view of the students. This assessment addressed several aspects of developing a strong intellectual community in our department. Among the findings:

Graduate Program Assessment
A Snapshot of our Graduate Assessment

Chemistry Research Day

Shared Governance

Developing a robust intellectual community requires the treatment of all members as professional colleagues, each with a role in governance. The Graduate Program Assessment provided students with an opportunity to have a direct impact on our program. To continue this process, we reinstated a past practice, including two student members on the department's Graduate Affairs Committee. In addition to this mechanism for ongoing representation, we are now planning the first update to our Graduate Program Assessment.

Unanswered Questions

While we have made significant progress in building a sense of community in our department, there is still a significant disparity in the engagement of various populations of students and faculty. Several questions remain:

Contact Information

Nancy Goroff

nancy.goroff@sunysb.edu

Eryk Stolarzewicz

estolarz@ic.sunysb.edu

Kathy Parker

kathlyn.parker@sunysb.edu

Andisheh Abedini

aabedini@ic.sunysb.edu