Providing Opportunities for Scholarship and Research

1
Providing Opportunities for Scholarship and
Research

• Contribution to the Carnegie Initiative on
  the Doctorate (CID)
• Department of Chemistry
• Howard University
• Washington, D.C.

2
Carnegie Initiatives on the Doctorates (CID)
Partial List of Partner Departments

• Duke University
• Howard University
• The Ohio State University
• University of Colorado at Boulder
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

3
Department of Chemistry,Howard University (CID
Leadership Team)

• Jesse M. Nicholson
• Paul F. Hudrlik
• Folahan O. Ayorinde
• D. Raghavan
• Yilma Gultneh
• Charles Hosten
• Vernon Morris
• John Harkless
• Josh Halpern

• Robert Rosenberg
• Helen deClercq
• Jason Matthews
• Oladapo Bakare
• Galina G. Talanova
• Nicole John
• Ainsley Gibson
• Olamide Onakoya
• Ramsey Smith

4
Major Programmatic Initiatives

• Flexible Curriculum
• Early transition to research enterprise
• Student-specific curriculum
• Opportunity for interdisciplinarity.
• Early Assessment of Commitment and Competency
  (Quality Control)
• Summer Workshop for incoming graduate students
• Placement Examinations
• Special Courses to Enhance Preparedness for
  Graduate Studies
• Integration of Professional Development into
  Curriculum

5
Mission Statement

• The Department of Chemistry at Howard University
  has a deep historical commitment to the training
  of African Americans and others of African
  descent. However, we actively recruit and train
  talented students from all communities, on both
  the undergraduate and graduate level. The
  Department fully dedicates itself to developing
  confident scholars through research, mentoring,
  professional development, and networking in order
  for them to excel in the global community. At
  the graduate level, we seek out promising
  students who can benefit from the Howard
  University experience by providing training in
  funded, and nationally competitive research
  projects that will prepare them for leadership
  roles in industrial, government, or university
  careers.

6
Goals of the Department

• To build upon a national recognition as a leading
  graduate chemistry program as perceived by peer
  institutions, the National Research Council , the
  American Chemical Society, and other relevant
  professional organizations.
• To develop students who can demonstrate excellent
  theoretical knowledge, think critically, as well
  as communicate basic chemistry knowledge and
  research findings to scientists and students
  through oral presentations, lectures,
  peer-reviewed publications, communicate
  effectively, and supervise undergraduate and
  graduate research projects.

7
Broad Objectives

• To maintain and build upon the role of the
  Department as a leading provider of doctorate
  education to students of African descent and
  other groups that are underrepresented in the
  chemical profession.
• Increase graduate student enrollment by 100
  percent over a 5-year period
• Increase Howards contribution of the nations
  annual production of African American Ph.D.s from
  its current 10 to about 15 in a 5-year period
  (this would depend on the national average
  production remaining constant)

8
Broad Objectives, cont.

• To educate and develop students who are capable
  of future leadership roles as demonstrated by
  their ability to formulate new ideas, expand on
  existing ideas, as well as having the capacity to
  propagate the vigor and intellectual integrity of
  the chemistry profession and related fields
  (Developing future Stewards of the Profession).
• Increase the annual production of African
  American doctorates to 7 by 2010

9
Broad Objectives, cont.

• To provide significant opportunities in graduate
  education to those students whose level of
  preparation may not reflect their true potential.
• To develop an environment that will foster
  scientific integrity, and promote collegial
  atmosphere that enables open exchange of
  intellectual ideas, and good work ethics.

10
Following Slides provide some of the programmatic
changes
11
Establishing Core Competency

• Introduction of Standardized Placement
  Examinations in Analytical, Inorganic, Organic,
  and Physical Chemistry.
• Use ACS exams as placement exams for in-coming
  graduate students. Students must pass all 4 exams
  to demonstrate competency of undergraduate
  material.

12
Early assessment (quality control) of students
commitment and competency

• Failure in any ACS sub-discipline exam
• Special graduate courses will be offered to
  enhance preparedness for graduate studies in the
  sub-discipline
• Students must pass the ACS exam at the end of the
  1st Semester
• Failure to pass ACS exams in the 4
  sub-disciplines at the end of first semester
• Student would be placed in the Masters Program

13
Flexible and Student-specific Curriculum

• After passing all ACS exams
• 15 Hours of Required Advance Chemistry Courses
• Choice of Interdisciplinary Courses
• Biochemistry
• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Biology
• Teaching and Communication

14
Early Transition to Research

• Student to join research group end of 2nd
  Semester
• Selection of Advisory Committee end of 2nd
  Semester

15
Encouraging Group Mentoring through an Advisory
Committee

• An Advisory Committee consisting of a Research
  Advisor and 2 other faculty, at least one must be
  from a different sub-discipline
• The Advisory Committee will be included in the
  Dissertation Committee

16
Developing Oral Presentation Skills

• Student to give an Original Idea Presentation
  to the Advisory Committee in the 3rd Semester.
  This shall be on a topic other than the students
  research
• Student to give a defense of thesis proposal to
  the Advisory Committee.
• Thesis proposal to be written in form of a grant
  application, which could be used as a basis for
  the application for candidacy.

17
Encouraging greater participation in Fridays
Seminar Series

• Replacement of Comprehensive Exams with
  Cumulative Exams
• The cumulative exams will be based on suggested
  literature topics and/or topics from departmental
  seminars.
• Brown-bag, Coffee, Snacks get-together prior to
  seminar to foster collegial interaction between
  students and faculty

18
Developing Oral Presentation Skills

• Workshop on business presentation to be sponsored
  and offered by an Industry Partner (Monsanto,
  Colgate-Palmolive were past sponsors)
• Oral Presentation Skills
• Resume Preparation
• Interview Skills

19
Professional Development

• Each student must enroll in a Professional
  Development Course that includes workshops in
• Responsible Conduct of Research
• Ethical Case Studies
• Oral Presentation Skills
• Library Resources
• Writing Proposals
• Writing Manuscripts

20
Preparing Future Faculty

• Students will be encouraged to enroll in Howards
  Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) Program
• Teaching and Learning as a Scholarly Activity
  (GPFF 403)
• A series of Lectures and Activities focusing on
  the Pedagogies of Teaching and Learning

21
Academic Enhancement to Enable Early Quality
Control

• Summer Academic Enhancement Workshop for
  In-coming Graduate Students
• 4 weeks of Academic Enhancement in the Core
  Chemistry Sub-disciplines
• Preparation for the Placement Exams

22
Rectruiting

• Pro-active Recruiting in Collaboration with the
  Alliance for Graduate Education and the
  Professoriate (AGEP)
• The goal is to increase the graduate student
  enrollment from the current 34 to 60 over a
  5-year period, and consistently produce over 5
  African American Doctorates per year
• On-Campus Visitation by Prospective Students
• Campus Visitation by Chemistry Faculty and
  Students

23
Significant transitions to be completed in 2 years

• Completion of placement exams
• Affirmation of basic knowledge
• Completion of required courses
• Broad and basic knowledge
• Completion of cumulative exams
• Exposure to current research literature

• Presentation of Original Idea
• Demonstrate ability to formulate new ideas
• Research Experience
• Beyond the technician stage
• Oral defense of Research Proposal
• Depth in knowledge base
• Contribution to knowledge base
• Application for Ph.D. Candidacy
• Professional development