This paper addresses the transition of community college students to degree programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The paper presents the results of an evaluation of a two-week residential summer bridge program that recruited community college students from a wide range of academic, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds and included traditional and innovative elements to address academic, social, and career needs. Evaluation data were obtained from preand postsurveys, focus groups, and annual tracking surveys about subsequent academic choices and course completion. Results identify the factors that increase the confidence and motivation of students to pursue STEM undergraduate degrees. Student rankings indicate that they found the innovative elements of the bridge program to be the most valuable and transformative in their academic success.A number of recent national reports, such as Rising above the gathering storm: Energizing and employing America for a brighter economic future (National
There is considerable interest in the development of second and third generation photovoltaics with higher efficiency and lower cost of production. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) use organic species as the absorptive AND conductive species in the photovoltaic device, where molecules enter the excited state upon photon absorption and create a current based on the excited electrons. We have used a biomimetic approach to previously develop a self-assembling peptide-porphyrin aggregate system which maintains conductivity at pH values well above the peptide-free system. This system uses a scaffold peptide to bind and orient m-Tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphine (TPPS) molecules into conductive ''J-aggregates''. In this work we characterized a number of second generation peptide designs with the goal of better understanding the chemical and structural relationships in formation of J-aggregated species. Early studies showed an inverse relationship between alpha helix formation in the scaffold peptide and J-aggregate formation. using circular dichroism and absorbance spectroscopy we have investigated this structural relationship and found that peptide secondary structure alone is insufficient to promote J-aggregate formation in solutions above pH 3.6. Additionally, spectroscopic investigations of the binding affinity of peptide for porphyrin as a function of ionic strength confirmed that the primary driving force in complex formation is electrostatic interactions between the anionic TPPS and the cationic peptide. using this knowledge we designed a 3rd generation peptide scaffold with intent on increasing overall aggregate size and stability.
received a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, in 2004. In 1999, she also earned a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Padova in Italy. Currently, she holds positions as project scientist in the Mechanical Engineering Department, and as Community College education coordinator at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Prior to this appointment, she worked for several years as a microsensors system expert. Her research interests include nanofluidic technologies for medical applications, modeling and control of large arrays of MEMS, and educational strategies and programs to increase STEM diversity.
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