A recent issue of the renowned journal Science featured a profile of Jacqueline Crisman, associate professor of biotechnology at JCC.

The profile was included in an examination of the challenges and opportunities for community college faculty engaged in scientific research. Dr. Crisman, as well as two others who are coordinating undergraduate research programs for students at two-year schools, were interviewed.

Since joining JCC’s faculty in 2008, Dr. Crisman has procured funding and equipment to complement work done in the biotechnology classroom and lab. JCC’s biotechnology program features an undergraduate research component with research opportunities for students during the academic year and through its Summer Undergraduate Research Institute.

Under Dr. Crisman’s leadership, funds provided by the Jessie Smith Darrah Fund, the John R. Oishei Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education, and Promega Corporation, and other donations to support JCC’s new science facility have allowed JCC to purchase close to $500,000 in biotechnology equipment.

The National Science Foundation recently announced awarding a $3.35 million grant to support the expansion of undergraduate research opportunities at JCC and three other two-year colleges as well as the dissemination of undergraduate research nationwide to other community colleges. Dr. Crisman will serve as a co-investigator on the grant.

The funding comes from NSF’s Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science Technology, Engineering and Math program. Only two of the grants are awarded every year nationally, and it is the first Phase III TUES grant awarded to a community college.

Dr. Crisman taught previously at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and Houghton College and has performed research at the National Institute of Health in the National Cancer Institute. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at the State University of New York at Geneseo and a master’s degree in molecular virology and doctorate in molecular immunology at Ohio State University.

The Science feature can be accessed at http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/art...