While participation in undergraduate research has many benefits for students including increased confidence and persistence in engineering, community college students do not have the same access to research as students at four-year institutions. To address this disparity, we developed a soft robotics-focused undergraduate research lab at a…

Summer research experiences have been identified as important vehicles for fostering the learning, skill development, and retention of undergraduates in the sciences. In this initiative, community college faculty and students partnered with private 4-year college colleagues on summer research in order to expand the capacity for research for…

In settings across the United States, governing boards, state officials, and campus leaders are intensely examining, refining, and reprioritizing post-secondary education missions and spending to optimize value-added economic and social returns. In this article, the authors discuss the nation's changing research and innovation context, the…