CSTEP program offers research opportunities

Twenty-three UB undergraduate students from the STEM disciplines spent their summer conducting research with faculty members in their respective departments — and gaining an invaluable learning experience — as part of UB’s Collegiate Science & Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) Summer Research Program.

The eight-and-a-half-week program will culminate on July 24 with the 13th Annual Summer Research Symposium and Luncheon. This capstone event, being held at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, includes student poster presentations of faculty-mentored research projects.

CSTEP at UB is a grant-funded program sponsored by the New York State Department of Education to support talented underrepresented students pursuing careers in the STEM — science, technology, engineering, mathematics — fields, as well as licensed professions and health-related professions. CSTEP offers key preparation, resources and opportunities critical to student success.Top of Form

The CSTEP Summer Research Program aims to prepare students for the laboratory environment and serve as a catalyst for future endeavors. Students learn the importance of research and gain invaluable skills to use in education, the workforce and beyond.

The program also has served as a significant pipeline for students to enter graduate or professional school at UB. According to CSTEP Director Shanna Crump-Owens, research is an essential part of the undergraduate experience. For some, conducting research offers an opportunity to gain invaluable career experience.

Conducting research “helps you become a better critical thinker and communicator,” a past CSTEP research intern has said, calling it an avenue for students to learn valuable skills from professionals in academia.

Another intern shared a similar view, noting their summer research experience “has given (them) a new perspective on higher levels of education and PhD-level work.”

At the Summer Research Symposium, 40 UB faculty volunteers will judge the students’ poster presentations. The students with the six highest-scoring presentations will receive an all-expense-paid trip to present their research at the annual CSTEP Statewide Conference, sponsored by the CSTEP program at Syracuse University, being held in April 2020 at The Sagamore Resort in Lake George.