Summer Research Leads to Career Options

Students in two of Onondaga Community College's Opportunity Programs showed off the product of their summer research during a Science Symposium at Storer Auditorium. "I felt like a scientist's assistant telling people about my part in the overall experiment. When people came up to me asking questions I was very excited," said student Jamiya Chandler.

Chandler was one of about a dozen students who created a poster board highlighting their summer research, and stood proudly next to it as event attendees learned about their research. Hers was titled "Relationship Between Dopamine Transmission and Ethanol Intake in Rats."

She did her research as part of SUNY Binghamton's "Bridges to the Baccalaureate" program. Bridges provides tutoring and financial support for an eight-week, paid summer science research experience to help underrepresented students transition from a two-year community college to a four-year institution. "It was exciting being there and being in a lab. I was like 'wow.' I learned so much about rats as a species and being able to socialize to people who were in the lab like professors and the other Bridges students who were there."

The summer research opportunity came about thanks to Chandler's participation in both the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (C-STEP) and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (L-SAMP) program. "I love C-STEP and L-SAMP. They are both amazing. If I need help and need someone to talk to, I come here (to the C-STEP and L-SAMP office in Coulter Hall)  and they get me where I need to be. I didn't know anything about internships and they gave me the option to do one. Now I tell freshmen coming in they should do one or both. They help you financially, they help you emotionally, they really support you. It's nice to have them to rely on.

Chandler is a 2020 graduate of Syracuse's Nottingham High School. She's on track to complete work towards her Mathematics & Science degree next May. "I'm a better student here than I was in high school. I'm taking things more serious, I'm prioritizing better, I know how to be more communicative with people if I need support."

She came to OCC with the dream of becoming a zookeeper one day. Her summer research experience got her thinking about other career possibilities. "I now realize there are so many other things related to animals. I went in to it thinking 'I'm going to learn how to handle things I don't usually do.' Instead of being a zookeeper, maybe I want to be a zoologist now."