The National Science Foundation REU : Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Satellite and Ground-Based Remote Sensing at NOAA-CREST: Expanded Opportunities Grant (AGS#1560050) was awarded to New York City College of Technology under the directorship of Dr. Reginald Blake (PI), Dr. Janet Liou-Mark (co-PI), and Ms. Laura Yuen-Lau (project manager). This project seeks to provide undergraduates from community and senior colleges an opportunity to conduct full-time, collaborative satellite and ground-based remote sensing research with faculty mentors from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center (NOAA-CREST) consortium.
For nine weeks in the summer and once a week during the fall and spring semesters, these students become part of a community of research scholars who are actively engaged in state-of-the-art remote sensing research and applications. They conduct research with multi-layered, multi-platformed applications of satellite and ground-based remote sensing to the cryosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. They also participate in research group meetings, seminars, and oral and poster presentations at local, regional, and national conferences; some students have even sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to conduct in situ remote sensing research and Saharan Dust Plume studies. The expectations through these unique and innovate endeavors are that many underrepresented minority students who would otherwise not pursue STEM education altogether or would not pursue STEM education through to the bachelor’s degree and graduate school level will now choose to follow the STEM corridor to either graduate education or to careers in STEM, particularly in the geosciences.