Opening pathways to STEM: community college students dive into leading-edge university research

Two undergraduate research experience programs, TEAM-UP Together and Villa Cisse, wrapped up a second successful summer session at Illinois Physics under the direction of Illinois Physics Teaching Professor Sharlene Denos. These programs serve students enrolled at community colleges or liberal arts colleges, where a broad range of research experiences often aren’t available. Participant scholars commit to spending two summers participating in research at the host institution.

“Having Sealtiel in the lab has been a joy. As part of the Villa Cisse program, she visited the campus last summer, and I met her for the first time. And since then, I have met her over Zoom for individual meetings and for group meetings. (She attended our group meetings every week!) Other group members also got to know her, and we all felt like she was part of the group before she started her actual research this summer.  ”

Illinois Physics Professor Sangjin Kim

For the program participants, the experience of working in a leading-edge research group alongside Illinois Physics graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members opens pathways to future STEM-career possibilities. But by all accounts, the program also enriches the research groups by pulling new talent and providing community-building engagement activities. Together, the visiting student participants and research groups took full advantage of the opportunities the program provided: they explored a cell with virtual reality, forged new research collaborations, benefited from high-quality mentorship—and even kayaked Clinton Lake!

Both programs are breaking down barriers to STEM-career entry by providing access to major research institutions. TEAM-UP draws community college students interested in physics and astronomy. Villa Cisse recruits students interested in quantitative biology from partner institutions that don’t have access to a wide array of research opportunities—particularly in biological physics, where the equipment necessary for experimental research has a prohibitive start-up cost.

The two outreach programs were introduced at Illinois in summer 2024.

The first summer: diving into research

The two-week orientation program in the first summer is all about preparing and empowering the program participants to contribute to leading-edge research. In the first week, they learn lab safety, technical vocabulary, and communication skills that will contribute to their success when they do their lab rotation the following week. 

This year, students also traveled to Fermilab during their first week, where they toured the facilities and met with a scientist. Later in the week, students trapped biological motors in optical traps and explored a cell in virtual reality—a program developed by Professor Zan Luthey-Schulten’s research group. Luthey-Schulten is the Illinois Murchison-Mallory Endowed Chair in Chemistry and holds a zero-time appointment in the Department of Physics, in addition to serving as director of the National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology.

The second week gives the scholars the chance to do a rotation through research groups: the students spend a day shadowing a graduate student in each group. This year, the students could choose among groups specializing in a broad array of subjects—for example, astronomy with Illinois Astronomy and Physics Professor Joaquin Vieira, theoretical biological physics with Illinois Physics Professor Aleksei Aksimentiev, or applications of quantum sensing to biological systems with Illinois Chemisttry Professor Mikael Backlund.

At the end of the second week, Denos finds a mutual match between students and advisors. The same TEAM-UP and Villa Cisse scholars will return to Illinois next summer to complete a 10-week research project with their advisor.

Developing research competencies takes time and mentorship

During the intermediate school year, the undergraduate students will be working with their assigned graduate student mentor to further prepare for their second summer research project. This includes reading academic papers, learning any needed coding languages, and attending hybrid group meetings. Because the program participants already know the general topic of their assigned project for next summer, they can work to get all the necessary technical skills in place to hit the ground running when they return.

By all accounts, the Illinois Physics faculty participating in the program find that TEAM-UP and Villa Cisse scholars are well prepared for their second summer in the lab. Illinois Physics Assistant Professor Sangjin Kim worked with Villa Cisse scholar Sealtiel Anulao starting in summer 2024. She said, “Having Sealtiel in the lab has been a joy. As part of the Villa Cisse program, she visited the campus last summer, and I met her for the first time. And since then, I have met her over Zoom for individual meetings and for group meetings. (She attended our group meetings every week!) Other group members also got to know her, and we all felt like she was part of the group before she started her actual research this summer.”

Building physics identity

Another important goal of these two outreach programs is establishing physics identity among their scholars. The scholars’ ongoing association with a research group can bolster their identity as physicists, allowing students who may not previously have had access to a large physics ecosystem to feel like they belong. 

TEAM-UP scholar Khayla Erediauwa joined the program because she was considering a career in academia but wanted to know more about the ins and outs of research before committing.

She said that before the program, she was on the fence about research, but the experience changed all that. “Now I feel solid in what I want to do with my career,” Erediauwa said. “I feel more confident about becoming a researcher.”

TEAM-UP scholar Koreb Tibabu also joined the summer program wanting a more in-depth understanding of research. He said the experience has positively changed his idea of what it means to be a physicist. “Everything is much more interdisciplinary than I thought it was,” says Tibabu.  

Erediauwa added, “I also thought that was really cool. You don’t have to just do physics, you can do physics with another discipline. In a good way, it’s really changed my perspective on physics.”

If the eight scholars who started in 2025 could change anything about the program, it would be to add even more rotations through an even wider variety of fundamental physics research groups. The scholars expressed an interest in more astrophysics and quantum physics in particular.

Strengthening national partnership

An additional benefit of these programs for participating faculty is the development of sustainable academic partnerships between Illinois and other participating institutions.

For example, faculty and postdoctoral researchers at partner institution the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley have been involved with research at Illinois’ Science and Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology (QCB) and are adding Illinois Physics classes to their university’s course offerings. 

Denos said she’s optimistic that connections like this will remain strong and create pipelines for collaboration between Illinois and partner institutions.

Sampling the graduate school experience

For the student scholars, one of the highlights of the program is the high-quality mentorship they receive from current graduate students. “They are stars of this program,” said Villa Cisse scholar Azuzena Reyes-Rivas.

TEAM-UP scholar Natalia Figueroa’s favorite session during orientation was a panel discussion by graduate students. She got to ask them questions about their life experiences: how long it took them to figure out if they wanted to go to grad school, what challenges they face, what the best part of their job is.

The programs also have a designated student and community life mentor, Winter Perkins, an undergraduate in information sciences who coordinates social events for the visiting students. TEAM-UP and Villa Cisse scholars go bowling, boating, to the movies, and to pottery workshops. They also get a tour of the gym and try out different restaurants to get a better sense of what it would be like to be a student at Illinois.

“Our Illinois TEAM-UP and Villa Cisse Scholars are a talented group of students with high aptitude for success in scientific research,” Denos said. “They should not be limited simply due to where they live or the research resources of the institutions they attend. Their participation in our research enterprise here at Illinois is enriching for them and for us.”

 

The Villa Cisse program is supported by the National Science Foundation. The TEAM-UP Together program is supported by TEAM-UP Together Expanding eXpertise and Championing Excellence and Leadership.