Since the publication of my article in this Journal (1), I have received several letters from faculty at two-year colleges who have been advocating research projects for students at the associate-degree level. Recent articles on this topic published in this Journal by D. Brown (2) and in Chemical & Engineering News by R. Petkewich (3) have also stimulated other instructors at community and junior colleges to report their research activities.

The recurrent theme of these letters and articles is that student retention is enhanced and that undergraduate transitions to baccalaureate and graduate programs in the chemical sciences are improved when students conduct research while attending two-year colleges. Some have even found that research projects can be used as a recruitment strategy for both high school and in-house students to encourage them to seek chemistry as a course of study beginning at the two-year college and continuing to graduate school. Others have sought to install undergraduate research into the curriculum via projects that are initially funded by external sources with the intention that they eventually become systemic. Slezak’s letter adds to this advocacy for such research projects in a very positive way and may encourage two-year college faculty without external funding support to continue to try to engage their students in a meaningful research experience prior to trans-ferring into a baccalaureate program.

The ACS Western Regional meeting scheduled for Las Vegas on September 24–27, 2008 will include a 2YC₃ symposium that will feature the theme “Challenges and Benefits of Undergraduate Research in Two-Year Colleges”. A call for papers and a meeting notice for this 2YC₃ symposium is available online (accessed Apr 2007).

Literature Cited

1. Gaglione, O. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 1613–1614.
2. Brown, D. J. Chem. Educ. 2006, 83, 970–972.
3. Petkewich, R. Chem. Eng. News 2006, 84, 53–54.