Ovations
The Igniters: A Research Support Group
Amid the pandemic last fall/winter, six junior faculty members founded a research support group with the simple idea of joining forces to support each other in their research. "Sometimes research can feel like a lonely endeavor, or like it’s the last thing we talk about, given that teaching and service tend to occupy center stage in our work lives at KCC. We wanted to cut against this, not only to find support among our fellow KCC researchers, but to learn more about their research and even find ways we could collaborate,” said the IGNITERs in a joint statement. They believe it’s safe to say the group has already exceeded all of their expectations!
An initial Brown Bag Research event they organized – open to all KCC faculty, staff, and students – was a great success and helped to spread the word about their group. "We currently comprise faculty from psychology, education, communications, and art history. At one of our early meetings, we decided it was time to move beyond our provisional name of “research support group” and coin something that captured our passion for research and mentoring," they said. They then became the IGNITERs – kInGsborough iNterdisciplInary faculTy rEsearch gRoup!
They have since held weekly Zoom meetings where they check in with each other personally and professionally, and address certain agenda work items. These have included sharing information, advice, and personal experiences related to grants, the IRB process, publishing and particular journals, reviewing each other’s work, and running mini workshops for each other on coding software, data collection platforms, and how to mentor undergraduate students. "We feel this collective work has expanded our knowledge, awareness, and experience levels exponentially," said the IGNITERs.
They have all found that they have been significantly more productive in terms of their research activity, publications, grant proposals, and mentoring. "The synergy between us has pushed each of us to apply to new grants, submit to new journals, or consider new projects and approaches that we wouldn’t have otherwise. This has had the beneficial side effect of helping us navigate the promotion and tenure process, both through sharing information and experiences, and connecting our research to our teaching and service as well," they said.
Mentoring KCC students in research is very important to them, and as a group they recently successfully applied to the CUNY Recovery Corps program. This allowed them to employ two undergraduate students for the summer, who they trained in various aspects of the research process (data analysis, coding, reviewing literature), and who provided helpful research support to several different projects they were working on. "We plan to do more research mentoring in the future, whether through CRSP, individual or shared grants, or other avenues."
"The future seems bright and full of possibilities for our IGNITER collective."
Members of Igniters include:
Tanzina Ahmed – Behavioral Sciences
Ivana Espinet – Behavioral Sciences
Patrice Morgan – Behavioral Sciences
Jeremy Sawyer – Behavioral Sciences
Laura Spinu – Communications and Performing Arts
Midori Yamamura – Art