WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
K-CORE
Kingsborough Collaborative Research and Conference Bootcamp
We are a group of community college and senior college students in the CUNY system. We work together united by a common interest in research and in our own academic and professional development. Each semester, we conduct collaborative research projects under the supervision of a faculty member at KBCC. Some of us have research experience, having already presented their work at international conferences. Most are just starting out. Our main research interests are in speech communication, with projects ranging from improving ESL teaching methods to understanding the mechanisms underlying speech behavior and other aspects of cognition in monolingual and bilingual populations. The target conferences for presenting our research include the meetings of the Acoustical Society of America, Interspeech, the International Symposium on Bilingualism and the International Seminar on Speech Production.
About K-CORE
K-CORE’s overarching goal is to train students to conduct collaborative experimental research projects and present them at conferences, providing STEM exposure and hands-on experiential training. K-CORE student research projects are supervised each semester by a faculty member and two experienced student aides. Participants work in groups and submit abstracts to various conferences focusing on speech and language research. Students from any major are welcome to participate, as long as their projects address a topic in speech communication.
What is a K-CORE?
Image reproduced from the elegantly designed website Chaos Like Home.
We chose our name based on an acronym+blend of the words behind the concept: K(ingsborough)-CO(llaborative) RE(search). And then we googled it. To our delight, the term already existed, not as a name for another group, but rather as a mathematical concept, one that we loved right away. In particular, "The concept of a k-core was introduced to study the clustering structure of social networks" and this is exactly what we are, a network, a group of interconnected people who are learning from each other and working together towards many common goals. Our group grew from a 1-core to a 2-core, to a 18-core at the moment, and we will all see what's next. If you are interested in joining us, please read the info on the Joining K-CORE page and then submit an application for the next cycle of the program. Feel free to contact us with any questions that you may have.
HOW IS K-CORE HELPING STUDENTS?
Enhancing Resumes
Being a part of K-CORE can help members
-
present their work at one or more conferences
-
demonstrate independent research capacity
-
demonstrate collaborative skills
-
show future employers or academic committees that they are intellectually curious and enthusiastic about learning/research
-
serve as proof of their selection to a challenging, competitive program
-
obtain financial awards such as travel awards for conference participation
-
write co-authored papers for publication in proceedings and other volumes
-
obtain letters of recommendation from supervisors who get to know their strengths and progress more closely than permitted by the classroom environment
Building Academic Skills
K-CORE activities get students to
-
learn new software (e.g. Praat, SPSS, Excel, PsychoPy)
-
learn basics of disciplines that might be useful in your future but you may have felt/still feel intimidated by (statistics, acoustics, psychology, cognitive science)
-
learn how to write well
-
learn to select appropriate references (peer-reviewed)
-
support your ideas with existing research
-
add your contribution to existing research, helping to advance science (even a simple question or a replication study fulfills a role)
-
presentation skills
Improving Practical Skills
What we do at K-CORE goes far beyond academics
-
team work
-
managing deadlines
-
managing an intense workload
-
practice writing
-
organize your ideas
-
interpersonal skills
-
public speaking
-
develop a critical mind (what makes an effective presentation?)
-
network (you might meet your future advisor, employer, colleague at a conference)
-
gain exposure to various disciplines and very importantly, to STEM
-
see the world!
-
get noticed - hired - awarded
Upcoming Events
Fri, May 15Kingsborough Community CollegeMay 15, 2020, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EDTKingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Blvd, Brooklyn, NY 11235, USA
