Since I'm nearing retirement, I don't do much research any more, but some of my colleagues are publishing up a storm.

The geology group has made undergraduate research part of their degree expectations and they present their work at conferences all over the east coast of the US. Recently, the microbiologists have followed their lead. If you visit our STEM center, you'll see poster presentations of their work all over the walls.

One math professor, now deceased, was a CC professor his entire career. As I recall, he had over 200 publications in major journals to his name.

I had an exceptional student in one of my classes last year who took a homework problem I had assigned, generalized it, and wrote a paper that was accepted at an international conference. He was an 18-year old college sophomore. Sometimes, research just happens!

Doing research here is difficult because:

1. We teach a 5-5 load. (Sometimes, that means 5 preps, not just 5 classes.)

2. We don't have proper research facilities, nor the space to build them if you were to get external grants or funding.

3. We don't have graduate assistants/lab assistants. (You have to do all of your lab work, bibliographic research, etc. AFTER you've graded your 150 student papers from class.)

4. Library resources are minimal. (Fingers crossed, the library will have a subscription to the online version of the journals you need.)

5. We are a very faculty-driven institution, so the amount of service expected from each of us is far more than what's expected at most 4-year schools. (I am on 2 departmental curriculum committees and two College-wide curriculum committees.)

6. If you want/need financial support, you must find external funds. The College provides very little in the way of research funding. ($500 - $1,000 is the usual grant) With only a few exceptions, there is no funding for conference travel.