NSBE - Winter 2009/2010 - 24

chapter news Campus-wide impact at clarkson U By Eric Addison called Pass Your Physics Exam (P.Y.P.E.), for NSBE members only. Soon, seeing their program’s effectiveness, the board decided to open the door to help Clarkson students of all races. Students flocked to the sessions. In Spring 2009, the NSBE chapter launched a chemistry review program called Pass Your Chemistry Exam (P.S.Y.C.H.E.). This fall, the group started a third program, PAsS CALculus (PASCAL). “It just kind of avalanched,” says Russell. “I just taught a physics review last week, and there were 120 students who attended…. We focus a little bit more on NSBE students outside of the program because we’ve heard the retention rates are even worse for blacks than for students of other races,” he adds. In October, NSBE at Clarkson held A Walk for Education in Potsdam, with student volunteers from the entire Leaders of the Clarkson chapter’s freshman retention program workshops, with Clarkson faculty members L ooking at all that NSBE’s Clarkson University Chapter has accomplished over the past year, it’s hard to believe the group nearly died in 2007. On the “done” list so far: three phenomenally successful engineering retention programs; “A Walk for Education” on a massive scale; membership on track to double or triple this year “I came (to NSBE) in my freshman year, (and) all of our Executive Board members were graduating in December,” says Paul Russell, a junior double-majoring in electrical engineering and physics, and the current president of the Clarkson chapter. “When the e-board left, there were six people chosen to rebuild the organization, and I was one of them.” That group has become known on campus as “the Potsdam Six,” a tag that borrows from the nickname of NSBE’s founders — “the Chicago Six” — and from the name of the town where Clarkson is located, Potsdam, N.Y. With help from Clarkson University President Tony Collins, who gave them the funds for the trip, the six students — Francis Dayamba, Christianne Gosling, Stanley Onyewuchi, 24 • nsbe magazine seeing their program’s effectiveness, the board decided to open the door to help clarkson students of all races. Russell, Carson Smith and Rama Yakubu — attended the 2008 NSBE Annual Convention, in Orlando. There, Russell says, he “saw how big the whole organization was. I just wanted to become a bigger part of it and impact the campus. So I just started to get more and more involved.” The Orlando convention is also where Russell learned about the high dropout rates from engineering programs in the U.S. and began to brainstorm with other chapter members about how to address the problem. “The statistics show that the most dropouts (from engineering programs) occur going from freshman to sophomore year. I learned that physics is one of the biggest problems for freshmen, so I posed the idea of doing a review to help (Clarkson freshmen) pass physics,” Russell says. After getting approval from the NSBE Chapter Executive Board and from Clarkson professors in Fall 2008, Russell began leading the reviews for the program, campus, as well as from nearby Potsdam State and St. Lawrence Universities. The chapter also does an annual food drive with the Humane Society and a monthly church dinner for the community, reports Russell, who was last year’s Community Service chair. A new chapter website is also in the works. Task delegation, and a new committee structure designed to get every member working, have been keys to getting it all done, Russell says. He credits the Academic Excellence chair, Christianne Gosling, and her committee for handling the logistics that make the retention programs possible. Still, Russell says, “I have a lot going on. But it’s been absolutely helpful, because I understand physics like no one ever did, because of how much I’ve taught it. And when I go into an interview and they ask, ‘What have you done?’ I say, ‘I invented this review that had 120 in attendance.’ The good outweighs the bad.” ■ www.nsbe.org • winter 2009

NSBE - Winter 2009/2010

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