When James Hewlett started work as a Biology professor at Finger Lakes Community College in New York, he was fresh out of graduate school and had to learn as he taught. 22 years later, he’s become a champion of education and has dedicated himself to countless projects — all aiding in the development of the Biology courses that he loves.

Hewlett’s passion for Biology was kickstarted by an educator in his past. “Like a lot of people I took a class in highschool, and I had a teacher - my biology teacher - who was inspirational, and I fell in love with biology.” After graduating, he knew he wanted to pursue the subject further, but being a first generation college student, he didn’t know what kind of options he had within the field of biology. So he started with the first suggestion he heard - medicine. While in college, he chose to explore what it meant to work in medicine to see if that was truly what he wanted to do.

Hewlett began an eight week shadowing program at a local hospital. It didn’t take long for him to realize that this wasn’t the path he wanted at all. Next he tried shadowing a veterinarian, but came to a similar conclusion. The third time was the charm, however. In his quest to find a career that suited him, Hewlett joined a marine science program that would have him take a semester abroad in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He fell in love with the entire experience, and quickly realized that this was the kind of professional life in Biology he’d been looking for.

He would follow his new-found passion to graduate school, near the end of which he found himself presented with another foreign opportunity: Finger Lakes Community College needed a Biology instructor. He had no prior teaching experience, but curiosity led him to take the adjunct position. Within three weeks, Hewlett found that he absolutely loved teaching. He’d discovered the two passions that would shape his life: Research and Education.

It was only a matter of time before Hewlett became interested in combining the two. During his education he’d felt he learned most and had been best immersed in science when conducting research. He pondered how he could work research into his curriculums while also managing a major barrier: community colleges are widely underserved institutions and often have less opportunities for students — research programs are no exception. To work under these constraints, Hewlett began experimenting with integrating research methods into the Biology courses he taught.

One of his early projects in this vein drew from his past research in St. Croix. In 2003, Hewlett developed a field research class for undergraduate students that would let them contribute to research going on around the Caribbean. Taking the course meant they would get certified and collect data that could end up being used within publications or to benefit local marine management. The program provided students not only with real world achievements they could draw from in the future, but also experiences that are uncommon among two year institutions. “I didn’t realize how many students in our service area have never left their own town, let alone got on a plane, flew to a Caribbean island, and got embedded in the culture and had to do research in a strange place.” Hewlett said.

Hewlett continued working with research in the classroom back at Finger Lakes as well, eventually working on a large scale project proposal. Success followed, earning him and his project their first grant. Over time the program grew, gaining funding from the NSF and blooming into the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative, or CCURI. Today the network has over 130 participating colleges, each working to expand the scope of scientific education and provide students with vital and engaging learning experiences. Recently the NSF awarded CCURI another grant which will keep the program in operation for at least five more years.

While the first few years of CCURI’s existence were spent building programs from the ground up in participating institutions, the program has now been active long enough to provide fascinating long-term data. This data includes trends of both success and stagnation of CCURI courses within schools; while some research programs have flourished, others have struggled to stay afloat — despite all participating schools receiving identical support. “The hypothesis is that the schools that are very sustainable have developed a culture of Undergraduate research.” Hewlett said. Their next mission is to identify the factors that lead to this development. While time and space are always major components, Hewlett and his team believe that there’s more to it than that and are excited to begin analysis.

CCURI isn’t Hewlett’s only current project. In the past few months, he and his colleagues have been working on creating a National Biotechnology Education Center. The project has been funded by a 7.5 million dollar grant and Hewlett will soon be working as a Co-PI with a specific focus on integrating research into its courses. All the while, Hewlett continues to enjoy his role as a professor, directly aiding in his student’s growth and success.