Welcome to Delta-CUREs

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Our goal is to establish a multidisciplinary network of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) embedded within introductory-level STEM courses. The DELTA-CUREs project provides a unique opportunity to integrate hands-on research directly into your curriculum. Through an agreement with the City of New Orleans, our students will engage with the "Lafitte Greenway Stormwater Management Monitoring" project.

We invite you to become a member of the faculty learning community (FLC), where you will contribute to advancing CURE methodologies at our institution and create a framework that can be adopted by other institutions. We envision a community where faculty can share best practices, collaborate on research design, and collectively enhance the educational experience for our students. This collaborative environment will allow you to:

Improve student success and retention in STEM: By embedding CUREs into your introductory laboratory and lecture courses, you will provide critical research skills that enhance student engagement and build their scientific identity.
Foster an inclusive environment: Your mentorship within the CUREs will cultivate a sense of belonging for 2YC students, reinforcing their identity as scientists through meaningful engagement.
Build relationships with community partners: The project strengthens existing partnerships with academia, non-profits, industry, and government, offering students invaluable networking opportunities and supporting their transition to four-year institutions or technical careers.

We encourage you to consider this opportunity to connect with colleagues and contribute to our vibrant academic community. To learn more about the FLCs being offered and to apply, please click on the following link: DELTA Cures Application

Apply NOW

Meet The Team

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Diondra DeMolle Henderson

Principal Investigator

Professor of Chemistry, Chair of the Physical Sciences Department, School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Delgado Community College.

Diondra DeMolle Henderson is a Professor at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she has been a faculty member since 2011. She currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, a position she has held since 2019. Henderson earned her Master of Science in Chemistry from Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, in May 2011. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana, in May 2008. Her research and publications often focus on faculty professional development and student engagement in STEM. She has co-authored articles in New Directions for Community Colleges on leadership journeys and designing effective faculty-led workshops. She has also presented on topics such as building confidence in STEM students, active learning using Bloom's Taxonomy, and the application of metacognition to improve study skills.

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Karen Menge

Co-Principal Investigator

Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Science, School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Delgado Community College

Karen Menge is an Associate Professor at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she has been a faculty member since 2013. Before her tenure at Delgado Community College, she was an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Holy Cross from 1991 to 1992, and held industry positions including Geophysical System Analyst at Landmark Graphics and Associate Geophysics at Transco Exploration. She also worked as a Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant in the Geology Department at Tulane University from 1989 to 1991. Ms. Menge earned her MS in Geology from Tulane University in August 1991 and a BS in Earth Sciences from the University of New Orleans in May 1983. Her work includes contributions to faculty-led professional development in STEM and research on metacognition in educational settings.

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Jordan Adams

Co-Principal Investigator

Assistant Professor of Geology, School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Delgado Community College.

Jordan Adams is an Assistant Professor at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she has been a faculty member since 2019. Before that, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 2017 to 2019. Dr. Adams earned her Ph.D. in Earth and environmental sciences from Tulane University in August 2017 and a BS in Environmental Science from Moravian College in May 2010. Her research includes work on dominant process zones in fluvial-tidal deltas, software packages for Earth surface dynamics like Landlab, and ecohydrology models.

What are CUREs?

The acronym CURE stands for “Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences”. These learning experiences are embedded within traditional lecture or laboratory courses, in order to provide students with the opportunities to discover, interpret, and collaborate on meaningful research projects within the context of a classroom and their community.

These CURE programs are growing in number. The National Science Foundation has funded a considerable number of these programs around the U.S., some of which can be found on the CUREnet website. Two-year colleges like Delgado Community College are uniquely situated to implement CURE programs, as we have smaller enrollment sizes, various modalities (face-to-face, virtual, hybrid, and online), and are widely available to non-majors. Further, two-year colleges are also responsible for training the next-generation STEM workforce, meaning these research opportunities offer skills-building exercises and workforce development.

At Delgado, The DELTA-CUREs program partners with the City of New Orleans to explore environmental issues along the Lafitte Greenway, a 2.6-mile-long remediated greenspace through the center of the city. This project provides several field- and virtual-based learning opportunities for faculty at DCC to adapt and incorporate into their courses.

What is a Faculty Learning Community?

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Faculty learning communities (FLC) are small groups of research- and teaching faculty that come together to engage in the development of scholarship of teaching and learning. Usually small in number (~5-10 per year), these groups get together to collaborate, innovate, and improve campus-wide pedagogical methods. In most FLCs, faculty start off in smaller groups, to work on specific problems or teaching techniques. Through time, the smaller FLC groups come back together to discuss their findings, concerns, and improve upon these teaching methods together in a larger, collaborative, and safe space. In the final stage, FLC members take these ideas to the larger campus, sharing their novel findings and encouraging other members to join the next cohort of FLCs, and implement newer teaching strategies to their own courses. Why is this beneficial? These FLCs often bring together faculty from a diverse set of backgrounds and disciplines. They dispel the myth of the “ivory tower” or the “siloing”, and get faculty talking in a larger context across campus. Each FLC cohort can act as mentors for the next, providing leadership opportunities and collegiality. For students, the benefits are clear. Faculty who have engaged in a FLC have reported increased student success, motivation, and engagement.

What is the Lafitte Greenway?

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Opened in 2015, the Lafitte Greenway is a 2.6-mile linear park and trail in New Orleans, built on the former Carondelet Canal and a railroad corridor. This historic area evolved from an 18th-century trade route to an abandoned industrial zone before community efforts transformed it into a public space, now a model for urban renewal and environmental resilience. Delgado Community College partners with the City of New Orleans on the Greenway, offering STEM students research opportunities in soil remediation, water management, and biodiversity. Its industrial past makes it an ideal "natural laboratory" for studying soil composition and contamination, as well as the effectiveness of green infrastructure. Since its opening, the Greenway has been a hub for environmental and cultural engagement. Volunteers maintain the park, and it hosts community events like the Crescent City Farmers Market and "Get Fit on the Greenway" initiatives. The college's partnership provides invaluable hands-on learning for STEM students. The Greenway's unique history, including canal and railway use, makes it an ideal "natural laboratory" for advanced scientific inquiry. Students conduct critical research in soil remediation, water management (including green infrastructure's impact), and biodiversity studies, providing real-world data and contributing to urban ecological understanding. This makes the Lafitte Greenway a living classroom for environmental science and urban planning.