Boston University\u2019s Center for Polymer Studies and The New York Hall of Science\u00a0have been funded $1.2M by the National Science Foundation\u2019s Information Technology\u00a0Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) Program. CAS Professor of Physics Gene Stanley (director of the Polymer Center) and Polymer Center Senior Research Scientist Paul Trunfio will head the project for BU. The project, Network Science for the\u00a0Next Generation, known as \u201cNetSci High,\u201d will provide extensive opportunities for disadvantaged\u00a0high school students to engage in year-round cutting-edge science research and industry internships.<\/p>\n
Participants are 120 disadvantaged high school students from the Boston area and New York area,\u00a030 science research graduate student mentors from partner laboratories, and 30 high school STEM\u00a0teacher-mentors.\u00a0An exciting new area of research applies network science, including cyber-infrastructures and\u00a0computational and database approaches, to solve some of the most complex problems facing our\u00a0society today. This shift in research with its extensive reliance on information technology tools and\u00a0datasets, requires a corresponding shift in the education community that helps prepare the next\u00a0generation of STEM workforce.<\/p>\n
Highlights of this funded 3-year program include:<\/p>\n
-\u00ad\u2010 1-week Summer Camp for all participants, introducing tools of network science and\u00a0explorations of team-based research projects<\/p>\n
-\u00ad\u2010 4-week intensive summer research experience at participating laboratories<\/p>\n
-\u00ad\u2010 Academic year research program utilizing collaborative IT tools, periodic special workshops,\u00a0industry lab tours and \u201cvirtual visits\u201d<\/p>\n
-\u00ad\u2010 ITEST NetSci Research Conference held at BU where students present the results of their\u00a0work at the end of the year long experience with keynotes and an \u201cIT Opportunity Fair\u201d\u00a0hosted by local industry partners<\/p>\n
-\u00ad\u2010 Summer IT internships with industry and academic partners<\/p>\n
This experience is funded to repeat for three years, with 30 high school students in the first year, 40\u00a0in the second, and 50 in the third (and appropriate scaling of other participants).\u00a0A challenge of this project is one of transforming the way we educate our citizens to keep pace with\u00a0not only the amount of data we collect, but to appreciate how networks of data interact to identify,\u00a0clarify, and solve complex 21st century challenges in the environment, medicine, agriculture, urbanization,\u00a0social justice and wellbeing. This project will provide a pathway to integration of\u00a0science research and IT skills for high school students who would not otherwise have opportunities\u00a0provided through this project. Additionally, high school teachers and graduate student mentors\u00a0(ITEST Fellows) will be key participants. For 30 ITEST Fellows, they will gain valuable experience\u00a0in the issues surrounding K-12 science education and gain an appreciation for education outreach.<\/p>\n
Up to 30 high school teacher mentors will broaden their STEM understanding and, through their\u00a0participation, the project aims to inform their current teaching in terms of content and practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BU’s Center for Polymer Studies received a major three-year grant to provide opportunities for disadvantaged high school students to engage in year-round cutting-edge science research and industry internships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3521,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,8,4,195,205],"tags":[264,201],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5503"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5519,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503\/revisions\/5519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}