| [Learning by Doing] | [Goals & Objectives] | [The 2003 Program] [1999 Student Projects] |
| [Related Activities] | [Selection Criteria] | [2001 Scrapbook] |
Research is a "contact sport" and is best learned
through practice. The Research Internship Program in Science and
Engineering, held at Boston University
for six weeks during the summer, offers internships in
research settings to thirty highly talented students who are
entering their senior year in high school. These students join
active research groups in physics, engineering, astronomy,
chemistry, and biology. Faculty 
members and their research staff serve as mentors to
the interns, providing the guidance and background needed for
them to become active members of a research team. Each intern is
assigned responsibility for part of an ongoing project in a
mentor's laboratory. Although the content of projects may vary,
all projects are designed to be carried out within the duration
of the program and to provide students with a real-world research
experience. At the conclusion of the program, interns submit an
abstract of their research experience to the program directors.
With fellow interns and mentors present, each student then
presents a ten-minute videotaped talk on his/her research topic,
and are required to give a second presentation at their high
school when they return. Hundreds of alumni from the program have
received baccalaureates in science and engineering, with the
majority continuing on to advanced degrees. 
For the summer term in 2003, 25 students from throughout the
United States were admitted to the program. Six students were
placed in physics laboratories, 3 in biology, 1 in astronomy, 2
in biomedical engineering, 2 in electrical engineering, 2 in
aerospace engineering, 2 in chemistry and 1 in manufacturing
engineering. In addition, 3 students were placed at the Francis
Bitter National Magnet Lab and 3 in the Center for Neurological
Disease at Brigham and Women's Hospital. You can see Project
Descriptions for all the students on a page designed by the
interns themselves. This program also serves as a novel
recruitment tool for the University, as demonstrated by the
publicity generated from articles in the Boston
Globe, the Boston Herald and WCVB chanel 5 News.
Last summer the students visited the B.U. Marine Program
oceanographic research facilities at the Woods Hole Marine Biological
Laboratory as well as weekend trips to museums and other cultural and 
historical sites. Students also participated in the Project Starshine
experiment to study satellite decay processes.
The Research Internship Program is designed to introduce young people to science as a vibrant and exciting profession by having them participate in research while still in high school. Its goal is to give talented high school students who have a strong interest in science and opportunity to learn first-hand about the substance, the spirit, and the methodology of current scientific research and encourage them in their pursuit of careers in science and engineering.
Through participation in active research groups, students become aware of the cutting edge of science by experiencing for themselves how research is carried out. Students become sensitive to a process of inquiry, which Richard Feynman describes as "stretching as far as one can go into that region surrounded all around the edge by mystery and awe." They discover that in the process of inquiry, there are no answers to some questions, while answers to others have to be carefully scrutinized. .by evaluating the results of research, students learn to look at things from different points of view and develop a greater tolerance for ambiguity. Through participation in research, students also
- gain knowledge and familiarity with a narrow field of science or engineering
- are better able to decide their suitability for careers in science and engineering
- learn the skills and habits, both manual and analytic, practiced in a research setting
- encounter a like-minded peer group with similar interests
- see the "human face" of research scientists, all too often missing in popular stereotypes
RELATED ACTIVITIES
Weekly seminars are planned to provide students with a wider perspective
of scientific research and to provide an overall coherence to the program. 
Guest speakers discuss a wide
range of topics, including careers in science and engineering, ethics in research,
and state-of-the-art technology. On field trips to research facilities in the
Boston area, students visit laboratories where the research of the `90's is
taking place. They learn about some of the "hot" topics in science,
such as superconductors, chaos, elementary particle physics, cosmology, and
the human genome project. Additionally, a wide variety of social and cultural
activities are coordinated through the Boston
University Summer Term Office which give the students a unique opportunity
to explore the rich environs of Boston.
Students from the 1998 Program
Participants are selected for their maturity and potential to function in a research group. Decisions are based on the following criteria:
