STEM Summer Scholars Institute 2009 Overview

HIGHLIGHTS

The IU-HBCU STEM Summer Scholars Institute began the third summer program at the Indiana University Bradford Woods outdoor recreation facilities. Twenty-two students from six of the partner institutions attended orientation activities designed to bond students together for their summer of research. Students arrived on Friday, May 29, and spent the weekend with the Braford Woods staff on increasing levels of activities from team building to canoeing to zip lines to high-wire challenges. On Sunday, May 31, nine students went to the IUPUI campus and 13 students went to the Bloomington campus to settle in campus apartments and prepare for introductions to their faculty mentors and lab environments. The twenty-two participants matched last year's enrollment and three members of the 2009 institute returned for a second year.

The Summer Scholars represented the following institutions: Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Jackson State University, Langston University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, and Xavier University of Louisiana. There were also students from Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina A & T, Prairieview A & M, and Claflin University who participated in many of the support activities for the STEM Summer Scholars. A former Summer Scholar Institute participant, Byron Gipson, who also enrolled in the PhD program at Indiana University Bloomington, participated in the Bradford Woods experience and served as an ambassador for the institute.

During the course of the summer, Scholars had access to the library facilities, student recreation facilities, computing systems, research labs, campus bus service, and dining facilities. Students had numerous opportunities to gather as a group at:

• GRE seminars
• Wednesday lunch research seminars
• Poster presentation skills training
• French Lick historical restoration trip
• Indianapolis 500 Track and Museum tour
• The Indianapolis Black Expo
• UniverSoul Circus

Participants of the IU-HBCU Summer Scholars Institute completed their summer program on July 31 with a closing luncheon at the University Place Conference Center on the IUPUI campus. Students, family members, faculty mentors, university administrators and staff came to celebrate the 22 students who took part in the institute. Prior to the luncheon students presented posters of their summer research. A week earlier, students presented these same posters at the CIC SROP (Committee on Institutional Cooperation Summer Research Opportunity Program) Conference at the University of Michigan with 418 other students from across the country. In late September, students received a DVD with video highlights on their summer experience.

A sample of the STEM Summer Scholars Institute poster presentation topics include:

• Distributed Drug Discovery (D3): Solid Phase Synthesis of Acylated Unnatural Amino Acids and Amino Acid Amides
• Algorithm Optimization and High Performance Parallel Computing with Multi-Core Machines
• The Feasibility of Designing a Secure System to Prevent Surgical Errors Using Radio Frequency Identification Technology
• The Impact of Breast Cancer on Patient's Motor Mobility: A Comparison of Motor Mobility of Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer and Women Without Breast Cancer as Reported by Their Husbands or Partners
• Synthesizing of Porous Carbon Using a Substrate by the Method of CVD
• Synthesis of a Fluorescent Folic Acid Derivative to Guide Targeted Cancer Drug Development
• Developing Models for In Vivo Imaging of Breast Cancer Metastasization to the Bone Marrow

PARTICIPANTS

About the Institute

• SSI 2012 Overview
• SSI 2011 Overview
• SSI 2010 Overview
• SSI 2009 Overview
• SSI 2008 Overview
• SSI 2007 Overview


• Faculty Mentor Bio List


• Summer Scholars Institute