AMRI High School Summer Research Program

What is the High School Summer Research Program?

The High School Summer Research Program is a unique opportunity for high school students from the Greater New Orleans area to work as research scientists. During this 8-week program, the students, usually for the first time, get hands-on experience carrying out research in an active university laboratory. The experience can vary greatly from lab to lab where projects can include research in Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Biology, Biochemistry, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Modeling and can involve materials synthesis, characterization, data interpretation, and computational studies. In all instances, the students are involved in active research programs doing cutting edge research.

In addition to the lab experience, the students receive weekly training in ethics, scientific methods, data tabulation, STEM career opportunities, nanomaterials, specialized advanced characterization techniques (e.g., electron microscopy, crystallography, magnetism), and management skills. The program culminates with poster presentations where the students present their final research accomplishments to other students, faculty, and staff in an open event. This event is open to the public, so you are welcome to attend!

Students selected for the program are from the greater New Orleans Area and typically will be sophomores, juniors, or seniors in the upcoming fall semester. Since its start in 2002, we have worked to diversify the program such that of the 174 participants (as of 2023), over 63% were female and over 45% minority (36.2% African American, 9.8% Latino).

What Will Your Support Do?

Each High School student in this 8-week program receives a $2000 stipend while working a 40-hour week (two payments, one after 4 weeks and one at the program’s end). Your donation goes to completely cover this cost – that is the funds will not be used to support any other costs of the program. The time and effort of the faculty, staff, and students involved are all voluntary and all costs of laboratory supplies and equipment-use fees are covered by the host professor or the institute (AMRI).

In the past, support for this program came from large grants (e.g. Board of Regents, NSF, EPSCoR), but in more recent years, such funds have not been available and we have had to rely on support from individual grants from AMRI faculty when available. Your contributions will allow us to maintain this program. Plus, your donation is tax-deductible.

The impact of this program is manyfold. It allows the students to work in state-of-the-art research labs, it allows them to understand what it means to be a scientist or engineer, it allows them to better understand the roles that science, engineering, and research have in society, it allows them to better assess what is quality science and what is hype, and it allows them to better ascertain the direction they want to go in with respect to their careers.

Please Share This Message

If there is a friend, colleague, or family member you think would benefit from learning more about the UNO High School Summer Research Program in AMRI, please share this project with them. UNO is grateful for the generous support of donors committed to improving education in the STEM fields and helping students succeed.

Thank you for your support!

Acknowledgments:

All donors will be acknowledged:

1. At the final summer poster event
2. On the AMRI website
3. The AMRI newsletter
4. By the student or mentors in any presentations at professional meetings and publications resulting from the student’s project; and
5. For donors at the Crystalline level and above, in a formal permanent display outside AMRI's main office. (For those donors that wish to remain anonymous, their names will not be disclosed at any time.)

Every dollar raised by this crowd-funding effort will go towards the summer stipends for the High School student summer researchers. Whether the donation is $10 or $10,000, the students will benefit directly from this effort. While our target is to support 4 high school students, should additional funds be raised, we will simply use these funds to support more students.