Special to the American
Nearly 80 academically talented high school juniors and seniors will spend this summer with St. Louis’ top researchers for the 2008 Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
These future scientists will research everything from the mating habits of yellow-finned platys in the Guyana rain forest to the use of wireless sensors in detecting infrastructure damage to alternative energy sources.
Sponsored by Pfizer, Solutia, LMI Aerospace, D3 Technologies and Solae, STARS pairs rising junior and senior high school students with research mentors from the host institution UMSL, as well as Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Saint Louis University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Washington University.
“It’s so important for us to provide opportunities for students to pursue their interest in science and experience it firsthand before making that choice,” said Daniel Getman, director of Pfizer’s St. Louis Laboratories.
“The STARS program is a wonderful opportunity for high school students to spend time in top laboratories with world class scientists.”
For six weeks, biologists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, medical researchers, physicists, and psychologists from the five participating research institutions will take student apprentices under their wings in laboratory settings and direct students in research projects.
“Through student and mentor-scientist partnerships, participants apply various problem-solving strategies to independent research projects,” said Ken Mares, director of the STARS program. “Students write technical reports and orally present their results in a seminar format on the last day of the program.”
This year’s program, “Experiencing the Scientific Enterprise to Enhance the Education of Young Scientists,” started June 9 and runs through July 18 at UMSL. In addition to conducting research and presenting papers, students will take part in career workshops, attend lectures by leading scientists from the St. Louis science community, and engage in social activities.
Fifty-nine students from 28 high schools in the St. Louis metro area and 20 students from around the U.S., Canada, Greece and South Korea have been invited to participate in the program.
The students and research mentors for the 2008 STARS program are:
STUDENTS
Anatolia College of Thessaloniki (Greece): Angeliki Latsiou
Block Yeshiva High School (Creve Coeur, Mo.): Davita Wachsstock
Bloomington High School South (Indiana): Joe Hong
Chaminade College Preparatory School (Creve Coeur, Mo.): Donastas Sakellariou -Thompson
Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford, Conn.): Roy Collins IV
Clayton High School: Jeremy Bleeke, Tom Maxim, Mack Su, Steven Yamada, Yiliu Zhang
Cor Jesu Academy (St. Louis County, Mo.): Bridget Waller, Rachel Zeiss
Crossroads College Preparatory School (St. Louis): Anna Hendricks, Tianay Pulphus, Colin Witherspoon
Eureka High School: Dani O’Neil, Abdullah Shoaib
Fox Senior High School (Arnold, Mo.): Rae Guyse
Francis Howell Central High School (Cottleville, Mo.): Shannon Kelly
Illinois Math and Science Academy (Aurora, Ill.): Nate Hausfater
Iowa City West High School: Julie Hwang
Jericho High School (New York): Dayna Greenstein
John Burroughs School (Ladue, Mo.): Emily Foley, Alex Goel, Hannah Gu, Supriya Hobbs, Radhika Jain, Emma James, Jack, Linshi, Jenny Liu, JJ Liu, Joanne Maliekel, Matt Williams
Ladue Horton Watkins High School: Sophia Sanchez, Elliot Schwartz, Mark Wilensky
Lafayette Senior High School (Wildwood, Mo.): Cassie Liu, Spencer Wells
Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School: Tiffany Moore
Marquette High School (Chesterfield, Mo.): Jereme Kramer, Marshall Huang
Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (Ladue, Mo.): Sean Ghosh, Vishnu Kalugotla, Varun Manohara, Hassan Yasin
Metro Academic and Classical High School (St. Louis): Tulsi Singh
Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing (Maryville, Mo): Mandeep Babbra, Cody Dickerson, Michael Jemison
Nerinx Hall (Webster Groves, Mo.): Khira Gabliani
North Broward Preparatory School (Coconut Creek, Fla.): Susie Chung, Isabel Vogt
Park Tudor School (Indianapolis): Neena Parikh
Parkway Central High School (Chesterfield, Mo.): Joy He
Parkway North High School (Creve Coeur, Mo.): Aravinth Karunanandaa
Parkway South High School (Manchester, Mo.): Vishesh Mathur, Srishti Sharma, Lauren Tucker, Andrew Williams, Sharon Xu Parkway West High School (Ballwin, Mo.): Bob Han, Peter Holly
Paul D. Schreiber High School (Port Washington, N.Y.): Andrea Ortega
Phillips Academy (Andover, Mass.): Wutae Lee
Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter, N.H.): Sol Lee
St. Andrew’s College (Aurora, Canada): Warren Lau
Saint Francis High School (Mountain View, Calif.): Sejal Parekh
St. Joseph’s Academy (Town and Country, Mo.): Caroline Shaughnessy Saint Louis Priory School: Robb Becker
St. Louis University High School: Jack Lally, Nevin Peeples
St. Mark’s School of Texas (Dallas): Ali Aziz
Troy High School (Michigan): Niharika Goparaju, Varsha Koripella
University City High School: Dan Hoff, Zach Levinson
Visitation Academy (Town and Country, Mo.): Katie Fischer, Miceala Shocklee
Wentzville Holt High School: Lynn Jones, Jared Park, Randy Ray
Westminister Christian Academy (Creve Coeur, Mo.): Nevin Cherian, Austin Wallach, Andrew Wiens
Whitfield School (Creve Coeur, Mo.): Ricki Diamond
MENTORS
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Biology: Godfrey Bourne, Michael Hoffman, Robert Marquis, Sam Wang, Lon Wilkens
Chemistry and biochemistry: James Chickos, James O’Brien, Keith Stine, Chung Wong
Mathematics and computer science: Henry Kang
Saint Louis University
Aerospace and mechanical engineering: Sridhar Condoor
Biology: Robert Aldridge, Jonathan Fisher, Jack Kennell, Lau rie Shornick, Wenyan Xiao
Biochemistry and molecular biology: Mariana Beltcheva, Joel Eissenberg, Sergey Korolev, Dorota Skowyra
Chemistry: Steve Buckner, Michael Lewis, Ryan McCulla, Shelley Minteer, Brent Znosko
Earth and atmospheric science: Rob Rippendan
Engineering: Gregory Yablonsky
Institute for Biosecurity: Gregory Evans, Rachel Schwartz
Molecular microbiology and immunology: Peter Zassenhaus
Pharmacological and physiological science: Amy Harkins, Wendi Neckameyer
Psychology: Michael Anch
Pediatrics: Maulik Shah
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Biological science: Faith Liebl
Pharmaceutical science: Ron Worthington
Washington University in Saint Louis
Anatomy and neurobiology: Joel Price
Anesthesiology: Jerry Morrissey
Cell Biology and physiology: Colin Nichols
Chemistry: John Bleeke, Sophia Hayes, Richard Mabbs
Civil engineering: Shirley Dyke
Electrical engineering: Lan Yang
Energy, environmental and chemical engineering: Muthanna Al-Dahhan, Pratim Biswas, Daniel Giammar, Gregory Yablonsky
Internal medicine: Steve Mumm, Phyllis Stein, Michael Tomasson, Michael Whyte
Mechanical and aerospace engineering: Amy Shen
Otolaryngology: J. Gail Neely
Psychology: David Balota
Radiation oncology: Joseph Roti-Roti
Radiology: Vijay Sharma
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Joseph Jez, Dilep Shah, Chris Taylor, Yiji Xia, Sam Wang, Oliver Yu
