UCLA-LA Youth Research Initiative

UCLA Bioengineering Department

Summary

This program, currently under the UCLA Bioengineering (BE) Department, was created to invite high school volunteers to gain exposure and experience with university level research. We partnered with CNSI to reach high school teachers at local LA schools, especially public schools, who would nominate motivated students to apply. During the program, students learn skills such as basic laboratory techniques, computational algorithms, scientific literacy, and confidence in academic spaces. Through this program, we hope to enable students who may not otherwise have the opportunity to get a sense of what scientific research is like.

Basic Information

This program was started in January 2024 by Lilith Schwartz (Kamariza Lab) under BE department supervision. Solely for the purpose of obtaining applications, we partnered with California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) via Cheylene Tanimoto (Education Manager) and Rita Blaik (Director of Education) to reach out to local teachers. The inaugural program is taking place in Summer 2024. Current participating graduate students involved in reviewing applications and mentoring high school students include Lilith Schwartz (Kamariza Lab) and Andrew Ramirez (Meyer Lab). Future iterations may include additional students and labs in the BE Department and possibly other engineering departments as well.

Application Process

The application asks for basic demographic information, a list of courses taken, and answers to short essay questions (~250 words): (1) What have you been most excited to learn about and/or experience in the science courses you’ve taken so far?; (2) Which lab are you interested in and why?; (3) What skills and experiences do you hope to gain from a summer research opportunity?; (4) How have your life experiences and/or background influenced your academic journey thus far?; (5) Please share a specific instance from your past experiences where you encountered a very challenging problem. What steps did you take to analyze and address the issue? How did you ultimately solve the problem, and what were the results or outcomes of your solution?

The timeline for this application process is as follows: In February, graduate students and CNSI collaborate on application. CNSI sends applications to local LA high school teachers. Teachers nominate students to apply. In March/April, high school students fill out applications. In May, graduate students review applications based on a quantitative scale and invite selected candidates for interviews. Graduate students communicate with advisors, reach out to selected candidates, and make plans for the summer.

For more information about this program, contact us at education@cnsi.ucla.edu.

Program Description

High school students with successful applications are invited to join a participating UCLA research lab for 5-6 weeks during the summer. Graduate students and participating BE labs are responsible for ensuring proper safety trainings and compliance. Each high school student works closely with a graduate student mentor who curates a schedule of activities, protocols, and learning experiences for the duration of the program. Participating high school students participate in at least one group lunch with all graduate student mentors and high school students, as well as participating in a group meeting exchange. During the group meeting exchange, each high school student attends a different lab’s group meeting and meets group members. For most of the program, high school students have the opportunity to become familiar with basic laboratory techniques, carry out supervised experiments and/or dry lab protocols, implement computational algorithms, learn about different projects happening in the lab, and get more comfortable reading scientific literature. At the end of this program, the research group has the option of allowing high school students to present in their lab’s group meeting or write a report based on the research they conducted during the summer.
Broader Impacts

College admissions are becoming increasingly competitive and are requiring more extracurricular activities and experiences than ever before. Many students who are able to start research in high school are able to do so because they come from affluent backgrounds and/or have useful personal connections. As a result, these changes in standards of achievement for college admissions disproportionately impact students who have limited access to these highly sought research positions and do not have an academic network in research.

To address some of the growing inequities in college admissions and later downstream effects on college outcomes (choosing majors, succeeding in introductory courses, overcoming imposter syndrome, etc.), we invite local LA high school students to conduct research at UCLA. Ideally, we hope to reach students who may not otherwise have the opportunity to carry out research or even see what a university research environment is like. By improving access and demystifying research itself, we hope to inspire talented young students to see themselves as future scientists and to pursue education in STEM fields.