Against the backdrop of a national imperative to address projected shortages of underrepresented minorities earning degrees in STEM, universities throughout the country are using summer downtime to offer programs that expose youth to the sciences. From hands-on science to engineering and robotics camps to specialized STEM career programs, universities throughout the country are targeting minority students in order to fill the pipeline—even before they enter college.
Sixteen-year-old Jordan Stearns is among an elite few who is benefiting from summer programs that provide academic and experiential training, giving him a competitive edge. Stearns, a senior at Maret High School in Washington, D.C., has participated in the Physician Scientist Training Program every summer since seventh grade. Held at Southern Methodist University, the program follows students through college and offers academic training to prepare students to work in biomedical research. After students complete the middle school portion of the program, they spend high school and college summers working in university, U.S. government and private research laboratories.
This year, Stearns is spending eight weeks at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda working with senior scientists and their team.
“I am working in a lab on leukemia cells and nuclear extractions, charting out the proteins’ replication origins,” says Stearns, who plans to become a physician. “Eventually, we are hoping to inhibit proteins and stop replication of leukemia cells.”
The program, which is in its 24th year, was created by Dr. Moses L. Williams after working as director of admissions at the Temple School of Medicine for 18 years.
“STEM and medicine are among the highest paying jobs, and yet, to occupy those positions, you must be qualified.” Williams says. “That cadre is not available. They have not been nurtured.”
