Science Leadership Institute 2010

Previously the Hughes Scholars Summer Research Program, in which high school students were placed in albs for 5 weeks at a time. Due to changes in the summer vacation schedule in the major high school districts, time did not allow for this placement, and the Science Leadership Institute (SLI) evolved.

In its first year, 2009, the SLI focused on science and public policy, posing ethical questions of social concern to the students, such as:

• Should the government sponsor the growing of food crops for biofuels?
• What are the benefits and concerns with stem cells and stem cell research?
• Should the government intervene in the health care or medical insurance of Type II Diabetes and related childhood obesity?
• Should individuals be able to sequence their genome and who should have access to an individuals sequence?

The program included a biomedicine lecture course at the college level (though condensed for a shortened program), a comprehensive lab course focusing on college level hands-on laboratories, a leadership course, and a project-planning course, where each student team developed projects to take back to their schools in the fall. The program culminated with a mock Senate Hearing Committee that addressed the five questions posed to the students, where friends, families, and UCSD faculty and collaborators heard the students discuss the various topics and how public policy would effect each of us.

The summer of 2010 focuses on environmental topics, and will include an integrated lab and lecture covering topics such as global warming, ocean acidification, water conservation policy, and San Diego native ecology. The leadership and project courses will focus on leadership skills the students can take back to their school to help teach others about a series of microbiology labs developed by ScienceBridge for the high school classroom.

Join this year’s scholars as they present their scientific knowledge and project ideas at their capstone presentations.

Sweetwater Union students from Castle Park, Southwest, Chula Vista, Montgomery, and Hilltop High Schools will present on the morning of July 10^th at the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences in the basement auditorium.

San Diego Unified students from Morse, Lincoln, Mission Bay, Clairemont, San Diego, and Mira Mesa High Schools will present on the morning of July 31^st at the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences in the basement auditorium.