High School Research Internship Program
Program background
With funding from the National Science Foundation, Tyson is partnering with the
Shaw Nature Reserve to provide in depth research and educational opportunities for local high school students. This program,
"Making Natural Connections: an Authentic Field Research Collaboration" brings together:
- The educational expertise of Washington University's Science Outreach program (led by Susan Flowers) with Shaw Nature Center's environmental education programs (led by Lydia Toth and James Trager), and
- The research program and mentoring of Washington University and Tyson researchers (led by Jon Chase and Kevin Smith).
Read more at Washington University's Science Outreach site
Program description
This program combines two components, both of which are paid internships. Between their sophomore and junior years of high school, students spend one week during the summer working and learning about environmental biology at the Shaw Nature Reserve. In addition, they spend many hours during their junior year working with researchers at Shaw and Tyson.
Each year, approximately 60 such students will be selected from across the St. Louis metropolitan area. Following their participating in SIFT, a subset of students will apply for a more in depth research experience through the
Tyson Environmental Research Fellowship (TERF) during the summer between their junior and senior years. The TERF program will give students full immersion into the culture of scientific enquiry in the environmental scientists, and students will participate in all aspects of research, including developing hypotheses, establishing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting results.
