Summer research programs draw record number of students
The 37th annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program ended with an inspiring two-day Capstone poster competition on August 3 and 4. The program provides college students with the opportunity to work full time on a research project. Over 100 student posters were presented in the CARE atrium at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (UCCOM) each day.
John Hutton, MD, established the summer research program in 1985 when he was chair of basic science research at Cincinnati Children’s. Sandra Degen, PhD, grew the program and initiated interactions among several summer research programs at the medical center and UCCOM. Sherry Thornton, PhD, expanded the number of participants and the program of activities after being appointed director of SURF-Cincinnati Children’s in 2006. This year, SURF-Cincinnati Children’s trained a record number of 145 students, primarily paid for by faculty research grants. Over 200 students participated in SURF activities this summer.
The Office of Academic Affairs and Career Development obtained a new three-year grant from the Schmidlapp Foundation this spring to help increase the number of minority girls in the STEM pipeline. In addition to funding some SURF events and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and GRE prep courses, this grant allowed us to add seven new slots for under-represented girls in SURF-Cincinnati Children’s and increase the number of students in the Biomedical Research Internship for Minority Students (BRIMS) program from seven to 16. The BRIMS program provides under-represented minority students in the Cincinnati area who are rising freshmen or sophomores with the chance to work full-time on a research project alongside Cincinnati Children’s faculty. They also shadow our clinicians and participate in SURF activities.
“The young women who participated as Schmidlapp Young Women Scholars (SURF) and Schmidlapp STEM Scholars (BRIMS) were brilliant, accomplished and talented, and they truly had transformative experiences this summer,” said Jessica Kahn, MD, MPH, associate chair of Academic Affairs and Career Development. “We are so grateful to be able to provide these experiences to them, thanks to the generosity of the Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Committee.”
The application for SURF 2018 will go live on November 1 (https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/education/research/surf), and the application for BRIMS (https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/education/research/high-school/biomedical-research-internship-minority) will be available in the beginning of December.
