Next Round of SRP Students Chosen from Class of ’09
By Zoe Gorman ’09
News Staff Reporter
Nine sophomores have been selected from a pool of 22 applicants to particulate in Choate’s rigorous Science Research Program (SRP). The SRP program is designed to allow a group of selected students to experience true science research at the university level while improving their abilities in scientific inquiry and experimentation. This is the fifth group of students to take part in the program.
SRP consists of three segments: a three term training course held during the student’s junior year, a summer of research in a laboratory, and a final term during the following fall to compile and present the students’ summer work.
Program Coordinator Deron Chang claims to consider himself more of a coach than a teacher because the students in the program drive so much of the discussion. The SRP, he explained, “exposes students to the reality and what true science is out there. Science is all about experimentation and developing and finding new things.”
In order to ensure a balanced and dynamic group, the program has a challenging selection process. Students submit a written application during their sophomore winter and sit down with Chang for an interview soon after. To test the students’ problem solving skills and determination Chang presents each with a puzzle and written questions. He also examines GPAs, and talks with current English teachers, science teachers, advisers, and deans to find a group of students who could work well with each other. In general, Chang is looking for self-driven students with a strong interest in science and a willingness to try new and unorthodox things.
If one thing is important about the SRP program, it is the group. The entire group is meant to remained balanced through the individual’s diversity of skills, yet remain linked through their love of science. Some students are strong public speakers, while others are superb writers or brilliant mathematicians and analyzers of data. Although diversity of character was import during the selection process, race, ethnicity, and gender were not factors.
The class meets E block in addition to twice-weekly labs and a required one-on-one session with Chang every other week. On Friday a student will demonstrate understanding of a complex science journal article written for scientists with PhDs in the field through a half hour presentation.
Students select a topic to research in the fall term of their junior year and perform experiments during the lab periods. The topics are entirely the student’s choice and typically span over many different contemporary scientific fields. The students can change their topics before they work in their labs over the summer.
“They’re required to do a controlled experiment. For the most part students understand and are reasonable about the kind of experiments that they put together,” said Chang, who went on to explain that Choate cannot use materials that are dangerous, forbidden at the high school level, or ridiculously expensive. The experiments are longer and require more focus than labs in regular science classes. They’re aimed towards training the students so that they can simply “hit the ground running” in the summer. “Real science takes a lot longer,” said Chang, “we don’t know what the outcomes will be. It’s not predictable, and that’s what makes it kind of fun.”
Madeleine Broder ‘09, who is interested in the human body and brain, looks forward to working in a science lab and among the group while “learning more about how to be an independent worker.”
Over the course of the summer before their senior year, the Science Research Program students will put in over 40 hours of voluntary work per week in research labs near their home towns. Starting in the winter term they contact principal investigators, asking for a journal article to read, study, and discuss with the PIs, or laboratory professors, who are often impressed with the PhD level knowledge that SRP students have. The students then ‘pop the question,’ asking if there is any space in the university lab. On average, roughly 2 requests out of 5 are accepted.
Chang commented that the summer research gives students more than just a window into scientific careers. “They’re not just looking; they’re doing real science right next to somebody who’s a professional scientist.”
After working in the laboratory the students compile and summarize their work by preparing a poster and dissertation; they also give a student lecture during the fall of their senior year. Students occasionally have the opportunity to become co-authors of published papers with the researchers they work with. The SRP group critiques each other’s lectures no less than 4 times before they are presented to the student body.
Students often make important scientific discoveries during their SRP years. Choate discoveries include a method for measuring anti-bodies, a cocktail of drugs that would slow the growth rate of colon cancer cells, and an insight into the way in which a skeleton inside of a cell is assembled—which could have potential applications in preventing cancer cell movement.
“The new group that we have really seems strong, so I’m looking forward to working with them next year. I’m always looking forward to seeing what they experience and what kinds of things they find,” said Chang.
New SRP 4th formers: Maddie Broder, Stephanie Choi, Nikhith Naidu, Adi Rajagopalan, Suril Kantaria, Micheal Lai, Eric Schwarzenbach, and Chloe Gettinger. Riddhima Guniganti is not pictured. PHOTO/Andrew Dominguez '08
