This year’s Dean Stuart Feldman Summer Science Institute may be virtual, but the program, now in its 11th year, will be no less meaningful for the scores of high school students from around the state who will attend.
The Dean Stuart Feldman Summer Science Institute is designed to provide an introduction and overview of the many career opportunities available in the pharmacy profession. The program exposes rising juniors and seniors in high school unique classroom and laboratory experiences including an early look at the components students should expect from a college experience. First generation, low socio-economic background, rural communities, and historically underrepresented students in pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences profession are targeted to participate. The institute provides prospective students with exposure to UGA researchers in pharmacy and other sciences, the undergraduate admission process, student affairs, and career services. Hands on projects, experiential learning, and a poster presentation are hallmarks of the program.
The College of Pharmacy welcomed its inaugural Summer Science Institute cohort in June 2010. The 15 participants were ethnic minority students who expressed interest in careers in pharmacy and other stem professions. A year later and during the 50th anniversary celebration of the desegregation of UGA, the science program was renamed to the Dean Stuart Feldman Summer Science Institute.
More than a decade later, the Dean Stuart Feldman Summer Science Institute gives high school students a deeper inside look into college experience. Participants work in research teams to develop strategies for future career success, and read and discuss peer reviewed articles with researchers and peer mentors in journal clubs. In addition, attend skills laboratory, complete a bench research project, and participate in community dialogues. This year, tours will be conducted virtually, though in non-pandemic years, the participants stayed in the dorms at the UGA campus and went on site at various locations.
The program has served almost 200 students from 20 counties in Georgia and 12 states. Many of the participants have gone on to earn advanced degrees in the sciences; others have enrolled in the Pharm.D. program at the College of Pharmacy, and still others have enrolled in other undergraduate programs at UGA.
This year’s institute will be held June 1-4. Similarly, high school students of all grade level, may participate in the inaugural Dean Stuart Feldman Summer Science Symposiums to be held virtually at the Albany, Augusta, and Savannah campuses. June 7
The William T. Robie III fund and the Dean Stuart Feldman fund, assist students with financial needs. For more information, see Dean Stuart Feldman Summer Science Institute, or contact Institute Director Dr. Vivia Hill Silcott.
