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46980-SE
ACS Project SEED Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged High School Students

Cecilia Hernandez, American Chemical Society

Project SEED is the American Chemical Society's program for high school students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have an interest in science. The Project SEED Summer program helps these students at a critical point in their educational career. SEED students worked under the supervision of research scientists on projects that exposed them to the many disciplines of the chemical sciences. The Project SEED Summer II program allows successful Summer I students to continue their research project for a second year. The program has had a significant impact on the lives of more than 8,700 students during the past 39 years. Evaluations show that Project SEED continues to be successful in stimulating its participants' interest in science. A survey of the 2002-2006 Project SEED students shows that of 140 respondents, 100% are in college and about 70% are pursuing careers in chemically-related and other sciences. Project SEED is identified as one of the best national programs in the Bayer Compendium of Best Practice K-12 STEM Education Programs.

At the 234th Fall National Meeting in Boston, MA, nearly 50 students from this summer's Project SEED program presented their summer research at Sci-Mix event poster session. This year's program allowed 235 students to participate in the Summer I program at 78 academic, industrial, and governmental research laboratories nationwide and 79 Summer II students at 43 institutions. Of these 314 students, 57 were supported by the ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) at the following institutions, and two students received a one-year nonrenewable Project SEED College scholarship for the 2007-2008 academic years.

ACS PRF Participating Institutions

University of West Florida, FL

Illinois State University, IL

Mount Holyoke College, MA

Michigan State University, MI

The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Keene State College, NH

Montclair State University, NJ

New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ

Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ

University of Rochester, NY

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