ERC Offers 6-8 Week Summer Internships to Select High School Students

Achievement date: 
2016
Outcome/accomplishment: 

The NSF-funded Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE) Engineering Research Center (ERC), headquartered at Princeton University, offers 6-8 week summer internships to select high school students. In its tenth year of operation, MIRTHE hosted eight high school interns at two MIRTHE partner institutions (Princeton and CCNY). 

Impact/benefits: 

Long-term benefits of this intern program are evidenced by the fact that most of these high school students are strengthened in their resolve to major in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and they receive positive feedback on their college applications. This internship program also broadens MIRTHE's ongoing education-outreach efforts, namely, the REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program and a student exchange program for undergraduates and graduates. 

Explanation/Background: 

During this summer internship the students conduct original research in various MIRTHE laboratories and present their work at the MIRTHE summer workshop alongside the undergraduate REU students.  A number of these high school students have presented their research at national and international science competitions.

The photo below shows the 2015 summer interns. A second figure depicts the numbers of high school students hosted by MIRTHE over the 2006–2015 decade.