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SALT LAKE CITY — How do you get teenagers, especially girls, interested in science? Educators at the University of Utah have come up with one encouraging answer: a summer of intense research under some of the school's top scientists.
This summer, Michelle Gonciarz's interest in science became a passion.
"I have enjoyed this research a lot, it has exceeded my expectations," said said the Juan Diego Catholic High School student.
For half a dozen summers now, Juan Diego and the U. have teamed up to give high school students like Gonciarz a chance to conduct two months of important research.
"We're basically trying to find a more effective way in delivering drugs directly to the cancer cells," Gonciarz said of her work this summer. "It's one thing to do classwork at school but then it's another thing to do hands on experiments and research."
It's one thing to do classwork at school but then it's another thing to do hands on experiments and research.
–Michelle Gonciarz, Juan Diego HS senior
Dr. Carol Lim, with the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, coordinates the research internship program for the U.
"I send a research description to the students, and then they pick the labs that they want to work in. And they come and they dive right in and do research with us at the U. of U.," Lim said.
Teenagers work side by side with graduate students throughout the summer and are mentored by some of the U.'s leading researchers, many of them women.
"There's a lot of great women working in my lab, and they help me all the time and they're great teachers. And so, it's not just all guys out here doing all the science," said August Waung, who will be entering her senior year at Juan Diego.
There are guys too. Cedar Hoover, also senior at Juan Diego, researched a protein designed to kill ovarian cancer cells.
"When we attach a targeting signal to it, we can send it to certain parts of the cell and induce apoptosis which is a programmed cell death," Hoover said of his research.
Lim is a leading researcher in cancer treatment and a proponent of women in science.
"(The girls) kind of get this idea that it is possible to do everything. They can have a family and also have a really exciting research career," she said.
Waung agreed, adding, "Once you get out here, all the great women scientists you meet, like I want to be just like them."
On the final day of the program, another challenge is that hundreds of hours of research must be summed up in a 15-minute presentation for family, friends and scientists.
"(August) understands what's going on," said Connie Waung, August Waung's mother. "She feels like she's smart enough and she can actually go onto become a doctor."
For the teen researchers, many answers remain elusive. But, as their summer internships draw to a close, their future is coming into focus.
"I think that I would probably want to come to the University of Utah and do more scientific research and study," August Waung said.
Gonciarz has similar aspirations.
"I think that women should become more involved in the sciences. It is a great field to work in. It is made for us," she said.
Dr. Christine Celestino, who developed Juan Diego's summer internship program, was one of two educators to receive Gov. Gary Herbert's Medal for Science and Technology in April.
Contributing: Deanie Wimmer
