As part of a summer research program for high school students, MSU St. Andrews will offer a number of part-time, research consultantship positions for current STEM subject teachers to assist in facilitating the projects. This will be the fourth year of the summer program at MSU St. Andrews, which has grown from 12 students in 2016 to 58 in 2018.

The research will be led by scientists with advanced degrees and may provide the teacher-consultants with the opportunity to be included in scholarly publications.

The program will run from June 20, 2019, to August 16, 2019, at 19 hours per week and pay $29 per hour. MSU St. Andrews will be closed on July 4 and 5. Schedules will be arranged separately with each participating teacher.

To apply, teachers should submit a letter of intent, summarizing the following:

• Confirmation of current Michigan teaching certificate
• Experience with honors level students and/or courses
• STEM-related courses taught and for which grade levels
• Relevant publications, conferences, or special certifications, if any
• Past and planned projects related to science fairs or similar STEM competitions, robotics involvement, etc.
• Confirmation of your availability for program dates and hours, and a commitment to commute to Midland between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
• Indication of three or four projects of interest from the list above
• Name and contact information of an administrative reference

Please direct your correspondence to Melanie Kauffman at kauffm59@msu.edu no later than April 22, 2019. You may contact her with questions at (517) 432-4499.

Projects for the summer include:

(ENERGY) Synthesis of Organic Substrates for Energy Storage Applications
(3D POLYMER) Design and 3D Printing of Polymer Scaffolds for Tissue Regeneration
(WEIBULL) Weibull Analysis – Defect Statistics in 3D Printing
(HYDROGELS) Hydrogels and “Soft Matter”
(LEWIS ACIDS) Lewis Acids Catalysis in Organic Synthesis
(REFRIGERANTS) Industrial Process Organic Chemistry: Scaleable, Catalytic Routes to Eco-Friendly (Non-Global Warming, Non-Ozone Depleting) Refrigerants
(FLUORIDE) Optimization of Economical Fluoride Removal from Water for Health Promotion|
(PEOX) PEOX Hydrolysis and Process Optimization
(BEE) Bee Survivability Studies
(CODING) Computer Coding Instruction in Python, followed by various projects (depending on student interest, possible projects using Python may include: application software development, autonomous robotics, machine learning, microcontrollers, and sensors, or quantum computing.)
(WRITING) Professional writing including science, creative, and business.

Note: teachers will not be placed on research teams with students from their home school if possible. Student experiences may involve lectures, but the experiences are intended to be an introduction to research and creativity. There are no tests, grades, prizes, etc.