Twelve middle and high school students spent much of last week in the laboratory for the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology’s Young Scientist Research Workshop.
The weeklong event, offered this year for the first time, aims to promote STEM education and provide young scientists with hands-on experience in biomedical research. The program was led by Sujata Chaudhari, PhD, an associate professor in the department. She said five middle schoolers and seven high schoolers were in the workshop, with most of them coming from the Omaha metro area.
The workshop—conducted in Durham Research Center II—was designed to familiarize budding scientists with scientific methodologies, enabling them to formulate hypotheses, design experiments to test them, analyze the outcomes, and draw appropriate conclusions.
“The workshop was a great success,” she said. “All 12 students conducted molecular biology using Tribolium castaneum (red flour beetle) as a genetic model. They analyzed their data and presented their findings on the final day. The students were enthusiastic about all activities, especially during the hands-on experiments and presentations, and did an excellent job summarizing their hypotheses and results.”
Dr. Chaudhari said the workshop will be offered again next year.