06 April 2009

Program Encourages Disadvantaged Students to Excel in Chemistry

Project SEED has helped thousands become scientists

Chemist Cecilia Marzabadi (center, back row) in the lab with Project SEED students she mentors at Seton Hall University

By Jeffrey Thomas
Staff Writer

Washington — Imagine you have grown up in a poor family, perhaps attending a school that lacks sufficient resources, and you’ve taken high school chemistry and given your teacher some indication that you might allow yourself to dream of a career as a scientist even if it doesn’t seem possible. Then you — a high school student — are offered a fellowship that pays real money to investigate the formation of macrocyclic metal-metal complexes or to make derivatives of bioactive molecules for new drugs or to design new polymers or to synthesize recombinant genes.

That’s what will happen for several hundred high school students this summer as part of a program called Project SEED (Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged).

Stephanie Chan, who worked for two summers at the University of Vermont as part of Project SEED, focused on zirconium-phosphorus bonds, co-authoring a scientific paper with her mentor for publication.

“Before I started this, I was just mildly interested in chemistry, but this has been really fun,” Chan, now a chemistry major at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, told the University of Vermont’s online publication, The View. “I’d been thinking of a medical career, but now I’m not sure. Maybe research.”

More than 40 years ago, some members of the American Chemical Society (ACS) realized that, while scientific ability can be found in all groups without regard for race, religion, color, sex, or family income level, the opportunities weren’t there at the right time for all kids.

The program they created was recently selected by the National Science Board as a recipient of the 2009 NSB Public Service Award for “fostering interest in science as a career and encouraging achievement in science, mathematics and engineering among high school students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Most of the projects are suggested by mentors and all are reviewed by an ACS committee “to make sure they are exciting, meaningful and doable by high school students,” ACS says.

During the more than 40 years of Project SEED’s operation, more than 9,000 students have participated, said Cecilia Hernandez, the program’s director.

Project SEED targets students who come from low-income families; belong to minorities currently underrepresented in science such as African Americans, American Indians and Latinos; attend low-performing schools; and would be the first in their families to go to college.

Project SEED has three parts:

• The Summer I Program gets first-time participants working on a research project in chemistry or a related field under the supervision of a scientist-mentor.

• The Summer II Program offers those who completed Summer I another fellowship either to continue their research or to begin a new project.

• Project SEED scholarships provide those who have participated in one of the summer programs up to $5,000 to help them enroll in college in a chemical science or engineering field.

The fellowships Project SEED offers —  $2,800 for eight weeks  to 10 weeks during the first summer and $3,300 during the second summer — are meant to make up for what the student would have earned in an ordinary summer job.

More than half of SEED participants say the program led them to make the choice to attend college. While there is currently no national data on the percentage of Project SEED participants attending college, the North Carolina state program offers data that indicate success: of the 100 students who have participated over the past 16 years, 96 percent have attended either two-year or four-year colleges, with 83 percent majoring in science or mathematics, 67 percent in chemistry and 75 percent overall receiving full or partial scholarships.

The overwhelming majority (72 percent) of Project SEED participants go on to major in science in college, according to a 2006 survey. Given that 25 percent of the participants in Project SEED live in families with an income of less that $7,000 per year and that many are the first in their families to attend college, this is a remarkable achievement.

Project SEED can be a life-changing experience for mentors as well.

“It's about way more than science,” said Teri Gertsman, who volunteered to be a Project SEED mentor at San Francisco State University “on a whim” the summer before she was to begin law school. “I was so moved by the experience I decided right then and there to change my direction in life,” Gertsman told her school newspaper. She continued to volunteer as a mentor while she got her master's degree in chemistry until her doctorate-degree work took her out of state.

Some mentors have been working with Project SEED participants for more than 30 years. Some local coordinators have been running networks of mentors and participants for more than 35 years. “They love the program,” Hernandez says. Some former students are now mentors or coordinators or serve on the national committee that reviews all projects and ensures students meet the program’s requirements, she added.

More information is available on the American Chemical Society Project SEED Web site.