Summer High School

IBB provides the Summer Academy for High School Students (only the Science Academy of South Texas (SAST) may participate). Please note that the IBB Summer BioScience Program has been discontinued (more information on this retired program can be found here).

IBB summer high school programs have been extremely influential for a number of students who have attended them. For details on this, see the recent Rice News & Media Relations article here.

Tom Brown, from the Hamill Foundation, meets the high school students participating in the 2011 IBB Summer Program during the Chemistry Magic Show demo led by Dr. Mary McHale. The Hamill Foundation is an underwriter for IBB's summer high school outreach efforts.

The Hamill Foundation and HHMI-funded Summer Academy for High School Students consists of a well-established summer internship program involving the Science Academy of South Texas. This summer program for high school seniors has been ongoing for over 10 years and is sponsored and administered by Rice's Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering. The Science Academy of South Texas Summer Intern Program is a joint effort between Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine and South Texas Independent School District to provide enhancement opportunities for the South Texas Academy, a magnet science and technology school in Mercedes, Texas, serving grades 9-12. This school district covers the three counties of the Rio Grande Valley and provides exceptional programs for their students. The purpose of the program is to expose the participating students to the college experience and to give them an idea of what the various science and engineering fields encompass. The program is not open to outside applicants. The 2012 Summer Schedule can be found here. The participants for Summer 2012 are shown above. For a photo gallery of the SAST summer internships, click here.

Dr. Yousif Shamoo, Director of IBB, is shown here exchanging plaques with the Superintendent of STISD (Dr. Marla Guerra), the STISD Partnership Coordinator (Cindy Keller) and the Principal of SAST (Michael Aranda) to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the IBB Summer Academy Program, a very successful partnership between Rice and the Science Academy of South Texas.

The South Texas Independent School District recognized Rice's IBB with an award for IBB's Outstanding Summer Academy. In August 2008, on behalf of IBB, Dr. Stacey Kalovidouris, IBB's Executive Director, received the "Rice STISD Collaborating to Create a Culture of Excellence for South Texas Independent School District Students" Award from the South Texas ISD Board of Directors. Click here for the gallery.

Efren Rodriguez, who participated as a intern in IBB's National Science Foundation-Funded Research Experience for Teachers (NSF RET), has established a blog which includes daily input of the 2011 summer high school activities. You can find his blog by clicking here.