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The Smith Summer Science and Engineering Program (SSEP) is a four-week residential program for exceptional young women with strong interests in science, engineering and medicine. Each July, select high school students from across the country and abroad come to Smith College to do hands-on research with Smith faculty in the life and physical sciences and in engineering. Girls who will be in high school (grades 9-12) in fall 2008 are eligible to apply for the summer 2008 program.
Established in 1990, the SSEP annually serves approximately 100 girls. Since its inception, nearly 1,400 high school students have participated representing 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 50 foreign countries. More than half of these students have been awarded need-based financial aid, and 40 percent are students of color. After the program, participants return to high school better prepared to tackle tough science courses and better informed about what to expect in college.
Smith College is one of the top-rated liberal arts colleges in the United States and the nation’s largest college dedicated solely to the education of women. Based in the multibuilding Clark Science Center, the Smith science faculty employs some of the finest researchers and teachers in the country. Smith undergraduates don’t just hear and read about scientific research, they are active participants. As a result, for almost 30 years, Smith ranked third among private liberal arts colleges in the number of women who have gone on to obtain doctorates in the life sciences. In 1999 Smith became the first women’s college in the nation to establish its own program in engineering science, the Picker Engineering Program.
But you don’t have to wait until college to experience the benefits of a Smith education. The summer of 2008 marks the nineteenth year of the Smith College Summer Science and Engineering Program. The SSEP extends the benefits of Smith’s strong traditions to girls still in high school. Participants in the summer program are taught by Smith faculty, live in a college house alongside Smith undergraduate interns and have access to all campus facilities. Central to the program is a learning environment that is rich in role models, hands-on, cooperative, investigative and challenging—where girls get all of the faculty’s attention, all of the opportunities and all of the encouragement to achieve their best.
The 2008 SSEP runs from Sunday, June 29, through Saturday, July 26. During their month-long stay on campus, SSEP participants choose to take two 2-week research courses. On a typical weekday, students eat breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., go to class for two to three hours of investigation in the morning, break for lunch at noon and then return to their research for two to three hours in the afternoon. On average, participants spend 120 contact hours working with faculty.
All SSEP participants give two oral presentations of their work, one at the midpoint of the program (Saturday, July 12) and a second at the conclusion of the program (Saturday, July 26). Parents and family members attend the final presentations and share in the students' accomplishments. The presentations are followed by a family/student/faculty lunch that concludes the program.
The program director is Gail E. Scordilis, Ph.D., an alumna of Smith, biologist and Director of Educational Outreach. Dr. Leslie Jaffe, director of Smith College Health Services, is the SSEP health consultant. Smith College faculty and academic staff instruct participants in the SSEP. Smith undergraduate interns serve as residential counselors and as research/teaching assistants to the faculty. The SSEP residential director, who lives on campus with the high school students and supervises the undergraduate staff, is Crystal Ziniewicz, a Smith alumna, biochemist and 2000 SSEP participant. On average the program has a 9:1 ratio of participants to residential staff. The administrative support staff for the SSEP is led by Carla Cooke ccooke@smith.edu, Smith alumna and administrative assistant for educational outreach.
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