Summer Science & Engineering Program

Instructor

Mona Kulp, Ph.D., Laboratory Instructor of Chemistry, Smith College

Class Description

A large portion of the world's population has a rich tradition of relying on plants for their medicinal properties. There is also a surging interest in integrating alternative medicine into contemporary western medical practice. Along with this interest, there is a growing realization in the scientific community that we need to better understand the safety and efficacy of these herbal medicines. In this course, we will start with plant material and go through the process of extracting and analyzing the compounds found in some commonly used herbal preparations. This course will also look at examples in the peer-reviewed literature to understand how these compounds alter the biochemistry of the human body and their impacts on human health. In addition to the analytical instruments and resources available in the chemistry department for analyzing these samples, the students taking the course are also exposed to additional resources on the Smith campus, including the Mortimer Rare Book Room for historical material on the use of herbal medicine and the Botanic Gardens, which will provide some of the medicinal plants used in the experiments.

There are no prerequisites for this course. The course is designed as an introductory experience for students who have an interest in both chemistry and biology. The students will be introduced to ideas in chemistry and biology in an interdisciplinary setting so that they can build connections between the two disciplines.

Instructor

Doreen Weinberger, Ph.D., Professor of Physics, Smith College

Course Description

This course is a hands-on introduction to robot design and programming. Unlike many robotics courses where the task is to build a robot that performs a specific function (for example pushing ping-pong balls or battling with another robot), in this course students use their own creativity to design robots that do whatever they want. There is lots of trial and error problem-solving in both computer programming and building the robots.

Student teams will receive a kit containing a microprocessor controller, a set of motors and sensors, and various Lego building parts and tools. They will learn how to connect the components and program the controller to make a robot that can move precisely, autonomously, and intelligently in its environment. With appropriate programming the robot can make decisions for changing its behavior based on sensory input, and do things like avoid obstacles, follow paths, seek out light, respond to messages communicated by other robots, and much more.

Students will initially tackle a variety of learning challenges: building simple robots to accomplish specific tasks, while learning more and more sophisticated programming techniques. They will learn the engineering design process, testing and redesigning to optimize their robot’s performance. The course culminates with each team envisioning, designing, and executing their own unique final robot project.

Instructor

Margaret Brown, Ph.D.

Course Description

Globally, young women face an array of health-related challenges in their daily lives, and this course empowers young women to explore them. Lack of gender equity, including the right to an education and access to health care, places millions of young women at increased risk for poor health and preventable deaths. Through individual and group activities, this course provides opportunities to learn about many of these issues, including health disparities around the world, violence against women, and the overall lack of data representing women. Course activities include research, discussion, and presentations. Participants investigate essential young women’s health topics such as the menstrual cycle, healthy eating, media literacy, violence, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, and emotional health. These topics are considered within the contexts of current research in biology and medicine, and today’s multicultural society. Global Young Women’s Health is an emotionally intense and rewarding course that builds individual and group knowledge and awareness.

Due to the material covered, this course is open to students entering tenth grade and older. Students in this course become members of a close-knit working group, sharing their own stories, and learning from others while conducting research and participating in course activities. Students interested in health-related careers and medicine may find this course useful.

Instructor

To be determined

Course Description

This two-week introductory course to programming with Python is designed for high school students with little to no prior programming experience. Python is a versatile and beginner-friendly programming language, making it an ideal choice for those looking to start their journey into the world of coding.

Students in this course will write Python code to solve simple problems and automate tasks, as well as debug and troubleshoot code. They will start with variables, data types, and data structures and move on to control structures to make decisions and repeat actions. They will work with files and input/output. They’ll define and call functions to organize and reuse code.

During the second week, students will apply their understanding to write practical apps. By the end of the course, students will have a foundational understanding of object-oriented programming.

Instructor

Samantha Torquato, Ph.D.

Course Description

Bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses that infect bacteria. It is estimated that there are 10³¹ phages on Earth, but fewer than 3,000 phage genomes have been sequenced to date. Scientists believe that characterizing the functions of these yet-to-be-discovered viral genes will lead to important advances in biotechnology and medicine. This laboratory course is designed to involve each student in an authentic research experience: the discovery of novel phages! Students will experience the scientific process firsthand by designing an experiment, analyzing and interpreting data, and communicating results. In the laboratory, we will first isolate, purify, and amplify new phages from environmental samples by using a specific bacterial host. Then, we will use electron microscopy to determine the sizes and shapes of these phages. Finally, we will perform additional molecular biology techniques (such as DNA isolation, restriction enzyme digestion, and gel electrophoresis) to analyze their genomes. This course will be of interest to students who want to study cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, biotechnology, or medicine.

This course is open to students who have completed at least one year of high school biology.

Instructor

Jesse Bellemare, Ph.D.

Course Description

In this two-week course we will explore the diversity of plants and their amazing ecological interactions with other organisms, from animal pollinators and plant consumers, to below-ground partners like fungi and bacteria, as well as considering their relationships to environmental factors like climate and soil conditions. The course will emphasize hands-on experience with observing, dissecting, and sketching representative plant species, from algae, mosses, and ferns to flowering orchids, trees, and cacti. We will visit the amazing Smith College Botanic Garden for inspiration and to collect material for detailed observations and dissections, including work with microscopes to explore fine-scale plant structures and adaptations. Field trips to plant communities around the Smith College campus, the college’s MacLeish Field Station, and other natural areas will augment our considerations of plant biodiversity at local and global scales, from New England wetlands to distant tropical rainforests. These habitats will provide context for our considerations of the threats that plant biodiversity faces in the 21st century, from habitat destruction and invasive species to climate change. The course will also introduce approaches to the scientific study of plant ecological relationships with other organisms and the world’s changing environments. We will gain experience with formulating hypotheses, designing ecological research projects, and collecting and analyzing data on plants and their many fascinating ecological interactions. This course will be of interest to students who want to study ecology, conservation, evolutionary biology, botany, environmental science and/or landscape studies. 

Instructor

Moira Flanagan, Ph.D.

Course Description

At any given moment, half of our planet is covered in high-energy solar radiation (sunlight). It is actually remarkable that life has learned to thrive in these conditions. In this class, students will learn about the different ways that life has captured solar energy. The course will cover how proteins are able to harvest and use light energy in photosynthesis, explore how solar cells are working towards a similar goal, and learn about how energy is stored with battery chemistry. Students will use absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy to learn about light-matter interactions and the pigments involved in photosynthesis, they will construct their own miniature solar cells, and learn some of the practical limitations on collecting and storing solar power.

Instructors

Narendra Pathak, Ph.D., & Estuardo Robles, Ph.D.

Course Description

Through studies of the nervous system, neuroscientists explore how we sense, feel, think, and move. Students in this course will learn about how neurons (cells of the nervous system) communicate through a fascinating array of mechanisms and networks to generate complex human behaviors. Using sophisticated microscopes, we will examine the cells of the nervous system and the neuroanatomy of the brain. Through experiments in the laboratory, including dissection of tadpole, zebrafish, and sheep brains, we will explore how neurons function at multiple levels: molecular, cellular, and in living organisms such as ourselves. We will use live zebrafish larvae as a model organism to assess the toxic effects of substances such as ethanol on brain development. With some simple (and painless) techniques, we will even measure nerve conduction in our own bodies and brains.

Instructors

Samantha Torquato, Ph.D.
Sarah Garelick

Course Description

Human genetics has fascinated us for centuries—beginning with the basic question of why we look like our ancestors and continuing to recent advances in medical and courtroom analyses. In this course, students gain experience with a variety of classical and modern techniques used in human genetic analysis. Students spend most of their time in the research laboratory, where they are the subjects of the experiments themselves! First, participants’ blood samples are collected (with a simple finger poke) for a variety of analyses, such as determining their blood types & calculating the frequencies of blood-type alleles in their class. From their own DNA, students determine their genotypes associated with human sleep habits and taste receptors. Students also construct part of their DNA fingerprints using multiplex PCR and analyze portions of their mitochondrial genomes. Time between experiments is spent learning about genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and cancer, and working on genetic problem sets, which review the following topics: basic patterns of inheritance, probability, and pedigree analysis.

Open to students who have completed one year of high school biology.