The SMART (Students Modeling A Research Topic) team program is a collaboration between SEP and the Center for BioMolecular Modeling at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and is funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Overview
The SMART (Students Modeling A Research Topic) team program brings together teacher-led teams of 8 to 10 high school students and scientist mentors in a year-long partnership to use state-of the-art rapid prototyping technologies to design and create physical models of proteins that are the focus of research in the scientist mentor’s research laboratory.
Goals and outcomes of the SMART Team program
Students will:
- Experience the "real world" of science as it exists in an active research lab
- Learn cutting-edge technology (computer visualization and rapid prototyping construction of 3D models)
- Develop communication skills
- Work as a team in a dynamic, multi-faceted project
Teachers will:
- Work with a group of highly motivated students interested in exploring a research topic in greater depth than possible in the high school classroom
- Develop a deeper insight into current research topics
Research mentors will:
- Develop mentoring skills through interactions with a small group of highly motivated students
- Develop skills in communicating their science to a non-research audience
- Receive a physical model of a protein of interest to their own research