High School Students Soak Up the Summer Learning With Stevens Pre-College Programs

Expanded offerings provide new options for exploring chemistry and chemical biology careers

This summer marked a significant milestone for the Stevens Institute of Technology's Pre-College Program and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

The program and the department teamed up to add programs in Medicinal Chemistry and Exploring the Human Brain with Virtual Reality to the two sessions of last year's successful Biology: Genetics and Medicine program. More than 110 students participated in this summer's classes.

"Our pre-college program provides high school students with insights into life as a college student at Stevens and possible future careers," said Joel Rolon, director of Pre-College Programs. "During our fully residential one- or two-week offerings, students explore a potential college major, learn from our expert faculty in a college-like classroom environment, live on campus with a roommate, and meet other students in an academic and social environment. Students leave the program with greater confidence in their academic and social abilities."

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the school has seen a stronger trend toward students interested in studying medicine, and this year's program offered these students an outlet to grow their interest in a practical learning environment.

Sesha Sridevi Alluri, senior department lecturer, taught the inaugural Medicinal Chemistry: Discovering Molecules That Cure course for the Stevens Pre-College Program this year.

Hands-on learning with real-world relevance

Sesha Sridevi Alluri, a senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and chair of the department's inaugural High School Outreach Committee, led the course in Medicinal Chemistry: Discovering Molecules That Cure. The students became familiar with the discovery and design of therapeutic molecules and their development into useful medicines.

In the program, they learned basic organic chemistry techniques, performed literature searches and worked with modern molecular modeling visualization and drawing tools. They used green chemistry methods to synthesize aspirin and then shared their results in closing presentations about lab techniques and molecular modeling in front of the other students, department faculty and parents.

"We want to give the students a flavor of medicinal chemistry research and generate curiosity," Alluri said. "One of the important aspects of research is ensuring they can communicate their findings to a broader audience and scientific community. It was wonderful to see their excellent presentations from their one week of learning experience in the program."

Teaching assistants (TAs) from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology helped ensure a safe, fun laboratory experience, and ran and participated in the undergraduate, graduate and alumni panels for the students.

"The TAs were passionate about being involved and sharing their college experiences," Alluri said.

The students, in turn, were excited about their Pre-College Program participation. They praised the class with adjectives such as amazing, engaging, interesting, easy-to-understand and fun. They appreciated Alluri and the TAs for being, as one participant noted, "clearly passionate about what they taught and conveying the content very well." They also enjoyed the lab and the software tools, describing them as state-of-the-art, invaluable and truly inspiring.

The program also included college prep workshops, including sessions on writing college essays and navigating the application process. Students visited companies in the field they were studying, and enjoyed evening social activities hosted by Stevens students and an end-of-program dinner cruise. This holistic approach helped set the students up for success as they continue their academic journeys to become tomorrow's leaders in scientific pursuits.

Stevens' Pre-College Program's opportunities for student engagement included 16 programs offerings last summer. Other recent program additions from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology include Neuroscience, and Genetics and Medicine.