Program Description.
The short-term goals of the EPSCoR-Funded CAER High School Internship Program are: to expose students to research and career development opportunities through mentoring in a state-of-the-art research facility; gain hands-on experience; and bridge the gap between high school education and applied research. The long-term goals include the objective of increasing the number of college-going Kentuckians in science and engineering. With the experience realized each summer, we come closer to achieving these goals.

During the summer of 1998, the CAER hosted its second EPSCoR-funded High School Internship. The previous autumn (1997) I attended the Kentucky Science Teacher Association meeting, where I informed several teachers throughout the state about the program. This marketing plan helped to increase the pool of applicants for the internship. We were able to choose eight students from a pool of 21 candidates. The eight students were from Cumberland Co.; Franklin Co.; Breathitt Co.; Knox Co.; Scott Co.; Christian Co.; Muhlenburg Co.; and Hardon Co. We thoroughly reviewed the students' transcripts, application information, and teacher recommendations. The Co-PIs traveled to the high schools in the late spring to interview the students one-on-one. This provided an invaluable opportunity in determining the seriousness of the students in regards to their applications and desire to be in the program.

The students arrived at University of Kentucky on Sunday, July 5th. They stayed at the Blanding Towers Dormitories during the next two weeks, and ate breakfast and dinner in the nearby UK cafeteria. Each student was paired up with a roommate and none knew each other before this experience. A graduate student named Angela McReynolds was selected as the resident advisor.

The following morning (Monday) the students arrived for their orientation and first day at the laboratory. The day began in the conference room where they met their mentors, who briefly described their own academic/professional background; and the projects that the students were going to research during the next two weeks. Dr. Hower gave a short presentation on fossil fuel research, the director welcomed them, and I informed them of the logistics of the work day, lunch/dinner plans, field trips, and other administrative tasks. After a brief tour of the laboratory, each spent the rest of the day with his/her assigned mentor (see list below) to whom they were assigned for the duration of the internship.

Student Mentor Project Description

Devin Swann Belma Demiral Impregnation of phosphomolybdic acid upon active carbon

Whitney Haddon Apparao Rao Nanotube Research

Amanda Brown Bob O'Brien Selective hydrogenization of acetylene with certain catalysts.

Jessica Palmer Jim Hower Compared two sets of fly ash samples from same mine collected on different days

Jason Stith Heng Ban Analyzed carbon content in fly ash

Pamela Holbrook Jim Neathery Performed project for industry that looked at the advantages and disadvantages of landfill gas in comparison to coal.

Sylvia Prater Darrell Taulbee Benzene emissions studies from foundries

Jennifer Rush Bob Rathbone Studied fly ash from haulback mining project.

Over the course of two weeks, the students carried out the above tasks through the use of autoclaves, reactors, a scanning electron microscope, optical microscopes, computers, etc. They primarily worked in individual settings with their mentors or with another worker in the research division. However, three group field trips were taken during the two-week period: Lilley Cornett Woods, Letcher County; Starfire Mine, Perry Co.; and Big Sandy power plant, Louisa, Kentucky. The purpose of the visits to the mine and the power plant was to illustrate realms of the energy business that support and call for the work being carried out at the laboratory. The trip to the old growth forest was done to promote a sense of environmental awareness in the state and to discuss the concept of biomass for biofuels.

On the last day of the internship, each student made a presentation of his/her work to their peers, the mentors, some of the high school students' teachers, intern program administrator, and the director of the Center. Each presentation lasted about 10 minutes. Some included slides and/or overheads for purpose of illustration. The importance of these presentations had been stressed throughout the internship. All students appeared to have worked diligently on preparing their materials and had a thorough understanding of their projects.

Proposed activities.
It is proposed that next summer, the internship continue in the same format, building on the experience of the previous years and with a change of mentors, to prevent burnout and build new ideas for intern projects.

Achievements.
Students and mentors completed an anonymous post-internship evaluation form at the end of the program. The interns reported positive experiences, said they would highly recommend the internship to others, liked the dormitory stay, and enjoyed meeting students from other parts of the state. Of the 18 former interns to fill out evaluation questions, 5 had become engineering majors, three of whom chose engineering as a direct result of this internship.

The previous year, the suggestion was made to include planning general activities that students could be sent to do at a point when they weren't busy with their mentors. These included: viewing scientific videos, Internet training, preparing slides for petrography analysis, and using the scanning electron microscope. This was done in an attempt to fill some of the down-time that necessarily occurs between experiments. Also, prior to the internship, I ensured mentors were better prepared by providing guidelines and explaining what would be required of them during the activities.

Because this program is seen in the University as being very successful, the project director has been asked to coordinate an internship program conducted with the UK College of Engineering and a local high school (Lafayette Senior High).

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