81 High School Scholars “Rickoids” to Participate in the Research Science Institute at MIT

June 20, 2012 - PRLog -- Fifty top achieving U.S. scholars, three of whom are Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) scholars, and 31 international scholars will attend the 29th annual Research Science Institute (RSI), jointly sponsored with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) beginning on June 24th.   RSI is a six-week intensive program that provides students with the opportunity to conduct original, cutting edge research in state-of-the-art university laboratories, hospitals and corporate research facilities.  

The RSI Selection Committee, comprised of distinguished STEM professionals, met at the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) in mid- February 2012 to select students chosen for academic merit, demonstrated leadership, and scientific achievement.  Selection also was based on standardized test scores, high school grades, essay submissions, teacher recommendations, and demonstrated potential to become future leaders in STEM.    

“The esteemed RSI program offers scholastically accomplished high school students the opportunity to experience the world of graduate level research and new levels of achievement,” said Joann P. DiGennaro, CEE President.  “CEE is proud to that RSI has nearly 2000 successful alumni with almost an 80% STEM career retention rate.”

RSI is offered cost-free by CEE to competitively selected top achieving students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  RSI scholars, participate from June 24th - August 3rd in college-level research under the mentorship of leading scientists and researchers in the Boston area.

Dr. Andrew Charman, RSI ’86 alumnus and lecturer of physics at University of California, Berkeley, will again lead RSI 2012.  The future STEM leaders will be taught at RSI by leading professors that include:

•   Dr. Steven Leeb of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology  - Engineering
•   Mr. Lance Rhoades of the University of Washington – Humanities
•   Dr. Sean Mulholland, Economics, Stonehill College
•   Dr. Forrest Michael, RSI ‘90 of the University of Washington - Chemistry
•   Dr.  Rebecca  Christianson, RSI ’90 of Olin College– Physics
•   Dr. Christopher Skinner, RSI ‘88 of Princeton University – Math
•   Dr. Matthew Cain, RSI’97 of Brown University – Biology

RSI is an annual educational, summer program which consists of one week of theoretical classroom work, followed by four and one-half weeks of research with a professor or research scientist in the students’ respective area of interest. In the final week, students demonstrate their work through written academic papers and present oral findings to their peers and a panel of judges.

RSI scholars will learn from prominent STEM representatives such as Dr. Jeremy Wolfe of Harvard University, Dr. Wolfgang Ketterle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dr. Michael McQuade of United Technologies Corporation during the highly acclaimed RSI Distinguished Lecture Series. The students, dubbed “Rickoids” after the late Admiral H.G. Rickover, father of the nuclear Navy and founder of the Center with CEE President Joann DiGennaro, will study pure and applied mathematics, physical and biological science, economics, and humanities.

This year RSI will host scholars from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland will be represented at RSI 2012.