Tulane Science Scholars Program

2013-2014 Academic Year Program

The Tulane Science Scholars Program (TSSP) is a selective program for high school students who have exceptional talent in the sciences and mathematics. TSSP holds classes at Tulane on Saturday mornings during the academic year. Students can take up to two classes in the fall and two classes in the spring.  The choice of classes is available on the online application.  Each class has 8 contact hours and usually meets on 2-3 Saturdays.  There is a $75 fee for each course which is due upon acceptance into the program. Need-based scholarships are available through the generosity of the Bruce J. Heim Foundation, for which a separate additional application is required and will be sent upon request.

2013 Summer Program

In addition to the academic year program, a summer program is offered to high school students.  The summer program includes the following courses.  The TSSP will select a maximum of 24 students for each course.

NSCI 1005: Laboratory Explorations in Neuroscience (Class has been filled)

Instructor: Dr. Thomas Hebert

Neuroscience Program, Department of Psychology

This summer session will focus on the field of Neuroscience, which is the study of the brain. Neuroscientists study everything from the electrical activity of individual brain cells to the behavior of animals and people. TSSP students will have the opportunity to learn from the same techniques and equipment that Tulane neuroscientists use in their own research. Laboratory activities will be supervised by Tulane faculty members and their students will include the following:

• Learn basic brain anatomy by studying actual human brain specimens.
• Learn how to test the effects of drugs on the behavior of rats.
• Learn how to prepare brain tissue for study under a microscope.
• Learn how to measure human brain waves.
• Learn how to interpret data through statistical analysis.
• Learn how to write in the style of science.

The 12 day summer program will be held on Tulane University's campus on Monday July 8th through Friday July 19th, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. This program is offered for one hour of university credit and has a $300 fee, which is due upon acceptance into the program. Need-based scholarships are available through the generosity of the Bruce J. Heim Foundation, for which a separate additional application is required and will be sent upon request.

 

PHYS 1005: Materials Camp: The Science of Electronic and Bio Materials (Spaces still available!)

Instructors: Dr. Zhiqiang Mao, Dr. John Perdew, Dr. Douglas Chrisey, Dr. Lev Kaplan, Dr. Jiang Wei, and Dr. Diyar Talbayev

Department of Physics and Engineering Physics

This summer session will focus on the field of Materials, which is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This two-week (ten-day) course is intended for high school students who wish to explore and stimulate their interest in the physical and biological sciences.  The course consists of rotations between four materials physics and materials science research laboratories in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics.  Each rotation combines lectures with hands-on laboratory activities to excite and introduce students to contemporary methods and issues in biomaterials, optics and lasers, superconductivity, and nanotechnology.  Emphasis is placed on demonstrating basic principles and active and hands-on student involvement.  Laboratory activities will be supervised by Tulane faculty members and their students.  Students will:

• Appreciate how superconductivity allows important real world applications, such as magnetic levitation, increased computer speed, and reduced energy consumption.
• Be introduced to the unique properties of nanomaterials as well as the methods for nanofabrication.
  
• Be introduced to contemporary methods of biomaterials engineering for disparate topics ranging from stem cells and regenerative medicine to cancer therapy.
  
• Gain an understanding of how the laser works, appreciate the uniqueness of laser light, and understand how the laser light inspires important new methods in materials processing and studying matter.
  

The 14 day summer program will be held on Tulane University's campus on Wednesday July 10th through Tuesday July 23rd, from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. This program is offered for one hour of university credit and has a $300 fee, which is due upon acceptance into the program. Need-based scholarships are available through the generosity of the Bruce J. Heim Foundation, for which a separate additional application is required and will be sent upon request.

 

 

SCEN 1005: Explorations in Programming (Spaces still available!)

Instructor: Dr. Michelle Hewlett Sanchez

Department of Physics and Engineering Physics

This summer session will focus on learning how to program in MATLAB, which is software used by many engineers and scientists in both industry and academia.  Taking a course to learn how to program in and use MATLAB is required of all biomedical engineering and engineering physics undergraduate students at Tulane.  Many other universities also require their students to use MATLAB in a variety of engineering and science disciplines. This course introduces students to computer science and the logical thinking required to do programming. This two-week course introduces high school students to the foundations of programming and algorithm development using MATLAB including the basics of matrix algebra using arrays, numerical analysis, and visualizing data. Laboratory activities in a computer lab will be supervised by Tulane faculty members and their students.  Topics of this course include the following:

• Using MATLAB built-in functions including factorial, trigonometric functions, and arithmetic functions
  
• Writing MATLAB scripts or programs to create a program to do exactly what you want
  
• Learning about matrices, vectors, and arrays and how to do mathematical operations with them by hand and in MATLAB
  
• Solving systems of equations with arrays instead of solving them algebraically
• Importing and exporting files in MATLAB (read in data files and write out files to use in another program)
  
• Plotting in MATLAB (lines, bar graphs, pie charts, etc.)
• Relational and logical operators and the if-else and switch-case statements
• For and while loops and nested loops
• Creating and saving function files
• Curve fitting and interpolation
  

The 12 day summer program will be held on Tulane University's campus on Monday June 10th through Friday June 21st, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. This program is offered for one hour of university credit and has a $300 fee, which is due upon acceptance into the program. Need-based scholarships are available through the generosity of the Bruce J. Heim Foundation, for which a separate additional application is required and will be sent upon request.

 

The Behaving Brain (by invitation only)

Instructor: Dr. Nandini Vasudevan

Neuroscience Program, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology

In this two week course, we study the molecular basis of behavior by using a mice model to study aggressive behaviors and behaviors denoting anxiety.  We will study the estrogen regulation of these behaviors by using chronic and acute estrogen administration to male and female mice. We will test the mice on behavioral apparatuses designed to measure these parameters. In addition, we will examine possible changes in the brain of mice by using Golgi impregnation to study dendritic spines and immunocytochemistry. Students will gain hands-on experience in animal behavioral testing, scoring of behaviors, cell culture, brain dissection and immunocytochemistry. A short lecture module is provided at various points in the course to acquaint students with scientific hypothesis, methodology and data analysis. Undergraduate and graduate mentors, as well as the instructor will assist in all aspects of the course. A small stipend will be offered to students. The dates of the program are TBD from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily on weekdays.  For more information, please contact Dr. Nandini Vasudevan directly at nandini@tulane.edu.

Funded by: National Science Foundation CAREER grant IOS-1053716 to NV.