High School Summer Research Program

High School Summer Research Program

The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) in conjunction with the Engineering Science Corps Outreach Program offers an eight-week summer program where it encourages all of its high school participants to consider a future in engineering. We offer research opportunities in all areas of Engineering and partner our students with a UCLA Engineering Professor and a graduate team (program mentors). Students conduct their research on the UCLA campus in UCLA Engineering Labs and Facilities. Individual research or a group project will be assigned to the students for the eight-week program.

The High School Summer Research Program is funded by the Nicholas Endowment, and there is no out-of-pocket cost to any student participating in this program.

Each week of the program, students have the opportunity to attend a catered lunch presentation by a UCLA Engineering professor and to listen to and ask questions on their research. It is located inside the prestigious Edward K. Rice Conference Room in Boelter Hall. This great opportunity opens students' eyes to the other fields of Engineering and its applications that they may not already be familiar with.

Program participants also have a rare opportunity to sit down and have lunch with Associate Dean Wesel. Each week during the summer program, students get to meet with Dean Wesel, as he shares his own Engineering experiences as well as have some fun blasting off rockets and teaching basic principles of physics.

Participate in Laboratory Research

Each day of the 8-week program, students spend at least 6 hours in their mentor's lab either working on a specific project assigned to them or working alongside graduate and undergraduate students. Mentors are requested to keep program participants working for any 6 hours between the program's Hours of Operation: 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.

Many times, mentors will assign program participants to one of his or her graduate students inside the laboratory. Mentors will meet with program participants periodically to measure progress and address any participant questions.

Create a Scientific Poster of your Research

Program participants attend three classroom sessions focused on creating a professional scientific poster. The classes help students prepare their own scientific poster on their research and learn how to successfully present them during a scientific poster session. Once developed, UCLA Engineering prints out and mounts their posters on large 32" by 40" boards for presentation. Scientific poster sessions are a certain occurrence throughout an engineering student's academic career, and this program allows high school students to get a head start in their engineering experience.

The 8-week summer research program ends with its own Scientific Poster Session where program participants have the opportunity to present their research to family, teachers, UCLA Faculty, and Staff during a professional, catered event.

Participate in a Scientific Poster Session

On the final day of the 8-week program, participants will deliver their research in a scientific poster session. Participant families, teachers, UCLA Engineering faculty and staff are invited to this poster session, which is a catered event and brings the summer program to a close. Program participants interact with their audience as individuals move from one presentation to another. The above slideshow provides some pictures from last summer's program. Program participants receive their stipend, a program certificate and their scientific poster before departing.

Benefits of Program

• Participate in Engineering Research with UCLA Faculty and Staff
• Attend weekly presentations from the various fields of Engineering
• Create a professional Scientific Poster of their research
• Meet and network with peers who have similar goals and interests
• Experience University Residential Life and/or receive a monetary stipend
  
• Become more competitive when applying to Engineering Schools
  

For more information, please go to the Program Website