“SIP’s mission is to facilitate a life-altering experience for high school students, by placing them as summer interns in research groups and labs, where they work as members of a real scientific research team.”
– SIP Founder, Raja GuhaThakurta
Through SIP summer internships, students will grasp the relationships among research tasks, research projects, and broader research programs—not abstractly, but through practical experience working with research mentors and other team members engaged in research project design, the application of accepted methods and best practices, data collection and analysis, and effective communication of research findings.
Through the program’s strong commitment to mentorship (not just work experience), SIP provides students with a front row seat for witnessing scientific research passion “in action” as it unfolds, in and through the activity of a research team. Participating in the ongoing traverse along the circuit from basic questions to project design, data collection, and analysis, the passion for research becomes something shared.
SIP’s Core Values
SIP seeks to achieve our mission through the four compass points of our Core Values:
Critical Thinking
SIP encourages curiosity and questions. Through SIP summer internships, students grasp the relationships among research tasks, research projects, and the broader body of research—not abstractly, but through practical experience working with research mentors and other team members engaged in research project design, the application of accepted methods and best practices, data collection and analysis, and effective communication of research findings.
Access
SIP remains steadfast in our commitment to change the educational outcomes for those affected by historic inequities. We recognize that education plays a vitally important role in righting these wrongs. SIP offers a transformative educational experience that significantly enhances students’ academic trajectory. We work hard to remove barriers to academic access, and make intentional efforts to recruit students from historically excluded backgrounds.
Mentorship
Through the program’s strong commitment to mentorship, SIP provides students with a front row seat for witnessing scientific research as it unfolds, in and through the activity of a research team. Participating in the ongoing traverse along the circuit from basic questions to project design, data collection, and analysis, the passion for research becomes something shared.
Community
SIP intentionally builds a community of practice in scholarship, diversity, innovation, and openness to ideas during the SIP summer program. This community persists and is strengthened through alumni and parent engagement, peer mentoring, career networking, and sharing inspiration through partnerships and outreach initiatives.
History
UCSC Astronomy Professor Raja GuhaThakurta started SIP in 2009 with the recognition that immersion in a university research experience could be a transformational experience for bright and motivated high-school students and that such experiences accelerate student development toward becoming serious scholars and researchers.
SIP started with just three summer students from a leading private Silicon Valley high school, The Harker School, in 2009 working on astronomy projects with one faculty mentor. It has grown such that in 2019 there were 180 interns in the program, working in 14 different departments in the physical and biological sciences, engineering, and social sciences divisions. To date, 816 high school students from 155 different high schools (most in the Bay Area, but some in other parts of California and other parts of the country/world) have participated in 967 internships in the program.