Traditional high school summer research programs are often inaccessible to underserved students. Many established programs exacerbate the gap in educational equity by adding a price tag or rigorous requirements, but R2R bridges this gap in Philadelphia by providing early exposure to biotechnology and research through hands-on lab experiences and eye-opening mentorship.
With a focus on mentorship and technical lab toolkits, R2R is a student organization at Penn that hosts weekly lab workshops at Penn for a cohort of 20 students, with future goals to expand. With a heavy emphasis on hands-on learning and mentorship, the curriculum highlights basic lab skills, practical research tools needed in academia, features career mixers, and an end-of-year research symposium. In our pilot year, we reached 450+ students!
The curriculum features lab activities using PCR, gel electrophoresis, CRISPR, and microscopy. Moreover, students will develop soft skills critical for academic and career advancement through workshops on email writing and resume building. Guest speakers from various health-related professions will also provide valuable opportunities for academic networking. For the program’s culmination, students will combine their various lab skills to design their own preliminary research proposal. They will present their project at an end-of-year symposium, further empowering graduates to pursue research after the program ends.