ANIMAL SCIENCE

Site #1

Title: ANIMAL ACOUSTICS FROM DOGS TO WHALES: CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Mentor: Dr. Michael J. Darre Professor, Animal Sciences, and Ebenezer Otu-Nyarko, Doctoral Student

Please note: background experience or courses in physics or biology and in algebra and/or trigonometry are required for participation in this program.

Do you love animals? Are you interested in learning more about animal science and research that can improve an animal's life? Are you ready to spend three weeks assisting my research team in the UConn Animal Neuroaudiology/Bioacoustics Clinic? Well, read on........our specialty is marine mammal, exotic and companion animal bioacoustics, with specialties in neuroaudiology and central auditory processing systems. We conduct research on the effects of noise on the hearing of Beluga whales and on companion animals (mainly dogs) and poultry and other farm animals’ hearing. Noise pollution is threatening Beluga whales' survival. They are subjected to noise all the time, and they don't have any way to protect themselves. For example, navy sonar, merchant vessels, and whale watching boats all cause problems in the St. Lawrence River, where during the summer, it's not uncommon to have between two and ten whale vessels surrounding a single animal for eight hours at a time with their engines running. This causes loss of hearing, and if a whale becomes deaf, it probably isn't going to survive.

One out of five dogs - particularly Dalmatians and white dogs - are born deaf. If you are selected for this site, you will participate in the research that has brought us to these realizations and aid us in our quest to answer more questions and work toward some solutions. Your work will include research and testing companion animal hearing, and potentially performing some marine mammal bioacoustic and hearing research. Animal audiology is an up-and-coming new aspect of animal health care, and if you think animal science is in your future, we welcome you to join us for three weeks.

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ARCHAEOLOGY

Site #2

Title: ARCHAEOLOGY IN YOUR BACKYARD: DIGGING WITH THE STATE ARCHAEOLOGIST
Mentor: Dr. Nick Bellantoni, State Archaeologist, CT Museum of Natural History, and Associate Professor, Anthropology

Please Note: Due to the hands-on nature of this site, participation will require stamina, daily fieldwork, and exposure to the elements. Hours may be extended beyond those listed in your brochure.

A state archaeologist travels across the region to preserve archaeological sites that may be destroyed by economic development projects. If you choose to work with Dr. Bellantoni, the state archaeologist, your experiences will vary according to current emergency situations. Underlying all activities at this site, however, will be archaeological excavation of endangered sites, as well as laboratory analysis. You will learn about archaeological field techniques including site grid development, mapping, recovery and recording of data, and laboratory work including artifact identification, conservation, and cataloging methods to preserve sites prior to construction activities. You will work with a team of college students, volunteers, and professional archaeologists in a practical approach to the science of archaeology. You will experience how archaeological sites are preserved in the wake of modern development projects, and in some cases, take part in rescue operations to remove significant sites prior to bulldozer activity. Your learning at this site will be valuable should you be considering a career in archaeology, history, geology, ecology, anthropology, or museum studies.

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ARTS

Site #3

Title: PUPPET ARTS
Mentor: Mr. Bart Roccoberton, Director, Puppet Arts, and one of the excellent Puppet Arts students (to be announced)

Are you familiar with the puppets seen on Sesame Street, Avenue Q, and Spiderman II? Wonder where they were designed and made? Look no further! Many were designed and made by the alumni of the Puppet Arts program at UConn, which is led by Bart Roccoberton. If you choose this site, you will have the opportunity to work with Mr. Roccoberton and his students in a number of different puppet forms. You may become involved with collections housed at UConn's own Ballard Museum of Puppetry and learn how museum curators catalogue artifacts and plan exhibits, plus you will spend plenty of time in the puppet labs constructing and performing your own puppet(s) to take home after the program is finished! The Puppet Arts program is unique—UConn is the only university in the country that offers three different degrees in the art of puppetry. Graduates of the program go on to perform in and design for theaters around the world; perform for, build for, and manage internationally recognized TV programs and film; teach children; and direct prominent schools and museums. Don't miss this exciting opportunity to explore a career in the creative and varied field of puppetry!

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ASTRONOMY

Site #4

Title: BE A STAR DETECTIVE
Mentor: Mentor: Dr. Cynthia Peterson, Professor, Physics

Please note: Some night observing will be scheduled for this site, weather permitting.

Would you like to know more about the personal lives of stars you see in the night sky? At this astronomy site you will explore a family of stars all born together at the same time and place (an open cluster). You will determine its distance from us (using main sequence fitting), its total mass (from photometry and spectra), and its approximate age. Weather permitting, you will take simultaneous spectra of its brightest stars and estimate whether the cluster is bound (stars will stay together) or unbound (cluster will slowly dissolve as its stars wander away). Using the above data you will investigate the spatial distribution of different types of stars - are the metal-rich stars randomly distributed, or, for example, found only on the outskirts of the cluster? Do all the observed stars belong to this cluster, or are some unassociated foreground stars? Does your cluster contain any variable stars? What kind? What new information can these variables add? Are any of the stars destined to become black holes? By asking such questions and getting up close and personal with a well-identified group of stars, astronomers have solved many mysteries in stellar evolution, and discovered new phenomena to explore. A basic background of computer skills will be useful for participation in this site, which combines experimental astronomy and virtual observatory resources. Take star gazing to a new, scientific level and have fun while conducting high level research.

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BIOLOGY

Site #5

Title: HELP US LEARN MORE ABOUT BENEFICIAL BACTERIA!
Mentor: Dr. Joerg Graf, Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology

Please note: Background experience or coursework in biology is recommended for participation in this site.

Many people think that bacteria only cause diseases or spoil food, but most bacteria do not cause harm, and many even provide us with a benefit. These bacteria we call symbionts. We know very little about these symbiotic bacteria. In part, this is due to the difficulty in studying symbiotic relationships because they are so complex. While the digestive tract of most animals is colonized by hundreds of different bacteria, from the digestive tract of the medicinal leech we can only grow one species. This unusual simplicity allows us to investigate how the bacteria and the host interact. One way of learning more about this interaction is to look at what genes the bacteria harbor, because these genes tell us what the bacteria are capable of doing. In this project, participants will study DNA from the symbiotic bacteria that is carried on a plasmid. The participants will then learn how to grow bacteria, isolate DNA, sequence DNA, and run agarose gel, electropheresis gels. The techniques used depend upon the progress of the project and may include constructing new plasmids, introducing DNA into bacteria, amplifying DNA using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and computer analysis. This project is designed for participants interested in biology to get some hands-on experience in a molecular biology lab and learn more about how symbiotic microorganisms interact with animals.



Site #6

Title: BRAIN POWER: UNRAVELING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CEREBRAL CORTEX
Mentor: Joe LoTurco, Professor, Physiology and Neurobiology, and his team of doctoral students

Please note: Participation in this site requires handling of live laboratory animals. Instruction in proper handling techniques will be provided.

Have you ever wondered how the most sophisticated computing device on earth, the brain, is assembled? Or how a small, simply organized group of cells in the developing embryo grows and develops into the billions of cells that make up the complex circuits of the human brain? If you select this mentorship site, you will become part of a team of UConn undergraduate and graduate students working on experiments aimed at defining the signals that direct the formation of a major part of the mammalian brain, the cerebral cortex. As part of this team, you will participate in ongoing experiments that use techniques of modern neurobiological research, including recombinant DNA technologies, electrophysiology, histology, and cell culture. Background experiences or course work in biology would be beneficial for participation in this site. If you are interested in a career in biology or the life sciences, you shouldn't miss this opportunity!

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CHEMISTRY

Site #7

Title: A CHEMICAL EQUATION FOR CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH
Mentor: Dr. C. Vijaya Kumar, Professor, and Michael Duff, Doctoral Student, Chemistry

At this site you will receive state-of-the-art training in Nanoscience and Nanomaterials. We will provide you with hands-on experience in our advanced research laboratory. One goal of our research is to design and synthesize enzyme-based nanocatalysts. Enzymes are capable of accelerating a wide variety of chemical reactions to high velocities, under ordinary conditions. We take advantage of this property of enzymes to accelerate chemical reactions. In one project, we are using enzymes to find effective treatments for terrible diseases such as cancer, AIDS, and diabetes. In another project, we are developing catalysts to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to combat against global warming. Our graduate students will train you in the synthesis and characterization of these catalysts, and you will be working on projects at the cutting-edge of nanoscience. If you love chemistry and are curious to learn more about these projects, we invite you to spend three weeks in our high-tech laboratories assisting our research team with biocatalytic nanomaterials.



Site #8

Title: CHEMISTRY WITH A FLASH
Mentor: Dr. Shawn C. Burdette, Professor, and H. M. Bandara, Doctoral Student, Chemistry

Our group is interested in metal ions like zinc, copper, andiron and how living organisms use their unique chemistry to facilitate vital biological functions. We are also interested in the possible adverse consequences these species have if they are not properly regulated, such as potential to cause neurological disorders. To investigate these ideas, we have designed a research program that centers on making chemical tools that bind metals and harness light to change their properties. During the 3-week program, you will participate in the synthesis and characterization of caged complexes for zinc. Caged complexes are organic molecules that tightly bind metals until exposed to a flash of light. The light flash initiates a chemical reaction that converts the caged complex into a molecule that binds the metal very weakly. This change in binding strength causes the metal to be liberated from the cage, which allows us to study the chemistry and biology of free metals in a controlled manner. If you are interested in science at the interface of chemistry and biology, particularly making new molecules with unique properties, then our laboratory is a good fit for you.

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EDUCATION

Site #9

Title: ADVENTURES IN TEACHING
Mentor: Aja LaDuke, Doctoral Candidate and Certified Teacher, Neag School of Education

This mentorship at the UConn/Windham Summer School will provide would-be teachers as well as those interested in child psychology with opportunities to create learning activities and teach children with diverse cultural, language, and learning backgrounds. The Windham Professional Development Center is a cooperative venture between the UConn's Neag School of Education and Windham Public Schools, and provides the setting for summer school. Between 100 - 200 Windham students in grades K-3 attend summer school from 8:00-11:00 AM. Many of the students are bilingual and have a wide variety of learning needs. You will work with teachers and other school professionals to design and implement engaging and culturally relevant lessons. You will be involved in team-teaching these lessons and then reflecting on your practice and student learning outcomes. Upon returning from the school site, you will meet with your mentor to discuss that morning’s activities in a seminar-like atmosphere. You will read intriguing texts presenting both the history and the current status of K-12 public education in the U.S. Reading, discussing, and journaling about these texts will help you to contextualize the experiences of the students with whom you are working, as well as your own school experiences. For your final project, you will choose a perceived problem in education today that is of particular interest to you. Your research project will challenge you to look at this problem from a variety of perspectives, and may involve interviewing peers, students, teachers, and other school personnel. Your experiences in this site will demonstrate how teachers can affect the future through empowering students and working toward social change.



Site #10

Title: TEACH ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE!
Mentor: Jeannie Slayton, Instructor, UConn American English Language Institute

Have you considered a career in teaching English as a Second Language? Are you fascinated by the language-learning process? Do you think you would enjoy working with people from other countries and cultures? Would you like to travel to other countries to teach English? UConn's American English Language Institute (UCAELI) offers intensive English classes to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from all over the world. As a participant in this site, you will assist as an instructor in classes like American Culture, English through the Media, Listening and Speaking, and more. Take on a creative approach to teaching English while you become part of a "global family" and get to know people from Korea, Venezuela, Turkey, Brazil, France, Japan, and many other countries around the globe. Learn how to develop innovative lesson plans to assist students in conversation, listening skills, reading, and writing. You will also have an opportunity to become a "Conversation Partner," which will allow you to carry on informal conversations with students from other countries. Informal conversation with fluent English speakers is an important aspect of learning the language, and you will work with a small group of students who will have some questions or conversation strategies to practice. Learning more about English as a Second Language can open the door to careers as bilingual teachers, ESL teachers both in the U.S. and abroad, interpreters, and translators!

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ENGINEERING

Site #11

Title: BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Mentor: Dr. John Enderle, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director, Biomedical Engineering Program, and Dave Kaputa, Doctoral Student

Biomedical engineers currently play a vital role in the health care industry as they solve problems using modern engineering technology. Biomedical engineering involves learning about biology in new ways and developing new tools to diagnose disease and repair or replace diseased organs. Exciting advances in medicine, such as the artificial heart, were created by biomedical engineers. If you choose this site, you will work with biomedical engineers at UConn and may design devices to record heart signals, work on a biomedical robot, or work on a project to improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities. If you are interested in design and engineering, and you want to help people live more productive or comfortable lives through the use of technology, then this site is for you!



Site #12

Title: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING: SECURING A MORE ENERGY-EFFICIENT FUTURE
Mentor: Dr. Richard S. Parnas, Associate Professor, Institute of Materials Science and Department of Chemical Engineering

Virtually all of the 100 billion kg/yr of currently used polymers and plastics are derived from petroleum and do not biodegrade. Plant proteins are a potential alternative route to these materials, and a number of products such as medical devices and food packaging films are now entering markets. Our goal is to develop material for the commodity plastics market that can be used in high enough volume to have a significant positive environmental impact, and that means developing a very inexpensive protein-based polymer. A team of graduate and undergraduate students is working with wheat protein, the highest molecular weight naturally occurring polymer, and have succeeded in producing material with strength and stiffness better than high grade epoxies. Major challenges remain, however, in engineering the material microstructure to resist water absorption and to control the rate of biodegradation. In pursuit of these goals, we design and synthesize molecular additives to modify the protein structure, and analyze the materials with various methods of chemical and mechanical testing. A second research project to consider is the production of biodiesel for use in transportation and heating applications. Biodiesel burns much more cleanly than petro-diesel, has almost no net greenhouse gas emissions, and yields 3 times as much energy as is required to produce it. In contrast, the most well known biofuel, ethanol, requires nearly as much energy to produce as is contained in the fuel, and produces more greenhouse gas emissions than biodiesel. Our educational laboratory includes a team of graduate and undergraduate students who process waste vegetable oil from UConn dining services. The biodiesel produced in the lab is given to the UConn motor pool for use in diesel powered shuttle buses and to UConn Farm Services for use in tractors. Choose this site, and you will get an intensive, hands-on experience in chemical engineering and problem solving.



Site #13

Title: NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY: THE FUTURE OF DETECTION AND TREATMENT OF DISEASE
Mentor: Dr. Yong Wang, Assistant Professor, Chemical Materials & Biomolecular Engineering

My research group focuses on biomolecular nanoengineering, which is the practice of engineering on the nanoscale. The nanoscale derives its name from the namometer, a unit of measurement equaling one billionth of a meter. Simply speaking, we use biomolecules to engineer nanostructures. The goal is to design novel nanomedicines for therapy, nanomaterials for regenerative medicine, and nanoprobes for clinical testing. Many proteins manufactured in pharmceutical companies today can be used as therapeutics. However, natural proteins like anitbodies may not play their therapeutic roles well for many reasons. We hope to construct artificial proteins with nucleic acids as the raw materials! We seek to use modified nucleic acids to assemble novel nanostructures to mimic proteins. The nanostructure has two major components. One is used as "radar" to search for an undesirable object such as a tumor, and the other is used as a "missile" to attach the object. The biomimetic proteins will be used in the delivery of cancer-fighting drugs, or as nanoprobes capable of moving through tissue and blood to sense underlying health problems even before symptoms emerge. Choose this site and you will learn state-of-the-art nanobiotechnology to assist us as we develop and characterize biomimetic proteins.



Site #14

Title: CALLING ALL YOUNG INVENTORS!
Mentor: Dr. Zbigniew M. Bzymek, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Engineering design is a problem solving process that requires personal talent, imagination, and knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering sciences. This site will give you some tools to solve elementary design contradictions, formulate concepts clearly, and present them to others. It will also teach you how to pursue an idea through general shape design of objects by using the software systems, "Invention Machine" and "Inventor." Inventor is a Silicon Graphic system equipped with the best graphics hardware available. Solving problems means solving contradictions, and this will be an important part of your work at this site. An example of a design contradiction follows: a space shuttle should have heavy mass to keep its speed and direction, and it should also have a small weight to overcome gravity forces easily. So it should be heavy AND light. Solving contradictions will aid you on your way to seeing your designs through. You will work in UConn's CAD/CAM Laboratory, spending your three weeks studying conceptual designs of engineering objects such as machines, boats, cars, airplanes, space crafts, etc. An example of a design problem you might expect to tackle follows: the number of cars in Connecticut is growing quickly, so in the future it will force us to seek other routes for cars such as air highways and water highways. You may be asked to design multi-purpose vehicles that will be used on highways on land, air highways (up to 500 miles above the ground), and water highways along the coasts, both on the ocean's surface and underneath the water surface. You may be asked to use the new material developed using nanotechnology that is 30 times stronger than steel. By learning and implementing some basic rules of engineering design and combining them with requirements of the future society you will be on the right track towards a career in mechanical engineering.

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HUMANITIES

Site #15

Title: CREATIVE WRITING
Mentor: Dr. Christopher Anderson, Creative Writing Instructor, English

Are you the kind of person who carries a notebook everywhere you go so you can jot down lines of poetry when inspiration strikes? Do you look at the world through the eyes of the characters in stories you've created? Or have you always wanted to be a writer, but never known how to get started? If you're interested in taking the next step (or maybe even your first step) toward becoming a poetry or fiction writer, you'll jump at the chance to develop your own writing abilities while getting to know other students who share your passion for creative expression. If you choose this site, you will spend three weeks living the writing life. You will examine the writing techniques of professional authors, and you will work with a mentor from the UConn English Department who will provide fun exercises to help get you started and who will offer suggestions on how to make your writing appeal to a reading audience. Most importantly, this site will include lots of time for independent writing, followed by the opportunity to receive personalized feedback on your work. Sharpen your pencil (or plug in your computer?) and get ready to write!

Site #16

Title: YOUTH IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, FILM, TELEVISION, & POPULAR CULTURE
Mentor: Barbara J. Campbell, Doctoral Candidate, English

At this site you will explore portrayals of young adults in American twentieth-century literature, film, television, and popular culture, while casting a critical eye towards these depictions. Given that the bulk of American media is about or targeted toward teenagers, today’s young people occupy the best position by which to critique it. Unfortunately, most media portrayals of young people are created and reviewed by adults. The purpose of this mentorship is to enhance your interpretive capabilities about cultural representations of young adults through the process of reading, writing, research, and discussion. In response to the materials you will read and view at this site, you will create your own “zine” (little magazine) of critical commentary and reviews. You will gain practice in reading and viewing responsibly, in thinking critically and analytically, and in expressing yourself clearly in writing. Working together as a team, you and your peers will bring your individual responses together in the zine design and composition process. By the conclusion of this mentorship, you will have honed your ability to make persuasive arguments about the quality and truthfulness of youth culture. Some of the themes you might explore include teenagers and the family, as in the coming of age stories by prominent authors William Faulkner and Jean Webster. In addition, you will watch clips from films and television shows depicting adolescents in America during various periods in history. We will discuss upon many themes such as teen rebellion; cultural, racial, economic, and social differences among peers; teenagers struggling with religious, spiritual, and ethical values; and physical and academic competition.Does Disney’s High School Musical accurately represent the reality of and challenges facing young people today? Do kids watch Kid Nation? How do commercials portray teenagers? This mentorship provides you a chance to gain experience in composing thoughtful and useful evaluations about youth culture; while not a course in publishing, you will certainly engage in the creative processes of zine composition and design. While all the films and television shows we will view are PG-13 or TV-14 and under, I would be happy to provide parents with a list of clips and films to be screened.

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MATERIALS SCIENCE

Site #17

Title: MATERIALS SCIENCE
Mentor: Dr. Harris Marcus, Director, Institute of Materials Science, and various IMS faculty and graduate students

Please Note: Students who select this site are requested to be on site at 8:30 AM daily.

You have most likely heard of ceramics, metals, polymers, and nanomaterials in general, but did you know that we use these materials every single day? The production of these substances is an intricate and exacting science and calls upon chemists, pharmacists, physical scientists, metallurgists, and biotechnicians to study the composition and properties of materials. As a participant in this mentorship site, you will be involved with faculty, graduate students, and staff members who study and research materials science and engineering. Over your three weeks at this site, you will develop an understanding of the synthesis and physical and mechanical processing of the advanced materials. One or more of these advanced nanomaterials, ceramic, metal, or composite materials will be part of your research. Your exploration will involve the use of sophisticated laboratory facilities and equipment, such as microscopes, spectroscopies, and theoretical computer modeling to understand how this research is conducted. This is an excellent opportunity to get hands-on, science research experience in a high-tech lab.



Site #18

Title: POLYMER SCIENCE: APPROACHES TOWARDS SYNTHETIC MUSCLES
Mentor: Dr. Rajeswari Kasi, Assistant Professor, Institute of Materials Science & Department of Chemistry

The structure and mechanical properties of skeletal muscles have been studied since the 15th century. The primary function of a muscle is to generate movement upon application of a force. For example, when all of the muscles in a human heart act in a synchronized fashion, directed by electrical stimulus from the brain, the heart can pump blood through the blood vessels by repeated contractions. We are interested in preparing new materials (stimuli-responsive polymers) which show muscle-like function; that is, they contract and expand in size upon application of external stimuli. The external stimuli applied can be magnetic, electrical, temperature, pH, light, cell matter, or combinations thereof. We are a team of graduate and undergraduate students who work on all aspects of materials creation and property analysis. We are currently developing stimuli-responsive polymers for applications in controlled drug release and controlled release of particles for imaging cancer cells. By choosing this research site, you will experience the making of new stimuli-responsive polymers and analyzing their properties. This project will better allow scientists to target and treat specific diseases by delivering therapeutics in a precise and controlled manner.

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NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE

Site #19

Title: RESEARCH IN NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
Mentor: Dr. Maria-Luz Fernandez, Professor, Nutritional Sciences

Currently, there are two studies that my graduate students will be working on this summer, and if you choose this site, you can assist my research teams as we study the effects of lutein, an antioxidant present in green vegetables and also in eggs, which protects the eyes against macular degeneration. We will be working with subjects who are consuming no lutein, regular lutein eggs, or lutein-enriched eggs to determine if their eyes will be protected by the lutein. We will accomplish this by measuring macular pigment with special equipment in my lab. We will also measure blood lipids and effects of eggs and lutein on lipoprotein metabolism to research the relationship with heart disease. I am also doing studies in guinea pigs to determine whether low carbohydrate diets can protect against atherosclerosis, which is one of the underlying causes of heart disease. For this study, we measure the effects of the diet in different organs including the liver and the aortas. Finally, we are also working on a project in which we evaluate the effects of a peer-counseled intervention on Hispanic subjects diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. We measure the changes in glycosylated hemoglobin, plasma cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose over one year to determine whether peer counseling is affecting these parameters. If you are interested in nutrition and body chemistry and would like to engage in research this summer, this site is for you.

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PHARMACY

Site #20

Title: PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE: DRUG DEVELOPMENT
Mentor: Dr. Robin H. Bogner, Associate Professor, and Dr. Diane Burgess, Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences

Once a drug molecule has been discovered and tested, it must be made into a product that can be easily administered to the patient. The science of designing and testing the drug product is known as pharmaceutics. It combines a knowledge of physics, engineering, chemistry, and physiology with the challenge of preparing a dosage form that gets the drug to the right place at the right time and in the right concentration. The pharmaceutics group at UConn is involved in research on a wide array of dosage forms from tablets and capsules to microspheres, liposomes, and nanotechnology. This site provides a wonderful hands-on opportunity to explore this aspect of the pharmaceutical drug development process. If you think pharmaceutics might be in your future, take advantage of this great learning opportunity!

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PHYSICS

Site #21

Title: NUCLEAR PHYSICS
Mentor: Dr. Richard T. Jones, Associate Professor, Physics

One of the biggest discoveries in physics over the last 30 years has been that the protons and neutrons that make up the atomic nucleus are not just featureless blobs, but are, in fact, made out of smaller particles called quarks. Normally, quarks are invisible and hidden away inside the nucleus, but they can be glimpsed with the aid of beams of high-energy particles. The Nobel prize in physics was awarded in 2004 to three American physicists for their theory of a force that they called "nuclear glue" which holds the quarks together inside neutrons and protons. Experimenters at this site are working on developing an intense beam of polarized light that will be used to excite the glue and measure its properties. Do you like physics? If so, this is an ideal site for anyone interested in participating on a team that is engaged in cutting-edge research in the field of quark physics.

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PSYCHOLOGY

Site #22

Title: MAKING MEMORIES IN THE MAMMALIAN BRIAN
Mentor: Dr. James J. Chrobak, Associate Professor, Psychology

Please note: Participation in this site requires handling of live laboratory animals. Instruction in proper handling techniques will be provided.

Can you remember what you had for breakfast yesterday? How about last Saturday? Do you remember your first "best" friend? Your second? Our laboratory is interested in the brain structures that make episodic memories. We use behavioral, pharmacological, anatomical, and electrophysiological techniques to explore the physiology and function of the hippocampal formation and interconnected structures in awake, behaving rodents. These structures are critical for the formation and consolidation of episodic memories in all mammalian species, including humans. Students working in our lab will likely participate in ongoing experiments that involve behavioral (memory) testing of rodents. Students can also gain experience working in a histochemical lab processing brain tissue for microscopic analysis, and they can listen in on the activity of thousands of hippocampal neurons in awake, freely behaving rodents! A willingness to learn and ability to handle rats (basically a big hamster) would be beneficial.



Site 23

Title: "DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN..."
Mentor: Dr. Etan Markus, Associate Professor, Biopsychology

Please note: Participation in this site requires handling of live laboratory animals. Instruction in proper handling techniques will be provided.

We go through life experiencing many different things: happy and sad events, people, places, food, and smells, just to name a few. Days or even years later, we can bring these experiences back to life as memories. In our laboratory we study how experiences are preserved in the brain. We focus on a brain structure (the hippocampus) that, when damaged, prevents the formation of new memories and disrupts navigation. If you select this mentorship site, you will join a team of UConn doctoral and undergraduate students researching how the hippocampus is involved in changing brain circuitry. Many different techniques are used in the lab, and participants will be encouraged to ask questions and sit in on any ongoing research, regardless of the specific mentorship project they will be working on. We are currently conducting experiments examining why old rats show memory deficits; the process in which the hippocampus works together with or competes with other parts of the brain; and differences between how male and female rats navigate through the environment. This is an ideal experience for those interested in careers in medicine, biology, or psychology.



Site #24

Title: BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE: USING ANIMAL MODELS TO UNDERSTAND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DISORDERS
Mentor: Dr. R. Holly Fitch, Associate Professor, Psychology (Behavioral Neurosciences), Caitlin Cleary and Courtney Hill, Doctoral Students

Please note: Participation in this site requires handling of live laboratory animals. Instruction in proper handling techniques will be provided.

Most people are aware that animal research helps us to better understand human diseases. From immunology (e.g., AIDS research) to cancer research to neurological research (e.g., monkey models of Parkinson's disease), animals have helped us to understand and sometimes treat things that go wrong in the human body. One area that has been difficult to study in animals, however, is language disability - animals don't have language! Nevertheless, many children (estimated around 5-10%) fail to develop language normally, and a large number of these go on to become reading disabled (e.g., dyslexic). Language disability has a huge emotional and economic impact on these children and their families. Yet, we understand very little about what is happening in the brain to cause these problems. How can animals help us? An important part of language development includes the simple ability to process and discriminate complex and quickly changing sounds (such as human speech). Impairments in this ability may severely disrupt the development of language from infancy onward. Although animals cannot learn to speak, they can discriminate simple sounds. Rats can even discriminate a "ba" from a "da" sound, yet children with language disability have a difficult time with the same task. We also have some information about abnormalities in the brains of dyslexics, but these were observed "post mortem" and, because of the limits of neuroimaging, we cannot study these anomalies in living humans (much less children!). Instead, we can model these brain anomalies in rodents and test these same animals in a variety of auditory discrimination tasks. We can also assess other types of brain injury, such as those typically seen in premature/low birth-weight babies. The children also tend to suffer learning and language difficulties. Our animal studies will allow us to draw connections between (1) disrupted brain development and (2) disrupted auditory discrimination, speech perception and possibly, consequent language development. Our rodents will never develop language, of course, but these studies may begin to give us some insight on the neurobiology of basic auditory processing deficits that may occur in some children with disabling disorders of language. If you choose this site, you will be doing hands-on behavioral work with rodents, as models for human development clinical disorders (primarily auditory testing, but may include other areas of cognition/learning assessment of rodents, such as maze-testing, as well). Projects may also include anatomical assessment of post mortem rodent brain tissue.



Site #25

Title: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND THE BRAIN: THE CASES OF AUTISM AND INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION
Mentor: Dr. Inge-Marie Eigsti, Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychology, Jessica Bean, Ashley DeMarchena and Jillian Schuh, Doctoral Students

Children typically learn a language in an astonishingly predictable fashion: the order of learning different aspects of language, and the timing seem to be consistent across a wide variety of cultures, family styles, and individual differences. This amazing universality may mask some important variability. By studying special "experiments of nature" we may be able to learn more about the learning styles and brain differences that drive the process of language learning. In our laboratory, we study two important groups of children, each of which is learning English in a unique way. Children adopted to Connecticut from international orphanages are learning English later in development, as a second language; in addition, their brains may have been subtly affected by the highly stressful experience of orphanage life. We also study brain development and language processing in children with autism, who have subtle differences in learning style and memory functioning that influence how they learn language; these factors are likely responsible in part for the dramatic language delays and difficulties that characterize autism. If you select this laboratory experience, you will help to run subjects in our language experiments. Depending on timing, you may also be involved in analyzing brain imaging data. You will help to analyze some portion of the data we have collected in these ongoing experiments. Primarily, our data consist of computer-based games and standardized assessments, as well as language produced and recorded while children tell stories or play in the lab. This will be an appropriate experience for students with an interest in developmental or clinical psychology, or cognitive science.



Site #26

Title: EARLY DETECTION OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS
Mentor: Katelinn Carr, Doctoral Student, in the lab of Dr. Deborah Fein, Professor, Clinical Psychology

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. Both children and adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities.

This project involves screening toddlers for possible autism and related disorders. Parents fill out a screening checklist at their doctor's office, and participants in this site, under the supervision of site mentors, will score the checklists and enter the data in the computer. They will listen to phone interviews with parents, will schedule evaluations for children who fail the screening, and will be able to watch evaluations and participate in diagnostic discussions among the clinicians. Participants may also be asked to help graduate students analyze data for special projects. Participants will be assigned readings to help them understand the conditions for which we are screening and prepare them to become a part of our research team for three weeks. If you are interested in learning more about children with autism through hands-on research, this would be a great opportunity.

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WEBPAGE DESIGN

Site #27

Title: EMERGING WEB TECHNOLOGIES
Mentor: Archana Krishnan, Doctoral Student, Communication Sciences

Are you intrigued by the dazzling assortment of web pages vying for your attention on the Internet? Would you like to learn how to create web pages that would allow you to showcase a personal interest or passion? This mentorship site will focus on learning principles of effective web-page design. You will learn how to develop basic programming code using HTML and Dreamweaver and create animations using Flash. You will refine these skills by setting up a website or animation on an educational topic of your choice. The field of communications, particularly involving web page design and management, is becoming competitive , and this informative and fun experience will give you an advantage and set you on your way to becoming a creative producer of digital content!

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ADDITIONAL SITE

Site #28

Title: ELECTRONICS: SPY MICROPHONE
Mentor: Dr. Ali Gokirmak, Assistant Professor and Dr. Helena Silva, Assistant Professor, Nanoelectronics Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Electronics is everywhere. From lighting to energy generation, distribution and storage, to transportation, communications, medical devices, computing. It is difficult to imagine our lives today without electronics. In this laboratory you will design and build a fun electronic device, a "spy microphone." This device will allow you to listen to a conversation taking place in a house while sitting outside unnoticed, at a distance. The conversations taking place inside the room result in vibration of the windows. You will shine a laser onto the window and pickup the reflected laser light using a photodiode. You will design and implement an electronic circuit which will reconstruct the speech inside the room from the reflected laser light and convert it back to sound by a speaker. You will learn about sound, mechanical, optical and electrical signals and get hands-on experience on different aspects of electronics including an electrical circuit, a semiconductor laser, a photodetector and a speaker. And you will be able to build a spy microphone later on if you need one!

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