(left to right) Dr. Philip Bays, chair of Project SEED Committee; Dr. John Sheats; Dr. Burce Bernstein, chair elect of the ACS

Rider University’s Project SEED (Summer Education for the Economically Disadvantaged) was cited last month by the American Chemical Society (ACS) as the “Outstanding Project SEED program for 2006.”

As a result of sponsoring Rider’s Project SEED, the Trenton Section of the ACS received a national ChemLuminary Award at the 234th ACS National Meeting in Boston. Dr. John Sheats, professor of chemistry at Rider, accepted the award on behalf of the section. He has been Project SEED coordinator at Rider for the past 17 years.

ACS established Project SEED as a national program in 1968 to help the nation’s disadvantaged overcome the handicapping conditions of inadequate education and underemployment. “Since there was a great deal of social activism in the 1960s, programs like Project SEED really took root,” said Sheats. “Various professional sectors started to look at ways to diversify. In the chemistry field, in particular, about 90 percent of the chemists in the United States were white males, who comprised about 35 percent of the population. Project SEED was founded with the realization that there is scientific talent everywhere.”

According to Cecilia Hernandez, national coordinator of Project SEED and staff liaison to the ACS Committee on Project SEED, Rider’s program stands out due to its breadth of programming and high level of student achievement consistently over the years. “Dr. Sheats has played a critical part in this endeavor. He has also been a strong advocate of expanding Project SEED beyond Trenton. The program is now in 26 states.”

Introduced at Rider in 1977 by Dr. William McCarroll, then chairperson of the chemistry department, Project SEED ran until 1982 with eight students and three mentors. Sheats reinstituted the program in 1991, making it possible for scores of Trenton area high school students and recent high school graduates to work side-by-side with Rider science faculty mentors. For eight to 10 weeks, they conduct doctoral level chemistry research projects for one or two consecutive summers. First-year students receive an approximate stipend of $2,500 each for their work; a $3,000 stipend is given to second-year students.

Over the years, mentors have consisted of faculty from the chemistry; biochemistry and physics; biology, and marine sciences departments at Rider; science faculty from Princeton University; and science teachers from Trenton Catholic Academy, Hamilton West High School, Trenton Central High School, Milford High School and North Burlington High School.

Programming components have included field trips to nearby scientific companies and visits to the Rider Admission Office to familiarize students with the overall process of applying for college. Last year, Rider hosted its first New-Jersey-Pennsylvania Project SEED career conference and Summer Research Symposium.

Throughout the years, 88 students have participated in Rider’s program. More than 90 percent have attended either two or four year colleges with nearly all graduating. The majority have obtained degrees in science; some have gone on to medical, law or graduate school; and several have launched successful careers in other fields, including business and law.

For Ronald Benning, a freshman chemistry major with a minor in mathematics at Rider, the program has elevated his confidence. “During my first summer, I was quite intimidated by the new material,” said Benning, who this past summer helped two fellow SEED students with projects. “With the help and inspiration of Dr. Sheats and other Project SEED teachers, I was able to work on increasingly difficult projects and do quite well. Their faith in me has motivated me to become a chemist.”

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