Project SEED

Project SEED Overview

Project SEED provides a $2,500 fellowship to economically disadvantaged high school juniors or seniors, who exhibit high achievement and passion for science, to participate in summer research at an academic laboratory. Project SEED is an enrichment program sponsored jointly by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and local industry that provides underprivileged high school juniors and seniors, with the opportunity to perform guided chemistry research in an academic laboratory. Ultimately, SEED is about more than doing science. Part of the mentoring experience is learning life skills, preparing students for the real world, and opening their eyes to careers they had never even dreamed of pursuing. There is a true emphasis on career development and motivating students to pursue higher education in the natural sciences.

Project SEED is a national program sponsored partially by the American Chemical Society (ACS), and Rider has hosted fellows since 1976, when Dr. Bill McCarroll and Dr. John Sheats, both now Professors Emeritus, recognized that Rider and the surrounding community would benefit from a program that would train motivated and talented individuals to do chemical research. Lack of monetary and educational resources within areas like Trenton and Hamilton typically often impede exposure of under-serviced high school students to science as a profession. Rider’s SEED program addresses this gap, with opportunities for mentorship within the Department of Chemistry.

Our summer program includes:

6-8 Weeks of laboratory experience, working on a scholarly research project alongside one of our chemistry professors and other undergraduate researchers
Tours of chemical and pharmaceutical companies, as well as other types of companies that employ chemists. Fellows in previous years visited sites including Bristol-Myers Squibb (Lawrenceville), Sanofi Aventis (Bridgewater), Firmenich (Princeton), the New Jersey State Forensics Laboratory (Hamilton), ChemGlass (Vineland), and the Salem Community College Glass Education Center (Salem).
Opportunities to present your research on a local and national level. Previous fellows have traveled between Boston and Washington, DC to present their research.
Counseling on applying and paying for college

Over the past 35 years, the 110+ students who have participated in Project SEED at Rider have moved on to study chemistry in college and graduate school, and have become anything from benchtop chemists and local pharmaceutical companies to patent lawyers and dentists. Whether the past SEED fellows became chemists or lawyers, they all attribute Project SEED with instilling in them the confidence and guidance they needed to pursue science in college.

2018 Summer Program Information

The application for the Summer 2018 Project SEED program at Rider University is currently available. Download application & instructions (.pdf). Download student financial form (.pdf). Download official program announcement (.pdf).

Important Dates

Date	Deadline
April 7	Letters sent to high school teachers
April 10 - May 10	Visitations to local high schools
May 17	Rider SEED information session
May 22	Deadline for SEED applications
May 24 - 25	Interviews of SEED candidates
May 29	SEED fellows announced
June 1	Deadline for SEED student financial statement
June 19 - August 4	Program runs for SEED Fellows (subject to change)
August 21 - 22	Presentations at National ACS Meeting in Washington, DC
August 25	Deadline for final reports and surveys

Eligibility

Students entering their junior or senior year in high school in Fall 2018
Students who have excelled in at least one chemistry course
Maximum family income may not exceed 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines based on family size
Students from underrepresented populations are encouraged to apply

Candidate applications that do not follow the eligibility requirements above will not be considered.

Previous Project SEED Fellows

2017

Ameka Yawson Trenton High School Mentor: Dr. Jamie Ludwig Project: Development of Visual Tools for Organic Lab Students	Geordelle Maxwell Trenton High School Mentor: Dr. Daniel Druckenbrod Project: What Causes Gum Spots on Black Cherry Trees at Fernow, WV?
Gbaweah Sandy Trenton High School Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Synthesis of Pyridine Sulfonamides using N-Oxides

2016

Jibri Grigger-Muse Trenton High School West Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Development of a polymer lab for Organic Chemistry II	Shawn Bailey Trenton High School West Mentor: Dr. David Laviska Project: Development of a polymer lab for Organic Chemistry II
Bianca Swidler Peddie School Mentor: Dr. Jamie Ludwig Project: Development of new biocatalytic strategies and a biochemistry teaching lab

2015

Khari Butler Samuels Foundation Collegiate Academy Mentor: Dr. John Bochanski Project: Searching the stars: distant M giants in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey	Mideum Park West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Optimization of the acidic dehydration of 1-phenylethanol to styrene under microwave conditions Current Position: Freshman at MIT majoring in Chemistry
Haniyyah Sardar Council Rock High School South Mentor: Dr. Jamie Ludwig Project: Development of new biocatalytic strategies and a biochemistry teaching lab Current Position: Sophomore at New York University majoring in Chemistry

2013

Daisy De Paz Trenton Central High School Mentor: Dr. Bruce Burnham Project: Synthesis of ortho-nitrophenyl acetate and its use in acetylcholine esterase kinetics	Nahomie Possible Hamilton High School West Mentor: Dr. Feng Chen Project: Synthesis of ZnTiO3 by soft chemical and microwave assisted routes Current Position: Junior at Rutgers University majoring in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Nneka Onukwugha Stuart Country Day School Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Optimization experiments for the aza-conjugate addition of benzenesulfonamide to 2-vinylpyridine and Investigation into the economics of biodiesel energy at Rider University

2012

See Press Release for 2012 Program

Joseph Kparway Nottingham High School Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Development of an experiment comparing hydrolysis rates of varying Aspirin formulations	Shivam Sabharwal West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Development of an experiment comparing hydrolysis rates of varying Aspirin formulations Current Position: Senior at George Washington University majoring in marketing and minoring in economics
Amparo Pozos Lawrence High School Mentor: Dr. Bruce Burnham Project: Synthesis of ortho-nitrophenyl acetate and its use in acetylcholine esterase kinetics

2011

See Press Release for 2011 Program

Dashawn Furqan Lawrence High School Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Development of an undergraduate crossover experiment to elucidate the mechanism of the Claisen Rearrangement Current Position: Trainee in the Marine reserves	Brianca Hart Bridgewater-Raritan High School Mentor: Dr. Feng Chen Project: Synthesis and characterization of zinc titanates doped with MgTiO₃ for microwave devices Current Position: Junior at Seton Hall University studying biochemistry
Bryan Berger West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North Mentor: Dr. Bruce Brunham Project: Synthesis of novel pyrrole nucleosides as anti-cancer and anti-viral agents Current Position: Junior at Northwestern, majoring in Manufacturing & Design Engineering with a second major in Urban Studies, working on certificates in both Leadership & Design

2010

Dashawn Furqan Lawrence High School Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Novel and mild synthetic methods to effect the deprotection of benzyl of ethers into alcohols Current Position: Trainee in the Marine reserves	Shaoyin (Shirley) He West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Mentor: Dr. Feng Chen Project: Synthesis and characterization of zinc titanates doped with MgTiO3 for microwave devices Graduated: Rider University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2015 Current Position: Researcher, Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Gloria Soc Trenton Catholic Academy Mentor: Dr. Bruce Burnham Project: Synthesis of novel pyrrole nucleosides as anti-cancer and anti-viral agent Graduated: Rider University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2015 Current Position: Method Developer, WuXiAppTec	Bre’oscha West Hamilton High School West Mentor: Dr. Bruce Burnham Project: Synthesis of novel pyrrole nucleosides as anti-cancer and anti-viral agents Current Position: BS/PharmD candidate at USP and Philadelphia College of Pharmacy

2009

Melissa Aguiar Trenton Catholic Academy Mentor: Dr. Feng Chen Project: Synthesis and characterization of zinc titanates via sonochemical methods Current Position: Completed BA in Urban Studies (2014) from Rutgers-Camden; now a full-time candidate for MPA in Education Policy at Rutgers-Camden	Lissette Leon Lawrence High School Mentor: Dr. Danielle Jacobs Project: Synthesis of chiral auxiliaries from (R)-(+)-pulegone Current Position: Senior at Rider University, studying General Business
Emmanuela Possible Hamilton High School West Mentor: Dr. Bruce Burnham Project: Synthesis of novel pyrrole nucleosides as anti-cancer and anti-viral agents Current Position: Senior at William Paterson University studying Chemistry