The Partners for the Future program, established in 1990, brings select high school students to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for a taste of the real world of biomedical research. During the 2005-06 academic year, Daniel Capurso (Sayville HS); Faith Chang (Syosset HS); Yuting Chiang (The Wheatley School); James Gurtowski (Cold Spring Harbor HS); Yuri Hanada (Farmingdale HS); and George Roche (Cold Spring Harbor HS) were chosen as Partners for the Future (PFF).
Debunking the mythical “scientist in a lab coat” image, the students are introduced to a world of relatively young scientists and their interactive support staff in a relaxed, problem-solving atmosphere. While the students learn a great deal about molecular biology and state-of-the-art research techniques, the main advantage of the program is exposing the students to day-to-day life in a working lab.
This competitive program is open to all Long Island high school students entering their senior year; each high school science chairperson may nominate three students from his or her school during their junior year. Twelve student semi-finalists are interviewed by Laboratory scientists and the winners go on to spend a minimum of ten hours per week, September through March of their senior year, doing original research under the watchful eye of a scientist mentor. At the conclusion, the Partners give oral presentations of their research projects to an enthusiastic audience of the students’ scientific mentors, Lab administrators, parents, and teachers.
Nomination forms are sent in early February to all high school science chairpersons only. There is no application form and no preliminary information that is sent directly to students or parents. All nominations are due by late March (exact dates are noted on forms).
Written by: Communications Department | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455