Summer Neuroscience Program
AT THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
The Summer Neuroscience Program (SNP) at The Rockefeller University is a two-week course aimed at introducing NYC public high school students to the brain. Organized and taught by graduate students, SNP brings together people from across New York City for an intensive, hands on introduction to neuroscience. Usually, students get to experience science on a working research campus, visiting Rockefeller laboratories, dissecting brains, and designing and conducting their own experiment in Rockefeller's teaching laboratory. In summer of 2020 - facing a worsening pandemic and associated disruptions - we realized that we would need to send all the best aspects of SNP to students, rather than bringing students to us. SNP summer 2020 showed us that while a virtual course looks different and has its specific limitations, it can remain valuable, impactful, and yes, fun. To re-build the program for a virtual space, we reflected on what inspires us directors and our students year over year.
Where are you from?
SNP takes public school students from across NYC. In summer 2020, students brought SNP into their homes all around the city. Here's where our class of 2020 logged in from.
Inspiration driving SNP
Building community
Students often tell us that SNP helped them recognize peers and mentors who approach the world as they do - with imagination and a healthy dose of skepticism; people who welcome the opportunity to ask big questions and to work toward answers collaboratively. We wanted to create an online space that felt like a community so that students left SNP motivated not only by the content of the program but by the connections they formed. Using platforms like Discord and YouTube allowed us to get off of Zoom for a bit to save lecture content for later reference, share interesting links or meet in small groups on dedicated voice and text channels. We even hosted a neuro-themed movie night using a video streaming service!
Feel free to explore the rest of the site to get a feel for what lectures over Zoom looked like and what we covered and how we conducted virtual journal club. Or, go to our Rockefeller website (rockefeller.edu/outreach/snp) to learn more about the program generally and how to submit an online application (open until March 21, 2021).
