The dearth of laboratory professionals has hit home at many facilities. With baby boomers retiring, many laboratorians think recruiting the younger generation is the best way to go.

But sometimes telling students about the career at job fairs and giving them tours of the laboratory just doesn't cut it. Besides, what better way is there to learn about the field than by hands-on experience?

This is exactly what the University of Arizona BIO5 Institute does for young adults with its K-12 Engaging Youth in Science (KEYS) summer research internship program.

Starting Out
The KEYS program started in 2007 as a collaboration between BIO5 and the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center at the College of Pharmacy. The idea came about because of how valuable it is for students interested in science field to get a chance to experience it.

"It's incredibly important for students looking at a research center or a science path in college to get hands-on research experience as early as possible in their academic careers," said Kevin Hall, director, research training and career development, BIO5 Institute. "This accomplishes several things: gives the students an idea of what their actual job could be like once they finish school, brings life to what they're learning in the classroom setting and really solidifies the concepts they get in school."

"Having an academic concept of what a project or procedure is like is very different from having to do it hands-on and tweak the variables when it doesn't work like the book says it will," he continued. "Finally, it really gets the students excited about science. When they're excited, they strive to learn more and become more well-rounded students."

When the application system opened the following February, the program received 86 initial inquiries, had 54 completed applications and accepted 28 students. "That makes KEYS the largest competitive high school internship program in the state," Hall added. The program also had the original nine interns return to mentor the KEYS class of 2008.

To be eligible for the program, applicants must have a high school GPA of at least 3.2 (on a 4.0 scale) and be at least 16 years old when the program starts. It's also highly recommended students have 1 year of high school biology and chemistry classes. Those interested must send in the online application, copies of their transcript and two teacher recommendations. Hall said an application evaluation committee goes over every completed application.

A Summer in the Lab
Last summer, students ranging in age from high school juniors to recent graduates spent 30 hours a week for six weeks interning in the lab and completing their own hands-on projects under the guidance of a lab mentor, who is usually a postdoctoral researcher, graduate student or staff researcher.

There are three major tracks in the KEYS internship that all of the projects fall under: Pharmacology and Toxicology, Computational Biology and Genetics. Hall noted past projects have included creation of bacterial artificial chromosome libraries, identification of protein samples and investigations of host-parasite interactions.

So far, the feedback for KEYS has been very positive, Hall said. "The most common comment I get from the student interns is doing the work in the lab isn't like what they've learned in the classroom. The classroom gives them a great foundation, but actually performing research integrates knowledge they've gained in biology, chemistry, math and even their English classes," he mentioned.

"A lot of the students also thought they'd be washing beakers instead of doing their own individual research projects," Hall added. "Overall, the students have gotten a lot more out of the program than they expected, and often in ways they didn't expect."

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