The EESIER Project provides thirty rising high school sophomores and juniors with the opportunity to do research at the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA). The research projects are interdisciplinary in nature and will focus on the physicochemical and biological characteristics of a salt marsh and a small ocean cove. The research activities are complemented by training in writing and reading scientific literature, the use of a research library, and statistics. Students will also participate in a lecture-discussion series on the history, philosophy, and ethics of science. The academic program is balanced by career counseling workshops offered by admissions personnel and faculty from undergraduate and graduate programs. The three-week residential project is sponsored by the Simon's Rock College Institute for the Teaching of Mathematics and Science and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL). The first week is spent at Simon's Rock. Activities include an orientation period and intensive workshops in the fundamentals of interdisciplinary approaches to research, experimental design, statistics, writing and reading scientific literature, and a lecture-discussion program on the history of science. The second and third week are spent at Woods Hole. Activities include two major research projects, continued training in statistics, training in the use of library resources, intensive writing workshops, and a lecture series on the philosophy and ethics of science. Career counseling seminars or activities are scheduled for all three weeks of the program.
