Squeals of delight echo through the University of Iowa’s MacLean Hall, followed by the excited voices of young people testing the latest in virtual reality technology—in this case, a virtual bike ride through a virtual neighborhood with virtual moving cars.
“Watch out for that car!”
“Oh my gosh! There’s another one coming.”
Inside the Hank Virtual Environments Lab, teenagers cluster near a stationary bicycle surrounded by video screens. As the teens take turns riding the bike, they listen to UI research assistant Pooya Rahimian explain how he uses behavioral and computer science techniques to study perception-action problems.
“This is so cool,” says Amy Liao, a 14-year-old from Iowa City, just seconds after jumping on the stationary bike for her turn.
Liao is one of 18 teens taking part in the first Perry Research Scholars Institute (PRSI), a two-week summer camp program for eighth-, ninth-, and 10th-graders organized by the College of Education’s Belin-Blank Center.
The camp runs through July 21 on the UI campus. Its purpose is to introduce teens to a variety of academic research—from work at UI Hospitals and Clinics to anthropological digs in a field near the Coralville Reservoir—and to provide quiet time to contemplate future career choices.
It also serves as a bridge between two existing and very popular summer academic programs offered by the UI’s Belin-Blank Center: the Blank Summer Institute for the Arts & Sciences for seventh- and eighth-graders from Iowa and the Secondary Student Training Program, for 10th- and 11th-graders from around the world.
“With this new program, our goal is to expand students’ conceptions of what it means to do research,” says Lori Ihrig, supervisor of curriculum and instruction at the Belin-Blank Center. “By working with partners across the UI campus, we can show students the variety of ways knowledge is created at a research-intensive institution.”
During lab visits, students also have the opportunity to talk with researchers, professors, and graduate students about their work and the career path that got them there. Small-group settings make it possible for the teens to get personal with researchers, asking them about the college courses they took to prepare for research work and even how their work affects their personal lives.
When they’re not touring labs, the students spend time at the Belin-Blank Center with their teacher, Matthew Stier, a former Iowa City high school teacher and current graduate student at the UI College of Education. Stier helps students understand the different roles of people who work in labs and academic research and also guides them through assessment exercises that help them identify their strengths.
“A lot of these kids assume they are good at something because adults have told them they’re good at it,” says Stier. “However, when they start drilling down into their own personality and talents, they discover new ideas and new paths for the future.”
PRSI was created with a financial gift from the Perry family, made up of children and grandchildren of one of the couples who made the Belin-Blank Center possible—Myron and Jacqueline N. Blank. The family asked the Belin-Blank Center to recruit students from inside and outside Iowa because they want youth from other states to discover the beauty of Iowa as well as the many academic opportunities offered by the UI.
“The Perry family recognizes the value of Iowa City college life, and they want more students to be exposed to the UI,” says Susan Assouline, director of the Belin-Blank Center.
The family’s gift also provides a scholarship for every student, a value of about $1,200. Students and their families are responsible for paying the rest of the PRSI tuition, which totals $1,000. Transportation to off-campus excursions, room and board in a university dorm for two weeks, as well as evening and weekend activities, are included in the tuition fee. Additional financial aid is available to qualifying students.
In this first group of Perry scholars, the non-Iowa students hail from New Jersey, California, and Minnesota. Hyunwoo Oh, 15, of Paramus, New Jersey, says he wanted to participate in the program because he’s interested in attending the Belin-Blank Center’s Bucksbaum Academy, which allows high-achieving youth to attend the UI after their sophomore year of high school.
“I wanted to come and explore the campus,” says Hyunwoo, who wants to study business. “So far, I really like it here.”
Another student, Krisha Keeran, 15, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, says she was interested in the program because she’s wavering between a career as a doctor or as a medical researcher.
“We’re all trying to figure out where we fit in,” she said of herself and her fellow Perry scholars.