STARS offers lofty campus participation

By Lin Lofley

The 2015 Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern (STARS) summer research program allowed 40 high school students and 10 teachers from Dallas-Fort Worth area schools to take part in programs and projects in laboratories across the UT Southwestern Medical Center campus.

STARS participants

The program was founded in 1991, and since then STARS leaders have seen more than 30,000 students and 5,000 teachers participate through their various activities, including the eight-week summer research program.

One of the students on the STARS roster this year was Sanjana Ravi, an incoming senior at Plano East Senior High School and winner of the 2015 Kathryn and Ashley H. Priddy Award. Ms. Ravi stood out at the Regional Science Fair last spring, said Dr. Stuart Ravnik, Associate Dean of the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Associate Director of STARS.

“I extracted the starch from banana peels and from potatoes,” explained Ms. Ravi, who worked in the laboratory of Dr. Deepak Nijhawan, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and of Biochemistry. “What I ended up with was a bioplastic that’s as durable as the petroleum-based bioplastics that are out there right now.”

The Priddy Award winner’s goal is to become a pediatrician, and her early college possibilities include Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Rice, and UT Dallas.

 Dr. Ravnik said: “I am often asked what it is about my job I love most, and I answer honestly that I get to help scientists grow from their high school years, on into college, and then into graduate school or medical school here at UT Southwestern.

“Having a dual role with STARS and the Graduate School allows me the unique opportunity to be directly involved in that progression, sometimes with students who have participated in STARS many years ago and are now in our graduate or medical school programs.”

In Ms. Ravi’s case, Dr. Ravnik was even more impressed with her grasp of, and passion for, research. “Every question I asked her, she answered it. So I asked her harder questions and she got more excited and she answered those as well,” Dr. Ravnik said. “Then, I sent one of our graduate students over to ask her questions. The graduate student came back and that enthusiasm had rubbed off on her. Ms. Ravi is really something special.”

A highlight for the STARS participants were weekly lunchtime lectures presented by faculty members.

The 2015 summer lineup of speakers included:

  • Nobel Laureate Dr. Bruce Beutler, Director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense, and Professor of Immunology;
  • Dr. Raksha Jain, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, and of Molecular Microbiology;
  • Dr. Khuloud Jaqaman, Assistant Professor of Biophysics;
  • Dr. Nikhil Munshi, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Molecular Biology, and in the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development;
  • Dr. Michael Reese, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology;
  • Dr. Todd Roberts, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; and
  • Dr. Angelique Whitehurst, Assistant Professor in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, and of Pharmacology.

### 

Dr. Beutler, a Regental Professor, holds the Raymond and Ellen Willie Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research, in Honor of Laverne and Raymond Willie, Sr.

Dr. Jain is a Dedman Family Scholar in Clinical Care.

Dr. Jaqaman is a Deborah and W.A. “Tex” Moncrief, Jr. Scholar in Medical Research.

Dr. Roberts is a Thomas O. Hicks Scholar in Medical Research.