SciRISE - Scientific Research by International Students at ELLIS

SciRISE (Scientific Research by International Students at ELLIS Prep) is an outreach program aimed at introducing engineering/STEM-interested students from ELLIS Prep to the different types of engineering and teaching them critical problem solving skills. ELLIS Prep is a public high school in the Bronx for students who recently immigrated from countries all over Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Graduate student mentors get paired with ELLIS Prep students to guide them through a hands-on project of their choice for a semester, with an emphasis on experimental design. Graduate students will prepare lectures and hands-on demonstrations for the first half of the program to introduce the key problems of our world today, and work in pairs with Columbia PhD students to learn experimental design. Through a variety of activities, students will learn about fundamental science and how it is applied as engineers.

During the second half of the program, students will complete an independent research project with guidance from Columbia PhD student pairs, exploring a project of their choice under one of the key themes of the 21st century. At the end of the program, students will share their projects with their peers, graduate students, and ELLIS Prep Coordinators to celebrate their hard work.