Adelphi's Summer Institute in Mathematical Epidemiology Wins Inspiring Programs in STEM Award

The three-year-old program introducing high school students to advanced research received a national honor for its commitment to increasing diversity in the STEM fields.

High school math and science students don't often get the opportunity to research how machine learning can help hospitals better screen patients for cancer, or to discover how vaccines prevented millions of infections in New York state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These opportunities are now possible through the Adelphi Summer Institute in Mathematical Epidemiology (ASIME) program, which just won a 2024 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. The award honors "college programs and initiatives that encourage and support the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented students into all STEM fields." This is the seventh consecutive year that an Adelphi program has received the award.

"We're tremendously gratified to receive this recognition, especially for such a young program," said Associate Professor Anil Venkatesh, PhD, who created the program with Associate Professor Josh Hiller, PhD, both of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. "It's just motivating us to keep the momentum going."

"In the next couple of years we hope to be considered a national model for the high school and college summer research experience," he added.

A college experience for high school students

Now in its third year, the Institute in Mathematical Epidemiology is part of Adelphi's concerted effort to increase diversity in STEM fields. The program brings together a diverse group of high school students from across New York City and Long Island and pairs them with undergraduate mentors and research assistants from Adelphi. Over the course of five weeks, they collaborate to conduct original research in epidemiology using mathematics.

"What's so special about the institute is that it's doing two different things at once and doing them both well," said Dr. Venkatesh. "We're providing high school students with a college-level research experience in mathematical epidemiology while also training Adelphi students in research methods and mentorship skills."

A new paradigm for STEM learning

Dr. Venkatesh often has to remind students that homework isn't part of the program. As he explains it to students, "This is not school."

"We are focused on curiosity, inquiry and fun, and less focused on cookie-cutter outcomes. The institute provides a different attitude toward learning-something that many high school students won't have experienced until they come to us," he said. "We like to think it offers a more balanced, more constructive attitude toward learning."

The program is also personalized in that Dr. Venkatesh works one-to-one with each student to understand their research aspirations and find the most suitable project for their interests. He's seen students with plans to study medicine, science, engineering and math enter the program. The research assistants in the program don't just major in math and computer science, either; this is the first year mentors will be coming from Adelphi's biology and physics departments as well.

"We're engaging students from a variety of STEM disciplines," said Dr. Venkatesh. "It's going to be amazing for the high school students to now have a wide range of role models. For instance, a future biology major can meet an Adelphi student who's been having a lot of success on that track already."

Promoting diversity in STEM

Both the Adelphi student cohorts and the high school student cohorts exhibit a "tremendous amount of diversity in STEM," Dr. Venkatesh said. "We have been pleasantly surprised by how diverse the application body has been to begin with."

Still, since the inception of the program, Drs. Venkatesh and Hiller have made a concerted effort to encourage diversity within the program. They've collaborated with Sabita Nayak, MS '22, executive director of the New York state Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) and Liberty Partnership Program (LPP) at Adelphi, to connect with local high schools. STEP provides 10 full scholarships to students in need each summer.

"We've also been developing relationships with certain schools that send interested students to us," Dr. Venkatesh said, "and we provide additional financial aid awards to help lower that barrier of entry for students who are coming in without the full scholarship from the state."

Now that the institute has won the 2024 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award, Dr. Venkatesh hopes to cast an even wider net to help the program grow.

"We want to connect with groups of students who either might not have heard about us or might not have the means to attend as a private student," he said.

As he summarized at the program launch, "It is truly an honor to support the careers of such dedicated young scientists."