By Leslie Ridgeway

Jason Chen and Diana Zhou, both seniors at Diamond Bar High School, part of the Summer High School Advanced Research Program, work on a device they designed and built to measure reaction time. They envision using a form of the device in a future medical technology designed to warn surgeons of potential errors during procedures.
(Photo/Jon Nalick)

While many high school students were spending their summer working at coffee shops and restaurants or on their tans, a group of more than 20 students from private and public high schools throughout the Los Angeles area dug in to intensive science projects as part of a new program based at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

The Summer High School Advanced Research Program (SHSARP) gave students eight weeks of hands-on experience in several labs, including ophthalmology, cell and neurobiology and preventive medicine at the Keck School, and at the USC School of Pharmacy, USC School of Dentistry, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. … Read More »