The Summer Research Institute (SRI)
SRI is a unique program that brings together high school students, college students, high school faculty and college faculty to engage in science and to encourage and better equip students to pursue careers in the sciences. This program is geared towards juniors and seniors in high school with preference given to students who attend urban schools.
   
The SRI program is a collaboration between Northwestern College and Concordia University that includes a summer research component and an academic year component. During the summer research component research teams will examine various aspect of science, conducting experiments and working together to perform a research project. The summer component is 5 weeks long, 4 hours each day. The learning that occurs during the summer component is reinforced by activities during the academic year component. Students, and faculty meet monthly for activities such as presenting the research projects from summer to school, sessions to learn more about college admissions, fun activities like going to the Science Museum of MN and touring local biotechnology companies.
For more information, please download the brochure. (PDF file)
We invite you to participate by filling out one of the applications below:
SRI Application for High School Students Word Document PDF
SRI Teacher Recommendation Form Word Document PDF
SRI Application for College Students Word Document PDF
SRI Application for High School Faculty Word Document PDF
Here's what last year's students had to say about the summer component of the SRI.
When asked to describe a rewarding, exciting, “learning high”, one high school student reflected,
“Designing our own experiment was exciting because it required us to use our brains and question ourselves.…it enabled me to use what I’d learned earlier in the week.”
One college student explained,
“I think the whole week has been exciting for learning because I got to review and relearn all of the things I learned in Microbiology this past semester. Also I enjoyed being able to explain and help the high school students try to learn as well. I wish I could have had this opportunity when I was in high school.”
Another participant shared,
“Making the UV light experiments by using the scientific method. It was interesting to see the results and then try to connect it to everyday life. Also it brought in many more questions that could be further explored.”
The design of research teams to include both college and high school students was planned to foster mentoring relationships. The design was described as a positive by one high-school participant,
“The college students are the best because they are so helpful and they have their own personality that makes everything fun so that us high school students don’t feel so dumb like we have no idea what we are doing. I am so thankful to have them here to help us every step of the way.”
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