Neubauer Family Adelante Summer Scholars - Contagion: Infectious Agents and Emerging Diseases

Thanks to the vision and the generosity of the Neubauer family, top students engaged in Hispanic and Latino communities can now participate in select University of Chicago Summer Session courses free of charge. The Neubauer Family Adelante Summer Scholars program brings talented rising high school seniors to the University of Chicago campus to get an early taste of an exceptional college experience. Outstanding students who share the Neubauers' commitment to the Hispanic and Latino communities are invited to apply. Students selected will receive a full scholarship to participate in one of two Summer Session courses: Collegiate Writing: Awakening Into Consciousness and Contagion: Infectious Agents and Emerging Diseases. Even if you don't plan to study English or Biology in college, being a Neubauer Family Adelante Summer Scholar is a great way to get an early look at college-level classes and get a feel for life on campus--and to have a ton of fun in the process. You'll spend the morning gaining hands-on experience from teachers who are experts in their fields and the evening exploring Chicago with your classmates. Zika, Ebola, HIV, SARS...in our increasingly globalized and mobile world, infectious diseases can emerge and spread faster than ever before, making epidemics, even pandemics, a real possibility. That, together with increasing antibiotic resistance, makes understanding where these threats come from and how we can control their spread one of the most urgent issues of our time. In this three-week course, students will learn about the origin, biology, and evolution of some of the most feared viruses, such as Ebola, HIV, and Influenza, and lethal bacteria such as E. coli. We will explore the nature of emerging diseases and will use particular examples to discover how we can predict and control their spread. Our dependence on microbes from an evolutionary point of view will also be discussed. Students will have access to the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities at the University of Chicago for hands-on activities such as PCR, CRISPR, DNA sequencing, DNA sequence analysis, viral culture and antibody studies all applied to the study of infections and immunity (and will not be exposed to dangerous materials). Prerequisite: Students must have successfully completed one year of high school biology. Dates: Orientation is June 16-17; classes meet June 18 to July 5, 2018 Eligibility: current high school juniors Applications will be accepted online beginning in early December. Students must submit all application materials by March 2, 2018. Application process includes an online application, writing sample, personal profile, and recommendations.