Students Selected for 2019 Summer STARS Program

Congratulations to Annie Davidson, Katelyn Jeong, and Molly Li for being selected to participate in this summer’s Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program!

Katelyn Jeong will work in the lab of Dr. Rachel Wamser Nanney, the assistant research professor in child traumatic stress and trauma-focused interventions at UMSL. Dr. Nanney’s lab studies the brain and its reactions to physical and chemical stimuli, specifically what physically happens during and following traumatic stress.

Annie Davidson will work with Dr. Sara McBride-Gagyi, the assistant professor of orthopedics at St. Louis University. Dr. McBride-Gagyi’s lab is researching surgical procedures to regenerate amounts of bone too large for the body to regenerate on its own.

Molly Li will work with Dr. Elizabeth A. Kellogg, who is a distinguished investigator at the Danforth Plant Science Research Center. Dr. Kellogg’s lab studies cereal crops and their wild relatives in the grass family, plants on which all of civilization depends. Her unique contribution has been to forge connections between scientists in the front lines of biodiversity research and those breaking new ground in genetic and genomic studies.

The STARS program offers academically-talented students who are entering their senior year of high school a rare opportunity to work within a laboratory research setting with top scientists at Cortex Innovation Community, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Saint Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the host institution, the University of Missouri-St. Louis. More than 60 scientists who work in fields such as biology, chemistry, earth science, engineering, environmental science, medicine, psychology, and public health will share their experiences as they and their research team direct students in research projects.