Not the Typical Summer Job: High School Students Intern in UA Labs

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Many high school students look for summer jobs at the mall or community swimming pool, but 11 Tuscaloosa high school students will spend this summer in a University of Alabama laboratory working as interns researching nanoparticles.

A nanoparticle is a microscopic particle measured in nanometers. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and it takes a million of them to span a grain of sand.

“There will be 11 different projects, a unique project for each intern,” said Dr. Dave Nikles, professor of chemistry and materials science at UA and coordinator of this year’s internship program. “Some will work on magnetic nanoparticles for high density magnetic recording media. Some will work on magnetic nanoparticles for cancer detection and therapy. Others will work on nanoparticles as catalysts for fuels cells.”

Interns will work with UA faculty from the departments of chemistry, chemical and biological engineering, physics and metallurgy on their respective projects.

Nikles and Dr. Gregory Thompson, assistant professor of metallurgical and materials engineering, created the Nanoscience and Engineering High School Internship Program in 2004 as an experiment. The number of interns increases every year.

Thompson had a similar experience in high school, and it inspired him to pursue a career in research. He hopes this program inspires others to do the same.

The internships begin today and end on Friday, Aug. 4.

The 11 interns are:

• A’Lester Allen, Bryant High School
• Richard Cockrum, Bryant High School
• Keith Henry, Central High School
• Joey Howell, Tuscaloosa County High School
• Charlena McCall, Central High School
• Tyler Mills, Bryant High School
• Kyle Stephen, Tuscaloosa County High School
• Kristen Tippey, Central High School
• Mike Zhang, Alabama School of Math and Science
• Feng Zheng, Northridge High School
• Lisa Zheng, Northridge High School