2021 Participants

The Research Opportunities for Science Educators (ROSE) Program kicked off its inaugural summer program for high school science teachers in June 2021.

Eight ROSE Scholars from across the state (Roswell, Cuba, Farmington, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque) participated in a 4-week immersive research program on the UNM Albuquerque campus, hosted by principal investigators in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

The Program was co-organized by Prof. Steve Cabaniss, Prof. Jeff Rack, and Prof. Susan Atlas, with financial and administrative support from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Prof. Jeremy Edwards, Chair); the Office of the Vice President for Research; the NM Public Education Department; and Program assessment by Prof. Abigail Stewart, University of Michigan.

Objectives of the program included enabling teachers to refresh their knowledge and develop new skills, while gaining a better understanding of, appreciation for, and inspiration from current scientific research, and establishing authentic relationships between UNM faculty and science educators in local and regional communities, including inspiring high school students to apply to UNM for undergraduate studies.

Five CCB labs participated in the Program, providing diverse, state-of-the-art research opportunities to the Scholars:

Synthetic peptide libraries for accelerated drug discovery
Prof. Brian Gold

ROSE Scholar Brian Schreiber

Atrisco Heritage Academy
Albuquerque, NM

Revealing the activation mechanisms of a critical protein involved in substance use disorders
Prof. Yi He

ROSE Scholar Geizi Dejka

San Juan College High School
Farmington, NM

ROSE Scholar Demvia Maslian

New Mexico Military Institute
Roswell, NM

New approaches to antibiotic discovery
Prof. Mark Walker

ROSE Scholar Inez Jacobs

Mark Armijo Academy
Albuquerque, NM

Development of photoactive materials
Prof. Jeff Rack

ROSE Scholar Margarita Romero

Arrowhead Early College High School
Albuquerque, NM

ROSE Scholar Mariejune Abergos

Early College High School
Roswell, NM

Modeling the effect of amino acid mutations on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
Prof. Susan Atlas

ROSE Scholar Daniel Delgado

Cuba High School
Cuba, NM

Machine learning modeling of the atom-in-molecule
Prof. Susan Atlas

ROSE Scholar Shigang (Frank) Liu

Las Cruces High School
Las Cruces, NM