Headwaters Research Experience Recently Updated

The Research Experience is for students looking to take their science education to the next level and bolster a college resume. Participants design and create an original research project while being mentored by a scientist. Students see the project from beginning to end by conducting field research, or data based research, and learning data analyzation. Students complete the program with a finalized research presentation and a formal research paper that will be submitted for publication.

This is an online program with the ability to be completed from any geographic location. We have three separate sessions throughout the year, Spring (15 weeks), Summer (10 weeks), and Fall (15 weeks). This year we are offering the first ever in-person opportunity called Research Experience: In the Field! For three days and three nights near Tahoe, students can learn how to do proper field data collection and learn techniques relevant to field based questions. This is provided as a supplement to the remote programming described. Students will be paired with a professional scientist as their mentor throughout the program and design a research project on the topic of their choosing. We guide them through brainstorming questions, formulating a hypothesis, designing the methodology, analyzing the results, and sharing their results through a live presentation and written manuscript. We provide weekly class sessions to learn each component of the scientific method, how to assess information, and how to write a manuscript. Students meet with their mentors weekly for guidance and goal setting. Numerous resources are provided to aid the student in successfully completing the program. We provide access to DataClassroom which is a premium data visualization and analysis tool, as well as career resources from RePicture through our partnership.