In the Summer of 2023, Michael Town and Susan Howard co-taught in an incredible summer program called ESR-Lakeside Summer Research Institute (LSRI) which gave high school students the opportunity to participate in self-guided research while being mentored by scientists. The program, developed by Michael Town, was piloted by him in 2018 and expanded in the summer of 2023 to include 14 students, and include a second mentor. Students focused their research on four themes: The Weather and Climate of Mount Baker, the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Ice Shelves, Antarctic Sea Ice and Climate, and Climate Studies in Greenland. Through mentorship, the students read scientific papers, learned to analyze data, and developed their own research questions. After a few weeks of study, the students prepared and presented their work as posters to the University of Washington Glaciology Group where they received constructive feedback and inspiration on new questions to explore and ways to expand their research.
To find out more about this program, read the blog post by Susan Howard about her work with the students:
And read individual student posts about their experience through the group links below: