Caption: Hillman Academy students Zach Barron and Matthew Chu working on their research projects.
By Shannon Turgeon
Photography by Rayni Shiring/University of Pittsburgh
Ines Lohse, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery and codirector of the Musculoskeletal Oncology Laboratory, School of Medicine, has always considered mentoring to be one of her core values.
Since joining Pitt’s faculty in 2023, she has proven her commitment to training new scientists by serving as a mentor for UPMC’s Hillman Cancer Center Academy each summer.
However, these trainees aren’t graduate or doctoral students, as one might expect.
They are the next generation of scientists: high school students.
The UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Academy, or Hillman Academy, is a competitive, eight-week summer program that introduces young students to scientific research. Students are assigned to cancer research projects occurring in approximately 80 labs (organized into nine research sites) run by University faculty.
Most students hail from Western Pennsylvania, but the program is open to students from around the country. There is an emphasis on trying to provide opportunities to students from a wide demographic background, and program directors generally look for students who demonstrate resiliency, passion and a curiosity toward science.
Each year, 600 to 700 students (primarily high schoolers, along with a few undergraduates) apply. This summer, in the program’s 17th year, 83 students were accepted and enrolled.
Learning the Life of a Scientist
Caption: Hillman Academy student Matthew Chu
One aspect of the program’s design that makes it stand out is the immersive lab experience that the young students get.
“[The Hillman Academy] is a really good opportunity for students to get a taste of what it's like to do research and see what science is like, because they basically are living the life of a graduate student for seven or eight weeks,” said David Boone, assistant professor of biomedical informatics, School of Medicine, and director of the Hillman Academy.
“I feel like a lot of programs around here and around the country are focused on lecture-based styles, or just observance, but here, I can really get hands-on research experience,” said Matthew Chu, a 17-year-old high school student from Fairfax, Va.
While students complete their research projects, they are matched and work closely with Pitt faculty members who act as mentors throughout the course of the program.
“We try not to get overly ambitious and totally swamp the students but just have them be excited and see how basic research and fundamental science can spur discovery and innovation, even if it's not a direct path, or it's something off in the future,” said Matthew Wohlever, assistant professor of cell biology, School of Medicine, who has been involved with the program since 2024.
The students also get exposure to a variety of scientific careers through a weekly professional development series. Examples of this year’s visiting speakers include professionals working in biotechnology, physical therapy, a pharmaceutical group, and a genomics lab.
“It's helpful, since we're all so young, to see how nobody had a perfect trajectory. It’s also just interesting to have exposure to a bunch of different jobs in science, and to other jobs and careers that aren’t discussed as often,” said Caelan McCormack, a rising junior at St. Lawrence University.
In addition, students are taught skills that are necessary for continued scientific education, including how to interpret scientific papers and communicate their research. The experience culminates in a symposium at each research site, where students give 10-minute individual presentations on the projects that they worked on and what they discovered during the course of the program.
“It's a chance for them to see how much they've learned in terms of stuff that has been day to day jargon for us the past six weeks; now, they have to kind of step back and be able to explain it to a more general audience,” said Lohse.
Faculty Involvement
Caption: Hillman Academy student Zach Barron
Almost all the labs and mentors involved with the Hillman Academy choose to return year after year.
“Programs like this are so important not only for the students, but also for the mentors. We are training our future colleagues,” said Lohse.
New faculty who sign up to be mentors are given training on how to work with and design projects specifically for young students who have no prior research experience.
“Our students come from all backgrounds, and they need to be mentored in slightly different ways,” said Boone. “We try to provide a lot of support for new mentors.”
And it has its rewards.
“I think it breathes kind of a new life into a research lab by having such a young person in the lab who is there and excited and not beaten down by the world yet. They really want to learn, which is rejuvenating for the lab,” said Boone.
“There's a lot of things that we consider routine. But the first time you're telling the students, ‘We're going to mutate a gene or isolate DNA,’ seeing their eyes get wide and excited about it is really cool,” said Wohlever.
Lessons in the Lab and Beyond
Caption: Hillman Academy student Christian Tabler
The majority of students who participate in the Hillman Academy use the experience they gained through the program to help further their educational journeys: 93% of students who finish the program go on to pursue STEM-related degrees.
“What I’ve seen a lot more recently is that students do college in the STEM field and then realize for graduate school that there is a lot more out there: scientific writing, scientific law, project management and community outreach,” said Lohse.
Maria Silvaggio, a student at Duke University who completed the Hillman Academy the summer before her senior year of high school, says that the experience she gained helped set her up for success in college.
“Everything I said or had questions about [at Hillman] was taken seriously, and it was empowering. It helped going into college and in future research settings to learn how to not be afraid to voice something you find in your research, or if you have any questions,” she said.
Students in the program this summer are taking away lessons that will apply both inside and outside of lab environments moving forward.
“Now I understand what cancer research is, that there’s multiple types of cancer research, and that I can do it. Also, I’ve worked to beat imposter syndrome, since that is something I suffer from,” said Zach Barron, a recent high school graduate from Pittsburgh who is heading to Johns Hopkins University in the fall.
Christian Tabler, a rising senior from Bethel Park, sums up the program’s lessons well: “You can always learn more. There’s always one step further that you can go.”