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AUGUST 2005

Harlem Children’s Society Excels with Dr. Sat Battacharya

By Nazneen Malik

“We are all made of genes [and like genes] we cannot be appropriately expressed without the right environment,” muses Dr. Sat Bhattacharya, founder of the Harlem Children’s Society, a nonprofit dedicated to providing students from under-resourced and under-represented communities with the opportunity to explore the sciences.

Addressing a crowd of high school students from inner-city neighborhoods, nationwide, Dr. Bhattacharya welcomed the fledgling scientists to the summer internship program with the hope and enthusiasm of a proud father. In fact, out of the 60

0 applicants, Bhattacharya personally chose each intern through a grueling interview and selection process.

Since its inception in 2000, Harlem Children’s Society’s Experiment with a Dream program has grown to include more than 100 students from over 34 high schools. Student interns are paired with some of the best researchers in their fields and have the opportunity to work in various research institutions throughout New York City. All students receive a stipend for their summer research.

Orientation kicks off the summer internship program and weekly lecture series where students present their research and are addressed by scientific experts. Individually designed projects give students an understanding of the importance of scientific inquiry as they develop presentation, research and laboratory skills. This year the program has expanded to allow past students who have graduated from high school but are still pursuing their research in college to participate.

“We want to help create a dream in the hearts and minds for a more responsible community and a better tomorrow,” says Dr. Bhattacharya. “Our interns have impressed us with their enthusiasm and their desire to succeed.”

Stressing the need for scientists in state legislature, keynote speaker Senator Liz Krueger, encouraged the “technology generation” to pursue scientific study and delineated its implications for public policy. “The world’s future is determined by the talent of young people moving into these fields and solving the problems we face. You are the future of this society,” said Senator Krueger.

“To be a freshman here is truly an accomplishment,” said Dr. Judith Rankin, Director of Science, New York City Department of Education. She urged students to embrace their experiences regardless of what field they choose to enter in the future.

“The most important thing about science is asking questions,” says Rankin. The biggest thing we are trying to get our students to understand is how to ask questions because when scientists study issues, they discuss them and formulate questions before even forming a hypothesis, she states.

Paolo Lizano is a seasoned researcher thanks to the Harlem Children’s Society. A senior at Rutgers University, he has been working with Dr. Bhattacharya since 2000 as one of the program’s first students. “It was an excellent experience,” said Lizano. “It opened me up to the field of cancer research which is something that I eventually want to go into.” Lizano is currently applying to an MD/PHD program in New Jersey while continuing his research.

A sense of family exists among the students, both old and new, united in their passion for science. Once they are in the program, we never leave them and many students return, says Dr. Bhattacharya.

In the fall, students will host a science street fair and poster competition where they will bring the science they have learned directly to their community. “Not everybody can be a doctor or a scientist or an engineer,” says Dr. Bhattacharya, “but the most important thing is to create an awareness of issues of science, medicine, and technology so that people can talk about them normally and so that we do not endanger ourselves and are able to serve the next generation.”#

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