{"id":1052616,"date":"2026-09-09T08:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1052616\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T08:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:24:17","slug":"students-get-a-head-start-on-undergraduate-research-in-stem-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1052616\/","title":{"rendered":"Students get a head start on undergraduate research in STEM fields"},"content":{"rendered":"

While most incoming college freshmen would never expect to step into a working research laboratory before their first semester, students in the Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology Pre-Freshman Research Experience (NPRE) program are gaining hands-on research experience before classes even begin.<\/p>\n

Now in its fourth year, the NPRE program, hosted by the College of Sciences, offers high school seniors and incoming UT San Antonio freshman something rare: eight weeks of hands-on research experience in a real university laboratory, working on real projects alongside faculty.<\/p>\n

Sophia Cantu<\/strong>, an incoming freshman in the program, arrived with one goal in mind: attending medical school. Eight weeks later, her vision of what a career in science could look like had completely expanded.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmersing myself in the lab showed me the many components of research, which sparked a new passion for experimental design and scientific discovery,\u201d Cantu said. \u201cThe hands-on experience has inspired me to consider MD-PhD programs that combine both fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the science itself, students are building the kind of professional toolkit that typically takes years to develop. Cantu credited the program with strengthening her communication skills, expanding her network across UT San Antonio\u2019s research community and teaching her how to navigate unexpected results in the lab.<\/p>\n

This year, the program marked a major milestone when it was awarded full funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), allowing every student to be paid for their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stipends really made it possible for the students to become fully embedded into the summer research experience,\u201d said Stephanie Enriquez<\/strong>, NPRE program coordinator. \u201cIn the past, students worked part-time because many of them have to work during the summer to support themselves or their families. By providing stipends, students can now focus full-time in the labs without having to limit their experience due to financial constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA group of high school seniors spent eight weeks conducting research with UT San Antonio faculty.<\/p>\n

The program has also expanded beyond the summer. Workshops and seminars now continue through students\u2019 entire first year of college, covering everything from science literacy and lab skills to time management, resume building and financial management.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe laboratory and professional development skills now offered really make this a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience for incoming freshmen,\u201d Enriquez said.<\/p>\n

As a testament to the program\u2019s impact, students from the program\u2019s earlier cohorts are no publishing research papers and seeking advanced degrees in graduate school. And according to Enriquez, students who complete the program have opportunities to continue their work in the university\u2019s research labs where they spent their summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While most incoming college freshmen would never expect to step into a working research laboratory before their first…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1052617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,115874,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1052616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-career-readiness","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117240128891217409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1052616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1052616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1052616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1052616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}