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The program was also designed for community building, with the four
students living together for the summer in a nearby house. Rall, who
invited the group to some social activities and often provided rides to
the grocery store, said they were immediately considered part of the Fox
Chase family.
“We see a continuing relationship, where they can always come back
here if they’d like to shadow someone or if they need a reference,” he
said.
The participants were selected from a group of interested students in
UD’s NUCLEUS program, an undergraduate support program designed to
foster academic excellence among students in the College of Arts and
Sciences. The researchers who mentored the students also were carefully
selected, Rall said, from volunteers who particularly like working with
young students.
“These kids are terrific,” said one of those researcher-mentors, Edna
Cukierman, who supervised UD sophomore Julie Sosa, a biological
sciences major. “They were selected and supported, and we can really
help expose them to science and to what researchers really do all day in
the lab.”
Cukierman and the other mentors called the program a win-win for the
students and for Fox Chase. While learning research techniques, the
students also made valuable contributions to their projects that will
continue after the summer.