The Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program provides funding for pre-K through 12th grade projects to increase student involvement in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. The main focus is to engage students at a young age to increase the number of students later pursuing degrees and careers in STEM fields, especially students who are traditionally underrepresented in those fields.
There are three main components to the SEPA program at MGI:
- Academic year tutoring
- Washington University undergraduate and graduate students work one-on-one or in small groups with local students to cover topics specific to their needs.
- ACT Tutoring on Saturdays for our partner school.
- Community Outreach
- WashU graduate students and GREG staff attend community events and work with local teachers to increase genomics knowledge around the St. Louis area.
- Summer research project
- Students work on a research project for a month with guidance and mentorship from WashU graduate students.
- The Summer 2023 project was about microbial communities and their links with term and preterm births in pregnant patients. Additionally, students looked at data from guinea pigs as a model organism for understanding preterm births.
- Our Summer 2024 program saw another great group of students analyze patient data and give fantastic presentations. Students looked at either the impact of the microbiome on preterm birth or skin microbiomes.
- Our 2025 SEPA Summer Program applications are open and will close on February 3rd.
- Are you interested in what it looks like to be scientist? Or just curious what it’s like to do research? Come join our SEPA summer program and find out!
- Work side by side with other curious participants and learn from mentors who are graduate and medical students at WashU! Dig deep into data and formulate your own research questions for a unique presentation you will give at the end of the program.
- The 2025 SEPA Summer Program will run from July 7th to July 31st with sessions on weekday mornings. This is a paid research experience and you will also have the opportunity to learn about college, possible careers in STEM, and much more!
Learn about the national SEPA program, supported by the National Institute of Health here.