Writing a research manuscript as a high school student is impressive, but for some Horizon students, their research manuscript is the start of a longer journey involving an internship, a publication, or a multimedia project. When we launched the Horizon Extension Programs earlier this year, we sought to create a structured way for students to apply and expand on their research in a research assistant role, an internship, a publication-focused mentorship, or a mentorship focusing on creating a podcast. With the summer underway, we’re pleased to share some case studies of students working on Extensions with us!

What Exactly are the Horizon Extension Programs?

Horizon Extension Programs are supplemental 10 week extensions for Horizon alumni who have already written a 20 page undergraduate-level research paper in our Core Program and wish to translate this paper into action. Students may apply their research through 1) creating a podcast, 2) serving as an academic research assistant, 3) seeking external publication, or 4) working as an intern in a company. 

Featured Students’ Extension Placements:

1. Srihas R. wrote his core research paper about novel methods of predicting Alzheimer's Disease with Zeynep Özturk from the University of Cambridge. He is now working as a Research Assistant at a Neuroscience lab at the University of Chicago, conducting behavioral coding of primary data, learning MATLAB, and contributing to the Lab’s day to day research work. 
2. Zeel T. is actively contributing to the study of bioinformatics through a Research Assistantship placement with a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Cambridge. Her RA work builds on her highly ambitious epigenetics research project from summer 2020 where she explored computational approaches to understanding the intergenerational genetics effects of famine. 
3. Horizon alumnus Maggie L. is delving into novel applications of CRISPR technology and protein engineering by creating a podcast to host conversations with leading academics, researchers, and industry specialists to share their work with podcast listeners. Maggie’s podcast builds on her Protein Biophysics paper that she wrote in summer of 2020 under the advice of Jacob Michael Kirsch of Stanford University’s Chemistry Department. 
4. Anika K. is just about to kick off her RA post, building on her research work in psychology done under the advising of Colin Quirk examining the effects of the pandemic on student learning outcomes, while Naki P. is in the early stages of planning his podcast on the transition between the Roman republic and imperial Rome during the life of Julius Caesar.

What does Podcasting entail?

Hosting, producing, and recording your own shareable podcast is a fun and interdisciplinary way to reimagine your research and reach an audience who would otherwise be too unfamiliar with academic libraries, journals, and jargon to read your paper. Your episodes can narrate your research findings, recount short stories circling back to your project’s theme, discipline, or niche sub-topic, invite relevant professionals and scholars as guest speakers, and a host of other creative episode designs to lay the conceptual groundwork for your research paper’s theoretical principles. Horizon’s support will come in 3 forms: 1) a project coordinator will guide you through each step of creating a podcast, 2) a PhD researcher specializing in your discipline will act as your mentor with respect to the content researched, and 3) a design advisor will help you build a website to showcase your podcast. You’ll walk away from the podcasting experience with 8 full episodes in addition to a website specifically tailored for your podcast!

What do Research Assistantships entail?

There is no better way to get your foot in the door with respect to higher-education research than research assistantships as your name will be formally mentioned in the acknowledgements section of the published research study. While research assistantships are spaces to concretely contribute to a longer-term doctoral dissertation or postdoctoral scholarship typically reserved for undergraduates or graduate students at the host university, our specially curated research assistantship extension route brings that same opportunity to you as a high-achieving and research-experienced high school student. With mentorship from both a PhD candidate and a project coordinator, working in conjunction with one another to give you the support you need to succeed, you’ll sharpen your research skills by compiling and analyzing data, fact-checking and sourcing claims, completing important replications, and among other things. You’ll wrap up the research assistantship with insights only available to those with hands-on, insider encounters and with exposure to the front lines of academic research!

What do Internships entail?

Internships are a window of opportunity to supplement your academic understanding of your discipline and particular research topic by applying it to the professional world. They shed light on a career path you may want to pursue while permitting you to gain real-life work experience valuable to that pursuit. Horizon’s established partner networks of employers allows us to pair you with an employer in the industry of your choosing and place you in an internship which will further foster the interests you’ve cultivated while developing your research manuscript. What’s more is that we’ll arrange weekly check-ins from a career coach and real-time feedback from your employer. With resume-building being more important than ever as universities and the job market become increasingly competitive, your performance in the internship can render a reference for future employment or a letter of recommendation for universities!

What does Publication entail?

Publication in a peer-reviewed journal is the most conventional method for academic recognition — it is highly commendable & exceptional even for undergraduates, let alone high school students. Why not share the fruitful results of hours of labor in brainstorming, researching, collecting data, analyzing information, writing & citing, and revising your research paper in a journal bound to have your research leave an impactful mark in the discipline? Horizon will maximize your odds of acceptance for publication by providing feedback on how to make your research manuscript more nuanced with layers of sophistication, advise on how to tie back your research with prominent papers and theory surrounding your research question, walk you through the process of peer review, help you build a list of journals and craft a poster or powerpoint to promote your research paper, train you in LaTeX formatting, and, when applicable, add novel empirical data analysis. Through our 1-on-1 office hours with your personalized match with a PhD candidate and a project coordinator, we give you the infrastructure and tools to uplift your research manuscript to meet the quality of academic journal submissions! Note that publication is likely but cannot be ethically guaranteed.

Join us in a hybrid academic & professional immersive research program by applying here. You can also read more to learn in-depth about the inner workings of each extension foci.