USA Undergrads Conduct STEM Research at BIU

The 14^th annual Summer Science Research Internship Program, a joint Bar-Ilan University-Yeshiva University initiative, kicked off this week in the STEM labs at Bar-Ilan University.

This year’s cohort is comprised of twenty-nine US college undergraduates from Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, Columbia University, Cornell University, Rutgers University, The Cooper Union, Queens College, Brooklyn College, Touro College, Lander College, and the State University of New York at Binghamton.  

During the seven-week research experience, the students conduct intensive internships in STEM research with faculty members from the Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering, Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Faculty of Education, and the Departments of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology.

The program also includes one-day enrichment trips to sites around the country. This year visits to the Teperberg Winery, Israel Aerospace Industries, the National Library and Volcani Institute for Agricultural Research are planned. The program also includes lectures by Bar-Ilan scholars on a wide range of topics, as well as night activities, Torah learning, and Shabbatonim at YU's Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, where the group is housed.

“Working with leading faculty members and graduate students specializing in a wide range of research from Alzheimer’s disease and depression to aging and language acquisition and much more, this program offers students a unique opportunity to conduct research in Bar-Ilan's state-of-the-art labs and to become acquainted with researchers from all the diverse sectors of Israeli society,” says program director Prof. Arlene Gordon, from the Department of Chemistry.

Hannah Bialik, a computer engineering student at Rutgers University, is one of the more than two dozen participants in this year’s program. “I hope to gain valuable research experience, as well as a deeper understanding of the Israeli work culture and life here in general,” she says, adding that she looks forward to learning from and with her peers on the program.

“I chose the Bar-Ilan summer program because it is the perfect blend between Torah and science. It is an opportunity not only to encounter interesting and challenging scientific research at BIU, but also to be housed next to excellent Torah resources on Yeshiva University’s Israel campus. I’m excited to take advantage of these opportunities while experiencing life in Israel,” says Jordan Paraboschi, from Indianapolis, Indiana, who’s majoring in statistics at Cornell University.

The BIU-YU Summer Science Program falls under the aegis of Bar-Ilan's International School. Applications for the 2025 program will soon be available.

The program is generously funded by the late Dr. Mordecai Katz OBM and Dr. Monique Katz, the Irving I. Stone Foundation, and the Zoltan Erenyi Fund.