High school STEM exposure summer program
• FORGES is a summer program designed to offer exposure and experience in collegiate-level
STEM work to local high school students who are interested in a career or academic pathway
in STEM. CHARM partners with University of Delaware (UD) departments and industry
partners to provide hands-on activities, collegiate and industrial laboratory exposure, and
interactions with faculty, students, and staff.
• 10 student participants and 3 high school teachers engaged in a variety of materials science,
chemistry, biology, and physics activities including:
• Using control samples and observation of properties to identify a mystery polymer
at the Chemours lab.
• Measuring the force required to fracture different materials to investigate the
properties of composite materials in the Materials Science Engineering department.
• Evaluating the mock viral status of an individual using an ELISA assay system in
the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department.
• Experimenting with different chemicals and voltage to observe the impact on
electrolysis brass plating on a copper penny in the Chemistry department.
• Instigating and observing sea urchin gamete shedding in the Biology department.
• Using CRISPR technology to learn about and engage in basic gene editing at the
Christiana Care Gene Editing Institute.
• Upon completion of the program, 87% of student participants reported increased comfort and
confidence with attending college. 100% of participants reported that the program made them
more likely to choose a career in STEM, increased their confidence in and understanding of
STEM research, increased their comfort level with learning new STEM topics, and increased
their confidence for doing future work in a laboratory.
