The University of Arizona’s KEYS Research Internship offers a unique summer opportunity to motivated high school students who possess a strong interest in pursuing advanced education in bioscience or biomedical science.

Throughout the internship, students will go through a week-long, hands-on institute, perform independent research in an active laboratory, and learn science communication through weekly workshops with the other interns and KEYS personnel. The summer culminates with a poster session where they showcase their research to the academic community and their friends and family.

In the intensive weeklong training institute, under the guidance of University of Arizona faculty and KEYS directors, interns perform hands-on laboratory research, learn to read research papers, and hear about cutting edge research at the University of Arizona. They also learn about the components of a research career.

Once the required training institute is complete, students are assigned to individual labs where it is expected they work approximately 30-40 hours a week depending on the session in which they are participating.

The KEYS Research Internship culminates with a poster session at the BIO5 Institute where the students present their research findings. The poster session serves as a chance for students to practice their communication skills with others within the scientific community and to network with University of Arizona faculty.

Although this is a big time commitment on behalf the student, and the parents as well, past experience has shown that the benefits of the program go far beyond the time invested.

The BIO5 Institute and the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center oversee all activities of the KEYS Research Internship. The program is a partnership between BIO5 and the SWEHSC as Co-Principle Investigators (Co-PIs) and the College of Science, with faculty participating from other colleges across The University of Arizona.