CIHR/STIHR Partners in Experiential Learning

Tomorrow's leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can be drawn to their career choice through experience. With this in mind, Dr. Jim Koropatnick plans to expand his successful Partners in Experiential Learning (PEL) program so that it offers high school students the chance to work in laboratories that specialize in cancer biology, imaging, experimental treatment, primary health care, and vascular and cerebrovascular training.

"Working scientists can fuel the imaginations of talented Canadian high school students through continued, one-on-one mentoring and training," he says. "Partners in Experiential Learning allows for active participation by youth in funded research projects - and supplies recognition for that participation. The brilliant young high school students we see entering our laboratories today are eager and ready for the chance to choose from many career paths that are open to them."

The program will allow students from 38 high schools in the London, Ontario area to work in a University of Western Ontario (UWO) laboratory either part-time for five months (over the run of a school year) or full-time for two months (for a two month summer period). All students will be monitored by UWO faculty members, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students.

But it doesn't stop there. Thanks to a partnership CIHR established with Virtual Researcher On Call (VROC), an educational initiative of a Canadian charity called Partners in Research (PIR), UWO faculty members will be able to interact via web links and videoconferencing with both students and teachers across the country. Everything is conducted in a concerted effort to stimulate and educate youth about career opportunities that exist in STEM.