Lindbergh Student Receives Top STARS Research Award

Summer school never looked so fascinating.

senior and aspiring scientist Rachel Maxwell spent six weeks conducting intensive research with St. Louis-area professionals and professors with the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

A standout during the program, Maxwell was one of 28 students who were named winners of the LMI Aerospace/D3 Technologies Award for Excellence in Research. This year, 78 high school students participated in the program. 

“The students in the STARS program are getting a big head start,” said James Carrington, president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, according to a news release. “For many of the participants, this experience will be the most important event in their decision to pursue a career in science.”

STARS introduces rising high school juniors and seniors to various aspects of science as practiced by scientists in academic, private or corporate research institutions. UMSL partners with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur, Saint Louis University, Solae and Washington University to provide research opportunities for the participants.

The STARS students researched everything from neural circuits in the brain to the effects of early life stress on learning to improving satellite efficiency. Students also took part in career workshops, attended lectures by leading St. Louis area scientists and enjoyed social activities such as bowling, a movie, an ice cream social, the St. Louis Symphony and a Cardinal game. 

“I was at UMSL pretty much every day, and twice a week in the mornings we would get together as a group, and in the afternoon we would go to various labs and do our research,” Maxwell said. “We also had guest research scientists from different universities and they would talk about what they do as scientists.”

After applying and being selected for the program, Maxwell and other STARS students picked projects they would be interested in studying and were paired with a mentor.

Maxwell’s project was: “Vaporization Enthalpies of Ibuprofen and Naproxen by Correlation-gas Chromatography,” and her mentor was Jim Chickos from the chemistry and biochemistry department at UMSL.

“My project was about the amount of energy it takes for a liquid to go into a gas form,” Maxwell said. “What I did wasn’t terribly difficult and I had help with the equations. The award I got was on writing the paper. I really think (winning the award) had to do with the fact that the professor I worked with knew how to help STARS students in the past.”

Fifty-three faculty members from the participating academic institutions, three scientists from Solae and five scientists from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center volunteered as mentors for STARS. After six weeks of research, participants presented their research papers to their peers, parents and research mentors.  

Senior scientists at Monsanto, Solae, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and LMI Aerospace/D3 Technologies reviewed the papers. The awards were based on difficulty and complexity of research; appropriateness of the research methodology; findings; quality of writing; and overall quality of the research process. 

Maxwell plans on attending Washington University or Carlton College, majoring in physics. She then wants to go to graduate school, focusing on astrophysics, with her eyes on a doctorate.