Course Description

How does medical research move from the lab bench to life-saving treatments? This two-week precollege course immerses students in the world of biomedical science and clinical research. Guided by Dartmouth faculty, researchers, and medical professionals, students will gain firsthand experience in laboratory techniques, experimental design, and the ethical considerations involved with biomedical research and medicine.

Through a mix of hands-on lab sessions, seminars, and site visits, participants will explore topics such as cell biology, genetics, and neuroscience. An emphasis will be placed on the steps that lead from discoveries made in a laboratory setting (“bench”) into practical, clinical applications for patient care (“bedside”). This “pipeline” typically progresses from basic science research to preclinical testing in model organisms, drug and medical device trials in humans, FDA approval, and clinical implementation. Students will also learn about the pathways to careers in medicine and biomedical research, from undergraduate studies to medical school and beyond. This class culminates in a final small group presentation where students incorporate the concepts they have learned in the course into a didactic presentation about a cutting-edge area in medicine.

This is a fantastic course for students who may be interested in pre-medicine concentrations in college.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate fundamental laboratory techniques (e.g., pipetting, microscopy, data recording).
• Explain how biomedical research contributes to advances in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.
• Discuss the ethical issues and regulations surrounding human and animal research in medicine.
• Collaborate with peers to independently research a topic in biomedicine.
• Obtain diverse information about a novel topic, including searches of web resources (secondary sources) and academic journal articles (primary sources).
• Synthesize this information into a set of core findings and communicate those findings logically in visual and oral formats.
• Reflect on potential academic and career pathways in medicine, clinical research, and biomedical science.

Tangible Outcomes

• Career Readiness Sessions: Pathways to undergraduate research, medical school, and careers in health sciences.

Hands-On Activities 
 

Week 1: Foundations of Medical Research

• Lab Orientation & Safety: Proper use of lab equipment, PPE, and following a protocol.
• Core Techniques Training: Microscopy, pipetting, preparing slides, culturing bacteria, DNA extraction.
• Brain Dissection: dissect a sheep brain and learn how structures in a different mammal’s brain are similar (“homologous”) to our own brain
• Seminars with Experts: Talks on clinical research, public health, and biomedical innovation.
• Ethics in Medicine: Discussion of case studies (e.g., clinical trials, informed consent, equity and healthcare access).
• Begin Group Projects: Teams form around research questions (generated by students and refined by professor) and start planning independent research strategy.

Week 2: From Experiments to Applications

• Advanced Lab Skills: Evaluating prepared slides, gel electrophoresis, and data analysis demonstrations (adapted for precollege level).
• Research in Action: Learn how modern laboratory tools can be used to investigate disease processes and diagnose disease.
• Field Visits: Tours of research labs at Dartmouth College and a comprehensive tour of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center campus.
• Project Work Time: Students carry out their group research and meet daily with the professor to find sources, choose readings, distill information, and create graphics and text for their presentation. 

What does it take to build a future in STEM? This two-week precollege program, led by Dr. Ansley Booker of Dartmouth NEXT, invites students to explore the wide range of careers and pathways in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Through engaging seminars, hands-on workshops, and behind-the-scenes field trips, students will experience Dartmouth’s cutting-edge labs, medical centers, sustainability initiatives, and makerspaces. Along the way, they’ll learn from Dartmouth faculty, researchers, and alumni who are pushing the boundaries of innovation in medicine, engineering, data science, and beyond.
The program goes beyond exposure—it provides a roadmap. Students will gain practical tools for career readiness, from understanding the steps toward graduate school or research opportunities to connecting with mentors and building a professional network. The experience culminates in a closing symposium where each student presents a personalized “STEM Futures Pathway Plan,” reflecting the insights and inspiration gathered throughout the program. By the end of the two weeks, participants will not only discover what’s possible in STEM but also envision their own next steps with clarity and confidence.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify a wide range of STEM disciplines and career pathways through exposure to Dartmouth faculty, researchers, and alumni.
• Explain the steps involved in pursuing STEM careers, including higher education pathways, research opportunities, and professional development strategies.
• Engage with cutting-edge STEM research and innovation in fields such as medicine, engineering, sustainability, and data science.
• Develop foundational skills for career readiness, including networking, mentorship-seeking, and effective communication of personal goals.
• Reflect on their own interests and strengths to envision a personalized trajectory within STEM fields.
• Create a “STEM Futures Pathway Plan” that integrates academic exploration, career goals, and actionable next steps.

Tangible Outcomes

• Reflective Journaling: Capture daily insights and track evolving career interests, forming the foundation for the final project.
• Closing Symposium: Present a personalized “STEM Futures Pathway Plan” to peers and faculty, articulating both inspiration gained and concrete next steps.

Hands-On Activities

To achieve these outcomes, students will:

• Seminar Sessions: Participate in interactive talks led by Dartmouth faculty, alumni, and guest experts on STEM careers, innovations, and emerging fields.
• Hands-On Workshops: Experiment in makerspaces, medical labs, and sustainability centers, engaging directly with tools and techniques used by STEM professionals.
• Field Trips & Site Visits: Go behind the scenes at Dartmouth labs, research centers, and innovation hubs to observe cutting-edge science in action.
• Career Pathway Panels: Hear from alumni and professionals who represent diverse trajectories in STEM, followed by Q&A networking opportunities.
• Mentorship Activities: Pair with Dartmouth graduate students or researchers for guided conversations about academic and career journeys.
• Skill-Building Sessions: Learn practical skills in resume building, science communication, and how to prepare for college-level research.

Course Description 

How do our brains shape the way we think, feel, and behave? In this two-week precollege course, students will explore the fascinating fields of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Through interactive lectures, lab demonstrations, and hands-on activities, students will investigate topics such as memory, learning, decision-making, and emotion. They will also examine how researchers use cutting-edge tools—like brain imaging, cognitive testing, and behavioral experiments—to understand the mind.

Alongside faculty and graduate student mentors, participants will gain insight into the scientific process, from forming research questions to interpreting data. The course will also connect theory to everyday life: How does attention influence performance in school or sports? Why do we sometimes make irrational decisions? What does brain science tell us about mental health? By the end of the program, students will have a deeper understanding of both the brain’s complexity and the methods used to study it—and will leave with skills and perspectives useful for any future path in science, medicine, or the humanities.

Learning Outcomes 

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain core concepts in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, including memory, attention, perception, and emotion.
• Describe the scientific methods used to study the brain and behavior, including experiments and neuroimaging techniques.
• Analyze real or simulated data to draw conclusions about psychological phenomena.
• Apply psychological and neuroscience concepts to everyday situations, from decision-making to stress management.
• Evaluate ethical considerations in brain and behavior research.
• Reflect on their personal interest in psychology, neuroscience, or related fields as potential college and career pathways.

Tangible Outcomes

Capstone Project: In groups, design and present a mini research proposal on a question of their choice in psychology or cognitive neuroscience.

Hands-on Activities 

• Lab Demonstrations: Observe how EEG (brainwave recording) or fMRI (through case studies and datasets) are used to study the brain in action.
• Memory & Attention Experiments: Participate in simple experiments (e.g., Stroop test, working memory tasks) to experience psychological research firsthand.
• Case Studies: Examine real-world examples where brain science intersects with mental health, education, or law.
• Small-Group Data Analysis: Work with sample neuroscience data sets to practice drawing scientific conclusions.
• Guest Lectures: Hear from Dartmouth researchers studying topics like decision-making, child development, or neural disorders.
• Field Trip / Lab Tour: Visit Dartmouth’s neuroscience labs and psychology research centers for behind-the-scenes exposure.

Course Description

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the technologies, ethical questions, and policy decisions shaping the transition toward a more sustainable future. Through perspectives from climate science, engineering, economics, philosophy, medicine, and public policy, students explore practical solutions for reducing carbon emissions at both the individual and societal levels.

Participants calculate their own carbon footprints, analyze environmental data, debate climate policy, and investigate renewable energy technologies through case studies and collaborative projects. Throughout the course, students examine how scientific innovation, public policy, and individual action intersect to create meaningful environmental change while developing evidence-based strategies for decarbonization.

By the end of the course, students will understand both the complexity of climate challenges and the opportunities available to future leaders working toward a more sustainable world.

Learning Outcomes

• Analyze personal and societal sources of carbon emissions using scientific evidence.
• Evaluate renewable energy technologies and strategies for decarbonization.
• Interpret environmental data related to climate change, air quality, and sustainability.
• Examine ethical, economic, and policy perspectives surrounding climate action.
• Design evidence-based strategies that promote sustainability at local and global scales.
• Communicate environmental solutions through research, discussion, and collaborative presentations.

Course Description

In this course, you will learn more about how DNA can influence traits - including ones that can lead to serious health issues. From sickle cell anemia to schizophrenia, we’ll study how human diseases can be caused by variation in our genetic makeup and how our genes and our environment can interact to influence our traits. In this course, we’ll discuss what we do and don’t know about the relationship between genetics and disease and think about the possibilities of personalized medicine, with treatments tailored to your specific genetic profile. We’ll also cover the social and ethical implications of genetic research and talk about the risks and benefits of genetic testing and genomics.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify and explain different types of inheritance patterns for genetic diseases.
• Describe how genes and the environment can interact to influence a person’s traits.
• Explain the concept of personalized medicine and how genetic information can be used to tailor medical treatments to an individual’s specific needs.
• Read and understand primary research literature in the field of human genetics.
• Discuss potential benefits and risks of genetic research and its impact on society.

Tangible Outcomes

Students do a final presentation on a disease of their choice in a themed symposium.

Hands-on Activities 

• Visit to the Genomics Shared Resource Lab at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
• Lab simulations

Guest Speakers

Guest speakers from past iterations of this course have included: Prof Charleston Chiang, Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Quantitative and Computational Biology, Keck School of Medicine at USC

Benefits for Future Study

This could be useful for students going into biology or genetics research, into a variety of medical careers, or into science policy work.

Course Description

This course introduces students to comparative anatomy and physiology by examining how structure and function have evolved across the animal kingdom. Through laboratory investigations, dissections, anatomical models, evolutionary case studies, and selected historical examples, students discover how biological systems solve common challenges in diverse species.

Participants compare skeletal, muscular, circulatory, respiratory, nervous, and digestive systems while exploring the evolutionary relationships that connect organisms. Emphasis is placed on understanding adaptation, physiological function, and the relationship between anatomy, ecology, and survival. Students will also consider how anatomical and physiological knowledge has developed over time, how cultural and social contexts have shaped the study of the body, and how scientific ideas about anatomy and evolution are communicated to different audiences.

By the end of the course, students will appreciate both the remarkable diversity of life and the shared biological principles that unite living organisms, while gaining a broader understanding of how scientific knowledge is created, interpreted, and communicated.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this course, participants will:

• Compare major anatomical systems across vertebrate species.
• Explain how physiological systems support survival in different environments.
• Analyze evolutionary adaptations using comparative evidence.
• Interpret anatomical structures through laboratory investigations.
• Apply evolutionary principles to explain similarities and differences among organisms.
• Describe selected historical and social influences on the development of anatomical and physiological knowledge.
• Consider how cultural perspectives have shaped the ways humans study, represent, and understand bodies.
• Communicate scientific findings and anatomical concepts using appropriate biological terminology for both scientific and general audiences.

Course Description

This course serves as an introduction to modern techniques in data science and the fundamentals of artificial intelligence. Students develop computational and inferential thinking while learning core programming skills and the principles behind machine learning. Working with real-world datasets, students build data visualizations, train and evaluate basic AI models, and consider the ethical implications of AI systems. The course culminates in a final project applying AI techniques to a data-driven project. 

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this course, participants will:

• Construct simple scripts for processing, analyzing, and visualizing data
• Apply elementary (supervised and unsupervised) learning techniques
• Understand the function and structure of neural networks
• Conduct exploratory data analysis on a data set of their choice

Course Description

For two weeks, the class will work as an engineering consulting firm to address one client request: design a clean, reliable, and affordable energy plan for a town. Students will form four teams, each responsible for one of four subsystems, demand, supply, reliability & storage, and mobility, and the teams must make their designs work together. Using real data and energy systems models built in spreadsheets (with optional Python), students explore real questions engineers face. How much power does a town need hour by hour? What mixes of solar, wind, fossil fuels, and batteries keep the lights on? What happens during a heat wave or a natural disaster? A short lecture each day will introduce concepts that scaffold to each team's design tasks, and the rest of the day will be dedicated to guided group work.

The course is grounded in the real-world energy transition. Students will tour energy infrastructure on campus, hear from practicing engineers, and use what they learn to shape their models. Daily cross-team check-ins will demonstrate show how one change can ripple through the system. Students will stress-test their plan against outages and affordability metrics, learning how energy systems planning serves real people. The course will end with the class presenting one integrated plan to a panel of guests.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this course, participants will:

• Explain how an energy system works, from generation through delivery to end use.
• Build and test simple models to size and compare energy technologies using real data.
• Evaluate tradeoffs among cost, reliability, emissions, and fairness, and show how model assumptions change results.
• Collaborate in an hybrid team to integrate separate subsystem designs into one coherent plan.
• Communicate technical findings clearly to a non-technical audience.

Course Description

This innovative course introduces students to the emerging field of environmental neuroscience by exploring the relationship between the brain and the natural world. Through scientific inquiry, outdoor observation, and interdisciplinary research, participants examine how environmental factors, including light, pollution, climate, water quality, and even space travel, influence cognition, mental health, and neurological function.

Students investigate current neuroscience research while participating in experiential learning activities that connect classroom concepts with real-world environments. Discussions emphasize how environmental stewardship, sustainability, and public health intersect with neuroscience, encouraging students to consider the long-term effects of environmental change on human well-being.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a deeper understanding of how neuroscience extends beyond the laboratory and into the environments where we live, work, and learn.

1. How does syncing with the sun impact our circadian rhythms and mental output?
2. How are water and air pollution correlated with disease states, such as Alzheimer's?
3. How can space travel give us insight into how our brains interact with the natural world around us? 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the foundational principles of environmental neuroscience and how brain function is influenced by natural and built environments.
• Analyze case studies that link environmental conditions (light, air, water, pollution, and space) to neurological processes and disorders.
• Identify and describe key brain structures (e.g., suprachiasmatic nucleus, hippocampus) and their role in environmental adaptation and health.
• Evaluate scientific research on environmental impacts on cognition, mood, and neurological disease.
• Apply neuroscience concepts to real-world environmental challenges, considering both individual well-being and societal health.
• Reflect on how sustainability and environmental consciousness directly shape human brain health across generations.
• Design and conduct observational or experiential exercises using natural settings to investigate relationships between environment and mental states.

Course Description 

This immersive course introduces students to the full continuum of medicine—from prevention and wellness to emergency response and acute care. Through interactive simulations, case studies, clinical demonstrations, and conversations with healthcare professionals, participants gain a comprehensive understanding of modern healthcare systems and the many professions that contribute to patient outcomes.

Students investigate topics including preventative medicine, nutrition, epidemiology, emergency medicine, trauma care, public health, diagnostic reasoning, and patient communication. Along the way, they practice clinical problem-solving through simulated patient scenarios while exploring how physicians, nurses, emergency responders, therapists, researchers, and public health professionals collaborate to deliver high-quality care.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a deeper appreciation for medicine as both a science and a service profession while gaining insight into the teamwork, critical thinking, and compassion that define healthcare.

Learning Outcomes 

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the continuum of healthcare from disease prevention to emergency medicine.
• Analyze patient case studies using clinical reasoning and evidence-based decision-making.
• Describe the roles of healthcare professionals across diverse medical specialties.
• Apply principles of public health and preventative care to improve community well-being.
• Demonstrate effective communication and teamwork during simulated clinical scenarios.
• Explore educational and career pathways within medicine and the health professions.

Course Description

Drawing from positive psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and behavioral science, this course explores the scientific study of happiness, resilience, and human flourishing. Rather than focusing solely on mental illness, students investigate the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive.

Through interactive discussions, psychological research, reflective journaling, and experiential activities, participants examine topics including gratitude, purpose, motivation, relationships, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, optimism, and resilience. Students critically evaluate common misconceptions about happiness while exploring evidence-based practices that promote long-term psychological well-being.

By the end of the course, students will understand the science behind happiness while developing practical strategies for supporting their own well-being and contributing positively to the lives of others.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain major theories and research findings in positive psychology.
• Analyze factors that contribute to psychological well-being and resilience.
• Evaluate scientific evidence supporting practices that promote flourishing.
• Apply evidence-based well-being strategies to everyday life.
• Reflect on personal values, relationships, and life goals through guided activities.
• Communicate psychological concepts using scientific evidence and critical thinking.