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Cultivating Curiosity

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The Simons Summer Research Program celebrates its 40th anniversary of inspiring the next generation of scientific innovators.

By Shelley Catalano

A surgeon improving the quality of life for breast cancer surgery survivors.

A psychologist striving to mitigate factors that could adversely affect astronauts’ cognitive well-being during long space missions for NASA.

A climatologist using machine learning to improve tropical cyclone track forecasts so communities can better prepare for storms.

All these researchers have made discoveries that will further scientific exploration and enhance and improve our lives. But they also have one other thing in common:. They all got their start in high school in the labs of distinguished Stony Brook professors through the Simons Summer Research Program (SSRP).

Since its inception in 1984, SSRP has invited more than 1,000 eager, accomplished high school rising seniors to spend their summers at Stony Brook University immersed in high-level research, all thanks to the incredible vision and support of Jim and Marilyn Simons. “Jim Simons had a really great idea that was a winning formula,” said Karen Kernan, director of SSRP since 2001. “He wanted to take really talented, super bright and curious students and match them with the best mentors — Stony Brook’s most accomplished professors — and expose them to new possibilities while encouraging them to pursue science education and careers.”

48 Simons Fellows

The 48 Simons Fellows for summer 2024 came from all over the United States.

This winning formula has encouraged the majority of the Simons Fellows to do just that, going on to pursue master’s and PhDs in science fields, with many of them becoming doctors, researchers, professors and mentors.

It all began when a handful of local high school students were selected to be the first Simons Fellows in a pilot program that paired them with one of six faculty mentors. The students spent six weeks working in the labs with the professors and their graduate and undergraduate students on a project, and then presented a poster of their research at a closing ceremony.

During the ’90s, around 100 or so local students would apply each year. But that all changed when Simons Fellow students began regularly placing in the top of major science competitions, such as the Regeneron National Science Talent Search (originally called the Westinghouse and later Intel Search). SSRP has produced more than 242 semifinalists, 36 finalists and one winner, in 2012. This year, 10 fellows were semifinalists.

In the early 2000s, the applicant pool began rapidly growing. In 2024, the program received its most applications ever, more than 1,200, for the 48 available spots. “The hardest part of my job is saying no to applicants,” said Kernan. “We now receive so many incredible applications and recommendations from across the country. Students know the value of this program.”

What sets the program apart are the mentors, said Kernan. “We have really wonderful, dedicated faculty mentors who freely give their time and attention to our students, and that’s what really keeps this program running.

“For the students, it’s not only the experience that they have in the lab, but also being in a wider community of scientists,” she continued. “They attend lectures from faculty from other disciplines and visit Brookhaven National Laboratory to see the world’s best scientists working to solve the most complicated mysteries. For some students, it might be the first time that they’re around students who are as interested in the science as they are. They’re making good friends and getting a summer of real hands-on experience in a university lab.”

Multiple SUNY Distinguished Professors number among the more than 35+ mentors each year, including Hal Metcalf (physics), one of the original faculty in 1984 who is still mentoring students today. Other longtime mentors include Distinguished Professor Benjamin Hsiao, chemistry; Distinguished Professor Iwao Ojima, chemistry; Professor Troy E. Rasbury, geosciences; Professor Jessica Seeliger, pharmacological sciences; Professor Brian Colle, marine sciences; and Berhane Ghebrehiwet, MD, professor of medicine and pathology, who mentored the 2012 talent search winner, Nithin Tumma, who won first place in recognition of his outstanding research relating to breast cancer therapy.

“It’s important for me to mentor because if it were not for the mentors who gave me the opportunity, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” said Ghebrehiwet, who has been a mentor for as long as he has been at Stony Brook, more than 35 years. “These are all brilliant kids. We give them opportunities to do complicated experiments, but the most important thing I teach them is collegiality. Every person you meet in life is a potential friend you haven’t yet discovered. That’s my philosophy in life. The problems of science are solved when all of us work together because we bring different expertise and different talents to the program. And that’s what I try to teach my students: teamwork, camaraderie and respecting each other.”

“My professor has so much wisdom and so much insight for all of us,” said Cecilia Anderson from Homestead High School, Cupertino, California, one of the students in Ghebrehiwet’s lab this year. “He talked about how to overcome challenges and how to keep moving forward in life. I learned so much about the process of research, and while sometimes it may be tedious, the outcome is really worth it. And even if you don’t get the results you want, you learn how to keep moving to the next step.”

“I wanted to do research based on the ocean and ocean animals, and when I saw there was an opportunity to work in the Marine Animal Disease Lab to study shellfish and see the effect of ocean acidification and pathology on these really important species, I knew I had to apply,” said Roz Hurd from Emma Willard School, Troy, New York, on her decision to become a Simons Fellow. Hurd was mentored by Bassem Allam, Marinetics Endowed Professor in Marine Sciences, and Emmanuelle Pales-Espinosa, associate research professor.

“At first I was a little intimidated because I had never really participated in research before and everyone around me knew so much, but the lab members were so kind and patient with me. They showed me how to do different experiments and procedures, and by the end, I kind of became a pro at it. I learned how to do the basic steps of DNA extraction, things like that.”

Following her Simons Fellow experience, Hurd decided to focus on applying to schools like Stony Brook that are “geographically and academically connected to the ocean” to pursue a degree in marine biology.

What’s next for the Simons Summer Research Program? For Kernan, the application review process begins again in February, at which time she will start to match students with faculty mentors. In the interim, she waits to hear how many 2024 Simons Fellows will be named semifinalists in the 2025 Regeneron Talent Search. Semifinalists will be announced on January 9, 2025.

To learn more about Simons Summer program, please visit stonybrook.edu/simons.

Tara Huston and Berhane Ghebrehiwet

Tara Huston with her mentor, Berhane Ghebrehiwet, in 2014.

Where are they now?

Barry Freifeld, PhD, one of the original Simons Fellows from 1984, was mentored by Distinguished Professor Hal Metcalf. Freifeld became a mechanical engineer, pursuing his own research, eventually becoming head of the hydrogeology department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, where he has worked since 1992. 

In a letter to Kernan a few years ago, Freifeld said that “the Simons Fellowship probably had more impact in my development than all of the college that followed. Professor Metcalf challenged me to work with his graduate students, and I was given free rein in the laboratory to support their research efforts. The amazing thing was I was never made to feel like a high school student, but was thrown into this exciting research lab, which stuck with me throughout my education and beyond.”

Tara L. Huston, MD ’01, a ’92 Simons Fellow, had the opportunity to do research in the lab of Professor Berhane Ghebrehiwet for two summers during high school before pursuing her undergraduate degree at Harvard. She returned to Stony Brook to attend the School of Medicine and after her residency she joined Stony Brook in 2011 as faculty and as a practitioner. She is currently a professor of surgery and dermatology in the Department of Surgery’s Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Her mentor and friend Dr. Ghebrehiwet is now her colleague.

“The research that I did in Dr. Ghebrehiwet’s lab afforded me a semifinalist position in the Westinghouse Talent Search (which is now called the Regeneron Science Talent Search). The research that I do now is predominantly on improving the care for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, and for those who are at high risk for developing breast cancer,” she said. “My mentoring connection with Dr. Ghebrehiwet was very powerful and very motivational, and he was very encouraging on all levels, and I did not find that outside of Stony Brook. My choice to come back to Stony Brook for medical school was largely dependent on the incredible experience that I had as a Simons fellow when I was a high school student.”

Wallace Marshall, PhD,  who earned dual undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and biochemistry from SBU in 1991, was mentored by Lawrence Reinstein in radiology oncology when he was a SImons Fellow. He now manages his own lab at the University of California at San Francisco, where his goal is to “to understand the mechanistic origins of cell geometry.” Since he joined UCSF in 2009 he has mentored hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students. “Without a doubt, my summer research experience at Stony Brook in 1985 gave me my first view of what it feels like to do scientific research, and launched my future career in biomedical research,” he said.

Other notable Simons fellows include Ruchi Shah ’16, MD ’20, who studied with Kenneth Shroyer, MD, in pathology in 2011, and is now an Allergy and Immunology Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital; Scott Bronson, a 1988 Simons Fellow, works as a manager of Government Relations and Strategic Engagement for Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Also at BNL as a physics associate working on enhancing the Electron Beam Ion Sources for the RHIC Collider, is Ben Coe, a 2010 Simons Fellow mentored by Metcalf and Professor John Noé from the SB Laser Teaching Center.

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