For decades, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics has been recognized as one of the most innovative and successful public high schools in the entire United States.

Credit for that success is due in large part to the support provided by the state of North Carolina. But there’s another key component to NCSSM’s success: its partnerships within the UNC System. 

This summer, NCSSM-Morganton gratefully welcomed its big siblings the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Appalachian State University into the network of System partners helping NCSSM in its state-wide effort to enhance summer enrichment opportunities for students from throughout North Carolina. These and other System partners play a tremendous role in helping NCSSM achieve the margin of excellence that distinguishes NCSSM-facilitated programming from similar opportunities offered elsewhere.

UNC Charlotte and App State each offer a new and unique set of opportunities to enrich the academic and personal development of NCSSM’s students. Four mentorship placements (AI & machine learning, bioinformatics, computer science, and data science) were offered at UNC Charlotte, and three (biology, chemistry, and engineering) at App State. Sixteen NCSSM students overall drawn from both of the school’s Residential campuses and its Online program participated, with eight at UNC Charlotte and eight at App State.

One of the mentors working with the engineering students at App State is Chris Thaxton, a physics professor in the university’s Department of Physics & Astronomy. For five weeks, he worked closely with four NCSSM students who, as part of a larger team of undergraduate and graduate summer interns, gained engineering experience through an App State-based company called IRIS, Inc, which utilizes AI-tools and advanced research to create cutting-edge scientific instrumentation.

Students spent the first week of the mentorship learning iterative design skills using Computer-Aided Design to develop their own 3D printed projects. The last month of the mentorship was spent applying that new proficiency to individually chosen technical projects of special interest. Regardless of the project, Thaxton says, the skills gained are applicable in a wide range of fields and applications.

“We want students to learn skills that are going to be with them throughout their careers,” he says. “We call it workforce development, but really, it’s about developing relationships and enabling student success for the long term.”

Harini Ramaprasad, a teaching professor and an Associate Dean in UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing & Informatics, thinks of the mentorship collaboration similarly. As one of the key players in establishing the new partnership between UNC Charlotte and NCSSM-Morganton, she says the university is always happy to be helpful in advancing the mission of like-minded institutions, but the NCSSM partnership has great potential for UNC Charlotte, as well.

“There’s incredible value for us in this, both in the short term and the long term,” she says. “In the short term, we anticipated that our faculty would love having these students in their labs because these are incredibly motivated students bringing a high-energy dynamic to the faculty’s research projects. And the students are genuinely contributing to the work. 

“In the long term, this partnership is a great way for us to showcase what UNC Charlotte has to offer. The hope is that if these summer mentorship programs end up being a positive experience for the students, then maybe UNC Charlotte will be on their list when they start looking at colleges. It’s a win-win, right? They get [summer] research experience with our faculty, and we get to build that partnership with prospective students.”

Christiane Burkins is NCSSM-Morgaton’s Director of Mentorship and Research. She’s excited to think of what the future holds for students at NCSSM seeking summer mentorship placements in the western third of the state.

“What the students have done every day with their mentors in these new partnerships has been phenomenal,” she says. “NCSSM-Morganton is so new that a lot of people [outside of the school] don’t yet know about all the fantastic things that are going on here. But NCSSM is growing and serving more students and we have an expanding list of partners who are offering our students really incredible opportunities.” 

Ramaprasad says UNC Charlotte is certainly looking forward to future collaborations. “We are definitely interested in continuing the partnership, and I’m hoping that we can grow the partnership [by getting] more faculty involved next year and the future years and having a slightly larger cohort of students, if possible,” she says.

Thaxton and App State are confident in the future of the collaboration, too.

“We knew that working with NCSSM was not a risk,” Thaxton says. “It was an opportunity that we had to take advantage of, and we plan to continue doing this as long as we can. And as long as we keep doing what we are doing, I hope NCSSM will keep doing what they are doing.”