Reviewer: Peyton Chang
Stars out of 5: ☆☆☆☆
Location: The University of Texas at Dallas
Cost: $950
Financial Aid? No
Research Topics: Most of the projects were focused on engineering, but 1-2 groups did a biology project, and mine did a computer science project.
Personal Review:
CAST-STEM Bridge was a really fun program, and an opportunity to do hands-on research. My experience was fairly lax, with my group only meeting 3 days a week from 9-4. Each group has a different timeline, but most of them share a general process. First, the graduate student introduces you to the topic and teaches anything you would need to know(e.g. my group was taught Python since we had a coding project). After the learning phase, your group moves on to doing the actual project, collecting any useful data, and/or building your project. Finally, you would make a presentation and a video about the research and your group's experience at the camp. At the end of the 6 weeks, a banquet will be held where all the groups present their videos, and then go on stage to give a presentation on their project.
Which professor you get paired with during the program has a significant impact on your experience, as the professor determines essentially everything about your time there, from when and where you meet, the number of people in your group, and of course the project you will be doing.
Recommendation?
I had a great time at the program and would recommend it to anyone in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It's also a solid option for rising sophomores, as there aren't too many research programs open to them.
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