Bright Minds Internship Program 2006

The "Bright Minds" Internship program at Carl Sandburg College is targeted towards academically brilliant juniors and seniors of the twenty K-12 School districts within Carl Sandburg Community College District 518.
The program has been offered to the top five of the winners of the Academic Challenge competition offered at the Galesburg and Carthage Campuses in March, 2006. The Academic Challenge is sponsored by Carl Sandburg College and the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Organization and covers seven academic categories namely, Mathematics, Chemistry, English, Physics, Biology, Engineering Graphics and Computer Science.

This year the students will be involved in an "Information Research" project on the topic of Biotechnology. The project will culminate in a fifteen-minute presentation to the Carl Sandburg College Board of Trustees at their regular Board Meeting in Carthage, IL on July 27, 2006.

The project will span over a month starting June 13th and ending on July 18th and will involve the students spending one day a week at Carl Sandburg College campus in Galesburg and the rest of the days working at home or at a nearby CSC campus. During this time, they will go on field visits, conduct interviews, and do research on Biotechnology.

The program is hosted by Samuel Sudhakar, vice president of technology services and Mr. David Burns, biology instructor at Carl Sandburg College. Students will also maintain a daily journal and communicate with group members via a Blog.

Following are some of the benefits for the students:

  1. Gaining knowledge in a cutting edge field and an excellent experience.
  2. Field visits and opportunity to meet pioneers in the field
  3. A certificate of merit and a letter of recommendation from the President of Carl Sandburg College.
  4. Temporary use of a laptop and broadband Internet access
  5. Stipend

The College hopes to benefit from:

  1. Hosting bright minds on Campus
  2. Getting an inner view into the field of Biotechnology
  3. Formulating recommendations for related curriculum
Students will be spending every Tuesday from 8:00 a.m. until Noon at the College for the five weeks.

Schedule at a glance Start Date:
Tuesday, June 13th, 2005, 9:00 a.m. E200 Board Room, Main Campus- Introductions, Informal Discussions, Campus Tour, BLOG, and Rules of Internship
Tuesday, June 20th - 7:00 a.m. All day field visit -- Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center - University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Thursday, June 29th - 8:00 a.m. Full day field visit -- AG Lab Peoria/Bradley University and Morton Crime Lab. Meet at the Circle Drive at 8 a.m
Wednesday, July 5th - 9:00 a.m. Half Day Field Visit -- Monsanto Corporation, Monmouth, IL. Meet at the Circle Drive at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, July 11th - 9:00 a.m. - Noon -- CSC Board Presentation Rehearsal
Thursday, July 27th - CSC Board of Trustees Meeting in Carthage, Illinois - 15 minute presentation. 7:00 PM


Any questions, please contact:

Dr. Lori Sundburg or Ms. Kelli Mayes-Denker.
Ms. Kelli Mayes-Denker Instructor of Economics/Business Administration
Carl Sandburg College
2400 Tom L. Wilson Blvd. Galesburg, IL 61401.
(309) 341-5326 kmayesdenker@sandburg.edu

Dr. Lori Sundberg Vice President of Academic Services
Carl Sandburg College
2400 Tom L. Wilson Blvd. Galesburg, IL 61401.
(309) 341-5242 lsundberg@sandburg.edu