March 2023

On Saturday, May 13, 2023, NCSSM-Durham will host a data science expo organized by Anaconda, a leader in open source data science tools that are used across the world in research and business. NCSSM-Online students are encouraged to register for the event for a chance to win scholarship money and showcase their work to a panel of experts from industry and academia! You can use some of your existing coursework and research as a starting point for this expo, which will look for you to highlight aspects of your data analysis to tell an impactful story related to your project outcomes.

Learn more and register for the Expo!

Dec. 2022

After the first Online Weekend of the fall semester was canceled due to Hurricane Ian, NCSSM welcomed students to the Durham campus for the Oct. 29 Online Weekend. Students shared photos of their Online Weekend experiences in courses such as Classical Genetics, Honors Climate Change Biology, and Scientific Programming.

Read more.

Sept. 2022

Inspiring speeches from alumni, a warm welcome from Chancellor Todd Roberts, a lively and informative Q&A session with Online Ambassadors, “Meet your Instructor” sessions, a picnic and hanging-out time with fellow students on the Bryan Lawn—all wrapped up with a late-afternoon treat of New Orleans style snow cones—marked this year’s Online Orientation, held on NCSSM’s Durham campus on Friday, Aug. 5.

Read more.

April 2022

If you are an NCSSM student, your library staff provides the opportunity for you to: learn how to access the collection of over 245,000 e-books; learn best practices for database and journal mining; get help on projects and papers, even on nights and weekends; and, of course, say hi to Porg during Online Weekends. Remember the new Chat feature to ask questions or get help. We enjoy helping – the more obscure the topic the better.

Read more.

Feb. 2022

Over the weekend, more than 92 students participated in UniHacks 2022, North Carolina's first student-led, high-school hackathon themed around entrepreneurship. With almost $400 in prizes available, teams of students from across the state, including students from the NCSSM-Online program, participated in the 36-hour event that paired students with industry professionals, and offered engaging workshops and an incredible environment for collaborating on student-led projects. A keynote address, delivered by Rich Balot (NCSSM ’95 and Founder and CEO of Victra), kicked off the event Saturday morning.

Read more and watch the keynote address.

Dec. 2021

More than 300 NCSSM-Online students came to NCSSM’s Durham campus for our Fall 2021 online weekends! The days started with icebreakers in the gym before students headed to their classes. Lunch and enrichment sessions – finances, nuclear energy, origami, flying, electronic music, and more – provided another opportunity for students to get to know each other.

Read about some of this fall's Online Weekend course activities!

Oct. 2021

One of the many traditions at NCSSM is the opportunity for students to participate in a research and innovation experience. And everyone knows there’s no better time than the summer to engage as a thinker, maker, doer in a challenge beyond the classroom! This summer was no exception with 170 rising seniors rolling up their sleeves and diving in to solve challenges alongside their peers. 

To celebrate the summer adventures of NCSSM’s Summer Research & Innovation Program (SRIP) students, NCSSM is proud to present the Summer Research & Innovation Program Showcase 2021, featuring a short abstract and 3-minute video from each student or project group.

Learn more about SRIP and hear from a few of the NCSSM Online student participants about their advice for interested juniors!

Sept. 2021

This year’s Online Orientation was held July 29-30 and attended by more than 175 incoming NCSSM Online juniors. Hosted virtually, the event featured social events hosted by Online Resource Coordinators (ORCs) J.J. Watts, Sue Anne Lewis, and Mat Trn, a welcome by Chancellor Todd Roberts and an address by Online Alumni Speaker Tanis Priddle, sessions led by faculty, counselors, Admissions staff, Student Ambassadors, and Student Government representatives, and a virtual club fair.

Already our new Unis are building the bonds of community that will make their two years at NCSSM an exciting and rewarding learning experience. Read more.

We’d like to thank everyone for two great Online Weekends this spring. Although we could not be together in person, this was a wonderful opportunity to spend some time together (when it was still light outside!) to work together on group activities that don’t fit neatly into a one-hour slot. You know what happened during your online experience -- here are a few examples of experiences in other courses.
Read more!

If you are an NCSSM student, your library staff provides the opportunity for you to: learn how to access the collection of over 245,000 e-books; learn best practices for database and journal mining; get help on projects and papers, even on nights and weekends; and, of course, say hi to Porg during Online Weekends. Remember the new Chat feature to ask questions or get help. We enjoy helping -- the more obscure the topic the better.
Read more!

It seems like you can't go more than a day, maybe a few hours, without reading an article or hearing someone talk about the importance of working with data, either for academic research or as part of business operations. Data science has taken off in the last 10 years, growing almost exponentially according to Google Ngram View, itself a data science tool used to visualize how frequently words appear in books. Hovering around 0.0000000% for years, the phrase "data science" now accounts for 0.0000800% of all words written in the English language in 2019. But what is data science, and how can you get involved in it through the NCSSM Online Program?
Read more!

Community is an important part of the NCSSM experience, and each semester we look forward to our Online Weekends, when we have more time to explore a course topic in greater depth while getting to know our instructors and classmates better both in class and in enrichment and social activities. Adapting to our current mode of teaching and learning presented a challenge for our Online Weekends, but faculty, online resource coordinators, and students used their creativity and expertise to deliver 23 course sessions attended by about 250 students in October.  Read more!

As leaves begin to fall and temperatures cool, you may already be dreaming of summer days of freedom and how you will spend one of your most precious resources -- your time. But juniors, your seniors can tell you that the way they spent their summer has contributed to their story as they continue to “design their future.” Last summer, 26 NCSSM Online seniors gave up two to six weeks of their summer freedom to dedicate their time to a new kind of freedom: engaging as thinkers, makers, and doers to address challenges in the world beyond the classroom through the NCSSM Summer Research & Innovation Program (SRIP).  Read more!

📣 Resources and upcoming deadlines for           Research & Innovation at NCSSM:

Resources

To help orient you to the opportunities and why and how to get involved:

• Introduction to Research & Innovation at NCSSM (recording)

• Slideshow of the Introduction presentation 

• Research & Innovation website  

Contacts

• Dr. Shoemaker, Director of Mentorship and Research (shoemaker@ncssm.edu) 

• Dr. Whitt, Instructor of Mentorship and Research

• Online Research & Innovation Office Hours (every Wed. 1-3 p.m.)

 Upcoming Opportunities and Deadlines

• Mentorship Program (Part 1 due Oct. 19; Part 2 due Nov. 2.)

  • See instructions for the Mentorship application here.

• Rocketry

  • Reach out to Dr. Garrett Love to learn more.

• Summer Ventures in Science and Math (Application due Jan. 15.)

  • Next webinar on Oct. 29 (Register here.)

• Summer Research & Innovation Program

  • Announced in early December

Because of the flexibility in their local school schedules caused by COVID-19, students in the NCSSM Online program were able to enroll in a unique course offering, Infectious Disease Dynamics and Modeling! This course is offered by visiting instructor and NCSSM alumna Dr. Kathy Paur and is delivered remotely by Zoom from her home in California.  Read more!