Research exchange brings German scientists to Hartsville

The S.C. Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics’ (GSSM) has embarked on a Research Exchange Scholars program with Germany, funded by research-based healthcare company Roche. The program is an expansion of the school’s nationally recognized Summer Program for Research Interns (SPRI). Three GSSM students visited Germany in June and July to conduct college-level scientific research.

In exchange, GSSM welcomes three students from Germany’s Johanna Wittum Schule, a high school specializing in biotechnology education to its Hartsville campus for seven weeks. They will work as research interns alongside established professors at the University of South Carolina on projects covering a broad spectrum of topics in cell and molecular biology.

Juergen Braun, a biology instructor at the Johanna Wittum Schule in Pforzhein, Germany, traveling with the three German students, along with Murray Brockman and Ernie Boyd of GSSM, was a guest speaker at Tuesday’s Rotary Club meeting.

Braun gave a slide presentation of the GSSM student’s stay in Germany. He said they learned a lot about American culture from these students as the students learned from the research experience.

All of the exchange students from both GSSM and Johanna Wittum Schule are 12th-grade females.

GSSM, Roche and Johanna Wittum Schule are proud to celebrate the jumpstart these six Research Exchange Scholars have gotten on their future scientific endeavors.

On Aug. 27 from 4-5 p.m., GSSM is hosting a celebration of its Research Exchange Scholars Program ─ a Roche International Science Education Initiative on the school campus in Hartsville. The GSSM students who spent their summer in Germany and the German students who are now residing on the GSSM campus will come together, along with the rest of the GSSM community, to celebrate the long-awaited expansion.
GSSM exchange students; Johanna Wittum Schule officials and exchange students; GSSM students, faculty and staff; Roche officials; Pee Dee area supporters; University of South Carolina officials will be on hand for the celebration on the GSSM campus, located at 401 Railroad Ave.

According to a GSSM release, in the United States and Europe, many in higher education and private organizations are working to increase the number of women in science-geared careers as well as offer the support and exchange opportunities necessary to help them progress in these fields.

GSSM students have engaged in scientific research for the past 20 years through SPRI, a graduation requirement for all rising seniors. SPRI allows students to spend six weeks in corporate R&D labs across the state or at research universities under the direct supervision of mentor scientists. During the internship, students conduct research on a college graduate level in fields in which they have a specific interest such as cancer research, biomedical experiments, alternate fuels or computer science.
Until now, students have been paired with university and corporate labs in the United States only and primarily in South Carolina. International research has long been a key objective of GSSM’s strategic growth plan.