Roberta Diaz Brinton
Director, USC STAR Science Education Program
Roberta Brinton is director of USC's Science, Technology and Research (STAR) program, which allows local high school students to learn science and gain top-level laboratory experience by joining one of more than 50 research teams around USC.
The program has had an astonishing effect on the more than 400 students who have been involved so far—predominantly students from minority or low-income families who attend Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School adjacent to the USC Health Sciences campus. A recent survey of those who have participated in the STAR program found that every single participant went on to college—including universities such as USC, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Caltech, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and Cornell. Of those who completed undergraduate studies, 81 percent went on to graduate study in either medicine or the sciences.
"Through the STAR program," says Brinton, "we are able to provide an exceptional science education. But even more than that, we hope the program will give the participants a sense of curiosity and excitement about the world around them and the possibilities in their own lives."