This summer more than 100 Franklin County students will gather at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to share research findings from the STEM RAYS (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Research Academies for Young Scientists) program.

STEM RAYS is a National Science Foundation (NSF) program that teams Greenfield Community College and University of Massachusetts Amherst science faculty with public school teachers in Franklin County to teach fourth- through eighth-grade students what real science research is all about. The students met with their teachers after school on a weekly basis to work on actual research being conducted by UMass and GCC faculty.

On June 16 in the Campus Center Ballroom of the UMass campus, the students will present their finding to one another in a morning poster session.

Marie Silver, project manager for STEM RAYS at GCC and UMass, said the program is funded through a three-year grant from NSF. It started this spring as an after-school program at 11 schools and 22 schools are planning to offer it this fall. Teachers worked with Brian Adams, a professor from GCC, who is researching the affect of road salt on stream water quality and the suitability of the Bloody Brook watershed for salmon spawning, or with Julian Tyson, a UMass professor looking at whether there is arsenic in the environment. Students helped the researchers by, for example, looking at the health of smaller watersheds near their schools or by testing for arsenic near their schools.

"This is a research grant to study whether engaging young students in research changes their attitudes to science and whether participating students will think of pursuing a science career," Silver said.

She said science at the grammar, middle and high school levels is usually taught in blips and chapters. This project is unique because students get to see how science actually works by participating in ongoing research. They have time to do the research over a few years.

The program is expanding this fall to include other faculty members from UMass and GCC who are working on other research projects, including studies on birds, weather and climate, and air quality.

There will be a summer session of the program, called the Summer Science Exploration, which will focus on the three research programs already in progress. The program is at the GCC campus so students will study the environment and watersheds around campus. They will also get the chance to attend special programs including one on raptors.

Parents and family members are invited to attend the June 16 conference as is the general public. Immediately following the poster session, students and families will visit Hasbrouck Labs for Chemistry and Physics demonstrations by UMass graduate students.

For more information about the STEM RAYS program, please go online to www.umassk12.net/rays. Schools that want to participate in this program next fall can contact Silver at 545-0734 or by email at or .