RISE Scholars

The 2024 Research in Science and Engineering (RISE) Scholars Awards recognize exceptional young female STEM scholars in the Los Angeles area for their commitment to innovative scientific research or engineering and design projects.  

List of 5 items.

  • RISE Scholars

    The 12 RISE Award Scholars will be honored at the Archer Student STEM Symposium, present their research in a 15-minute presentation, and receive a $300 stipend. Recipients will be notified by Friday, May 3, 2024. Awards will be paid to the student’s educational institution of choice to cover costs of tuition and fees for the following year. If the winning project is completed by more than one student, the award will be equally split among students.     

    The Archer RISE Award Scholars will be honored and celebrated after the Keynote Speaker.

  • Eligibility

    To be eligible to apply for the RISE Scholar Award, all entrants must meet the following eligibility requirements: 
     
    1) To be eligible, you must be a female student, or a team of female students, attending a Los Angeles area high school.  

    2) All entrants must submit a detailed RISE Scholar Award Application (details below) with the required RISE Award Parental Consent Form (details below) by Monday, April 22, 2024, via email to stem@archer.org.  

    3) All entrants are required to attend the Student STEM Symposium on Saturday, May 18, 2024, and present during the poster session and the breakout session. Please complete this poster submission form by Monday, April 22, 2024, in addition to your application. All students who submit this form will have space for their poster (36"x24") at the Symposium. Please do not mount posters on foam board so they can be easily hung at the event. Students will have the opportunity to stand by their poster and present their research to all interested parties. In addition, the Symposium Committee will review all poster submissions/RISE Applications and invite the RISE Scholar Award recipients to present in the 15-minute break-out sessions. You will be notified by Friday, May 3, 2024, if you will be honored as a RISE Scholar and present during a 15-minute break-out session.

    4) Entrants are required to enlist the support of a research advisor or mentor to guide their work. The mentor or advisor should be a trained professional in your field of study. 

    5) Only original and authentic works will be considered. Students conducting research at professional or university laboratories must submit an original project that is not part of an existing research project, grant, or thesis.

  • Selection Process

    1. Archer will confirm that all required documents are submitted (RISE Award Parental Consent Form, Archer RISE Scholar Award Application, and poster submission form) and eligibility requirements are met. 
    2. The Symposium Committee will review all entrant applications to select the recipients of the Archer RISE Scholar Awards.
    3. Students will be informed by Friday, May 3, 2024, if they were chosen to be honored and present their research in a 15-minute breakout session at the annual Archer Student STEM Symposium.

  • Judging Criteria

    The following qualities are considered when judging the Archer RISE Award:
    • Perseverance and tenacity
    • Technical achievement
    • Impact on the community
    • Original and creative thought
    • Application of mathematical reasoning or statistical analysis

  • Previous Winners

    2023 Archer RISE Award Winner
    Amy Chen and Samantha Savage (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy)
    Treating Resilient Medical Implant Infections with the Hidden Genius of Apple Pies and Cranberry Sauce

    2023 Archer Scientific Research Award Winners
    Ellamae Fortin and Julia Krider (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy)
    Remediating Triclosan from Our Wastewater: New Methods to Keep Our Ocean Safe

    Greta Irvine (Archer School for Girls) 
    The effect of senolytic Nutlin-3a on Lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster as a Model for Healthspan

    2023 Archer Engineering & Technology Award Winners
    Sarah Choi, Kana Park, and Kirthana Senthil (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy)
    Direct detection of REM sleep using low-cost cameras: The ZZZleep
    Mask

    Caroline Fall, Lulu Hood, and Emily Manookian (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy)
    Development of blink rate detecting glasses for student attention monitoring SAM-EE: Student Attention Monitoring for Educational Enhancement

    2022 Archer RISE Award Winner
    Evan Bowman ’22 (The Archer School for Girls)
    The Effects of Curcumin and Paeonol on Oxidative Stress induced by Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in the Chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane Assay.

    2022 Archer Scientific Research Award Winners
    Olivia Jarvie ’22 (The Archer School for Girls)
    Snailed it! : The Effect of Helix aspersa Snail Mucus and Antimicrobial Bacterial Cellulose Hydrogel on Wound Healing in Caenorhabditis elegans 

    Karen Garcia ’23 (The Archer School for Girls)
    The Effect of Piperlongumine as an Inhibitor for the BRAF V600E Mutation from the Ras/MAPK Signaling Pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans

    2022 Archer Engineering & Technology Award Winners
    Katherine Lee ’22 (The Archer School for Girls)
    Detecting and Identifying Cell Debris and Foreign Material on Complex Medical Instruments through Neural Networks and Image Comparison

    Noa Wallock ’22 (The Archer School for Girls)
    Repairing Survivor Aftercare: Self-administered Intimate Sample Collection Device to Eliminate the Retraumatization of Sexual Assault Survivors

Apply for the Archer RISE Scholar Award

You must email your parental consent form and application to STEM@archer.org by Monday, April 22, 2024.

Application Requirements

Your Archer RISE Award Application document must:
  • Be typed, double-spaced, 12-point font with 1-inch margins
  • Contain a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, first initial followed by a space with a page number (example: Last, F. 2) 
  • Have all of the clearly-labeled sections described below; each section should meet the criteria listed
  • Be submitted as a .pdf file
  • Be no longer than 12 pages (Works Cited, References, and Acknowledgements section is not counted in this page limit)
  • Include in-line citation for all Works Cited and References (APA style)
  • Not include direct quotes from sources - describe what others have found in your own words
  • Be emailed to STEM@archer.org by the Monday, April 22, 2024, deadline - the subject line should be “2024 Archer RISE Award Application"

List of 2 items.

  • RISE Scholar Award Parental Consent Form

    Please sign and submit a copy of the RISE Award Parental Consent Form (please note there are two pages of this form) for each applicant by Monday, April 22, 2024. If the project is completed by a team of girls, each member of the team needs to submit a signed RISE Scholar Award Parental Consent Form. Please send all completed forms to stem@archer.org by Monday, April 22, 2024, with your RISE Scholar Award Application.

  • RISE Scholar Award Application Sections

    Your Archer RISE Scholar Award application should include the following sections with the criteria described below within each section:

    1. Contact Information
    • Name(s) 
    • Grade(s) 
    • E-mail address(es)
    • School
    • Mentor/Advisor(s) 
    • Mentor/Advisor email address(es)
    2. Title 
    • Provides a clear and concise summary of the project purpose or research focus
    3.  Abstract
    • Brief technical summary of the entire paper (problem, research objective/question OR engineering problem, methods, major findings, conclusions); does not reference other literature
    • Concise; 1 paragraph; no more than 250 words
    • If major findings are not complete at the time of application submission, please note this in the abstract.
    4. Introduction 
    • Background: Defining the research problem and inspiration
      • Begin with a wide picture of the problem you have chosen to address and narrow to your specific problem, research objective/question, OR engineering problem.
      • Identify the scientific concepts and prior research that help explain what is currently known about the topic and narrow the focus to details that are pertinent to the study, highlighting the unknowns that your research attempts to address. 
      • Introduce the problem addressed by the study, providing statistics that give context to the prevalence and scope of the problem.
      • For engineering or design projects, include prior art and/or inspirations.
      • Assume that your audience is literate, but not necessarily familiar with the background or details of the problem you have chosen to address.
    • Research Objectives: 
      • Once you have established context and justification for your research question, the research objectives and methods used to address them are clearly outlined:
        • What were you attempting to determine/measure? If applicable, what was your hypothesis/predictions, and why? 
        • How did you test/measure your objectives/hypothesis?
    • Importance and Impact: 
      • Clearly describes why the research is important 
      • Convincingly explains what this research can tell us that we don’t already know OR clearly states social and scientific implications of engineering or technology projects
      • How does your work have value to the real world now, or how might it in the future?
    5. Methods
    • Informative subheadings are used to outline the logical flow of procedures
    • Describe how you performed your research or designed your project and how you collected data.
      • Include the methods you used; mention common methods and any modifications to published methods/protocols utilized. Cite specific protocols that were followed. Clearly identify deviations to the cited methods/protocols, and provide clear reasoning and justification/support for deviation. 
      • Include the materials you used (including common materials). 
      • Give sources of all chemicals, uncommon materials, and biological specimens. 
      • Include model organism pre-experiment handling and care. 
      • Include images, diagrams, or photos, as appropriate.
      • For app or coding projects, include the language you are using, which platform you are targeting, and what libraries or APIs you are linking to, if applicable.
      • For engineering projects, you are encouraged to include photos or documentation of prototypes and design processes.
    • Describe how the data was summarized and analyzed.
    6. Results
    • If the project has concluded by the date of submission: 
      • Present your findings with sufficient detail and include all relevant data and observations.
      • Include graphs, tables, and/or charts for quantitative data. Make their purpose clear with supporting text. 
      • Include graphics to summarize data appropriately. 
      • For engineering projects, include quantifiable measures of success for your project.
    • If the project has not concluded by the date of submission, provide a description of expected results.
    7. Discussion & Conclusion
    • If the project has concluded by the date of submission: 
      • Describe how the results address your primary question or problem.
      • Interpret the results so a reader understands the implication(s) of your findings.
      • Address limitations of the project and potential sources of error.
      • Provide suggestions for improvements to the study, and determine what experiments could be performed in the future to refine your conclusions.
    • If the project has not concluded by the date of submission, describe how the expected results could address your primary question or problem.
    8. Works Cited, References & Acknowledgements
    • Acknowledge anyone who helped or contributed to the project.
    • Include all resources that were used. Any piece of information that is not your own original text or is not common knowledge must be properly cited and quoted.
    • APA Format
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The Archer School for Girls’ mission is to educate students in an environment specifically designed for girls. As such, the school will consider any candidate for admission who identifies as a girl. Once admitted to Archer, all students in good academic standing who abide by Archer’s code of conduct and who meet requirements for graduation will be eligible to receive an Archer diploma, regardless of any change in sexual identity or other legally protected status.