Jul 15, 2008 -- This fall, the brightest sophomores at Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (YUHSG) will participate in a new Science Institute, an in-house curriculum that will advance students’ scientific knowledge, science literacy, and research methodology skills. Beyond their regular course load of Jewish and general studies during the school year, the ten students who have been invited to join the Science Institute will take part in a weeklong summer seminar at the Dolan DNA Learning Center, the world’s first science center devoted entirely to genetics education. “We wanted to accommodate these students’ academic needs,” said teacher Ruth Fried, science department chairperson at YUHSG and creator of the Science Institute. “But we also wanted to keep them integrated within the broader class.” For this reason, students in the institute will have self-contained lessons in the sciences, but will be fully integrated with their classmates for the remainder of the day. YUHSG’s new $1 million state-of-the-art science laboratory prompted consideration for the formation of the Science Institute, the first program of its kind among Jewish high schools in the metropolitan area. The lab will house experiments for Regents, SAT II, and Advanced Placement courses in biology, chemistry, and physics, as well as forensic science, human physiology, and research methodology. Twice a week, the students will join Jason J. Williams of Stony Brook University and the Dolan DNA Learning Center’s Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory for after-school classes in research methodology. Williams will help the students cultivate a sophisticated and creative approach to scientific inquiry and prepare them for the prestigious Siemens Westinghouse Science and Technology Competition and the Intel Science Talent Search. In addition, before their junior year, students will be placed in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine-YUHSG Summer Research Program, where they will work with world-renowned scientists including Dr. Nir Barzilai, PhD, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Einstein and originator of the Longevity Genes Project. Rochelle Brand, head of school at YUHSG, sees the new program as a good example of YU’s Torah Umadda mission of combining secular studies with Torah values. “I truly believe that as we gain a greater knowledge and appreciation for the wonders of science, so too we gain a greater appreciation for our Creator,” Brand said.