Welcome 2023 Summer Program Students!
Congratulations on being chosen to participate in the 2023 Strong Children’s Research Center (SCRC) Summer Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center this summer. We look forward to your arrival!
Important Dates to Remember
For more than 32 years, the Summer Program has provided research experience to several hundred undergraduate and medical students. This year’s program will have about 13 participants from across the country. The program starts on Tuesday, May 30th, 2023 and concludes on Thursday, August 3rd, 2023. You will be paid a $3,000 stipend for the program, unless you are arriving late to the program or will be missing extended time during the program. In those cases, the stipend will be pro-rated accordingly. You will be paid in 4 equal installments—June 15, June 30, July 14 and July 28. Health insurance is not provided, we do not pay travel costs and you will be responsible for paying any taxes on the stipend monies you receive.
While in the program you will attend lab meetings, SCRC seminars, tours of the medical center, present at journal club, as well as participate in other activities with the other Summer Program students. You should expect to spend full days in the lab Monday-Friday unless otherwise discussed with your mentor. If you were considering taking academic courses, doing volunteer work or accepting another paid position over the summer, the expectation is that you will do this on your own time. The dress code is business casual, unless directed otherwise by your mentor and/or the lab.
The research project you will be working on will depend largely on the lab or clinic in which you will be working. The goals of the project will be to become acquainted with the project, the techniques necessary to conduct the research and the people working in the lab/clinic. By the end of the program, you will be expected to draft an abstract on your research. You will also present your research at a poster session on Thursday, August 4th.
While in the Summer Program, you will be afforded the use of the University’s library systems, including the Miner Library in the Medical Center and Rush Rhees library on River Campus. Within the Medical Center you will find a post office, two banks, multiple dining facilities, a corner store called Pix’s Place and a couple of coffee carts. You may also use the athletic centers for a fee.
On the eastern edge of the University is a retail district called College Town, which is a short walk from the medical center and on-campus housing. College Town offers a Barnes and Noble, CVS, and several restaurants.
Getting Here - Transportation
For those of you who will be arriving from out-of-town and are currently scheduling your travel arrangements, you can check in as early as Saturday, May 27th. We will provide you with more information on the check-in process as we get closer to the program start date. You may enter 356 Kendrick Road, Rochester, NY 14620 into GPS for an exact location of your housing. You will need to go to the University of Rochester’s River Campus to pick up your housing keys before you go to your dorm building. You will go to the Susan B. Anthony residence hall building. To get there, once you turn onto UR campus, you will be on Joseph C. Wilson Boulevard. At the roundabout, take the second exit to continue along Joseph C. Wilson Blvd until you reach Library Road. Turn right onto Library Road, where you will see the football stadium/track on your left and Goergen Athletic Center on your right. Continue up Library Road until you reach the stop sign. Turn left, and you will see Susan B. Anthony Hall around the cul-de-sac.
If you are flying into town, we recommend you fly into Greater Rochester International Airport. It is a mid-sized airport with easy access to campus. There is Uber and Lyft access from the airport. Taxis are also available at the airport to bring you to campus, which is only a 10 minute drive (please note that many taxis are cash only). Once again, you will need to stop on the River Campus to pick up your keys before you continue on to the Maisonettes. Reminder, the Summer Program does not cover the cost of transportation.
Parking
If you will be using your own vehicle this summer, you can purchase a monthly parking permit. You will need to show your valid driver’s license and car registration to obtain a parking permit from the University of Rochester Parking Management Center. SCRC students who live on campus are typically assigned to the Southside (Valentine) Lot, which is adjacent to their housing location. If you will not be using on-campus housing, but will be driving to campus, you will likely be assigned to other lots on campus. You are responsible for any parking fees, including parking tickets. The parking office is generally closed over the holiday weekend, but you can park in Valentine Lot over the holiday weekend without a pass. If you do not have a parking permit prior to Orientation, please bring your license and registration with you to Orientation so you can obtain it.
Groceries & Errands
Unfortunately, there aren't many grocery options adjacent to the University. However, there is a free University shuttle service available that stops at the Marketplace Mall, Walmart, Regal Cinemas and the Wegmans (supermarket) Plaza in neighboring Henrietta, NY. We'd recommend you consider this option for your grocery shopping. Uber and Lyft are available in Rochester. You may also register to use a Zipcar through the University. In the past, on-campus residents have also car pooled with other students to shop for groceries and the like. Public transportation is also available through RTS. Instacart (Wegmans), Grubhub and Uber Eats are among the services that provide grocery delivery or food delivery in the area.
Poster Session
The final requirement of the Summer Program is the Poster Session, which takes place at noon on Thursday, August 3rd. A business dress code is suggested. The session is open to the public and your family and friends are welcome to attend the session. We will hold an end-of-program lunch after the session open to your friends and family. The Summer Program will formally wrap up by 3:00 p.m. Students who are staying on-campus must check out of their housing no later than Sunday, August 6th.
Fitness Center
Students may purchase a summer membership at the Goergen Athletic Center located on University of Rochester's River Campus, which is about a 15 minute walk from the Medical Center and Maisonettes. There is also a fitness center in the medical center.. More information will be available during Orientation.
Who Else is in the Program?
Prior to the start of the program we will send out an e-mail to everyone in this summer's program and announce your name, your school and e-mail addresses, in case you would like to connect with one another via social media or other platform before your arrival.
As soon as we receive the confirmed roommate pairings from the housing office, we will announce them. This should happen by May 19th.
Arrival Weekend & Orientation
For those of you who will be in Rochester on Monday, May 29th, we host a lunch at noon in College Town. The lunch is informal; an opportunity to meet other students in the program. Best of all – the meal is on us!
We will meet outside the Maisonettes at 11:45 to walk up to College Town.
Orientation begins at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 30th in the Adolph Lower Auditorium (1-7619) in the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The easiest way to access the room is to enter the medical center through the School of Medicine and Dentistry entrance, located on Elmwood Avenue. From the Maisonettes, you can walk towards the medical center along Kendrick Boulevard. Continue along Kendrick Blvd until you reach the Elmwood Avenue intersection and turn right. Continue along Elmwood Ave until you see the entrance for the School of Medicine and Dentistry. Through that entrance, you will see the lobby (Flaum Atrium) on the right. Walk through the Flaum Atrium towards the large staircase on the right. Take the staircase all the way up to the first floor then turn left down the main hallway. Look for the yellow tags with a ‘Y’ hanging from the ceiling. Follow the signs on the ceiling to the yellow elevators. The hallway for the yellow elevators will come up very soon and be on your left. Once you have turned down the hallway for the yellow elevators, walk straight past them. You will see a sign for the Center for Musculoskeletal Research. The Adolph Lower Auditorium is located diagonally across from there on the left. You will also see signs posted that will help guide you to the auditorium.
If you need access to an elevator: You will follow the same instructions from the Maisonettes up until you enter the School of Medicine and Dentistry lobby (Flaum Atrium). Instead of going up the staircase on the right, proceed through Flaum Atrium and turn left down the main hallway on the ground floor. Follow the signs on the ceiling for the yellow elevators. Take the yellow elevators up to the first floor. Exit the elevators and follow signs posted for the auditorium.
We allot the full day for Orientation activities, but some of you may wrap up earlier.
We will begin Orientation with a meet-and-greet with the SCRC staff, student participants and faculty mentors. Orientation will cover a variety of topics, including HR paperwork, a tour of the medical center, URMC IDs and parking. In addition, everyone will need to complete a health risk assessment at URMC during Orientation week. Lunch will be served mid-day.
Please bring the following things with you to Orientation on Tuesday, May 30th:
- Government-issued photo ID (state license, passport, etc) – You need this to get your URMC ID
- Vehicle Registration – If you need to register for a parking pass during Orientation
Health Risk Assessment
Every program participant is required to complete a health risk assessment at the University of Rochester Medical Center. This assessment is important to your safety, as well as the safety of our patients and staff. You will complete your assessment during Orientation week. You will need to submit your immunization history and the Health History Form to UHS via UHSConnect prior to your arrival. You can register your account by following the steps at the UHSConnect webpage. You must provide information on your varicella history – this must show either documentation of 2 vaccines or, if titers were done, it must include the lab report. If you have previously tested positive for the PPD, you will need documentation for the induration and a copy of the x-ray report. Last year, we were required to have 2 negative PPDs for each student. We would recommend having 2 negative PPDs if possible before arriving to the program to avoid potential delays.
If possible, we do suggest that you try to complete one specific step prior to your arrival at URMC – please obtain 2 negative PPD tests, as there is typically a 3-day waiting period between administration and reading for each test. Bring the results of your PPD with you on May 30th (or submit them electronically via UHSConnect). If you do not complete this in advance, that is fine – you will be able to complete this during your assessment. However, due to the 3-day waiting period (2x), there is a chance it may delay some of your activities during the first week of the program.
For those of you who are current University of Rochester (undergrad or SMD) students, you may have already fulfilled this requirement through your UR program. If not, you can schedule an appointment in advance of Orientation, if you would like. To do that, call 585-275-4955. The SCRC covers all costs related to the health risk assessment for each of you. If you are mistakenly asked to pay for the appointment, please just identify yourself as a SCRC Summer Program student and/or ask the office to contact Joseph LaPenna, SCRC Summer Program Administrator directly at 585-210-0881.
Clinical Shadowing
The Summer Program is a dedicated research program, however clinical shadowing opportunities are available and generally can be scheduled through your mentor or their clinical division. We’ll discuss this further during Orientation.