Young Scholars Explore Scientific World The Participants Must Design A Project Over The Summer And Carry It Out During The School Year.

VILLANOVA — Thinking about the summer, high school senior Jason Ross knew he didn't want a job flipping burgers or mowing lawns.

He was looking for a different way to earn some spending money, and he found it studying rat liver-cell enzymes in a Villanova University lab. Ross is one of 40 high school students and eight teachers selected for the Young Scholars Summer Program, cosponsored by Villanova University, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Science Foundation.

``This is an important program because of the way things are done here,'' said Bill Fleischman, program codirector. ``[Students] walk from a math class into a biology class where the subject is directly related. . . . It's math that stimulates us to ask new questions, do new experiments, and to explore a possibility that no one has considered before.

``It's the interplay that makes this unique.''

More than 1,000 students applied for the six-week program at Villanova, which gives students free room and board, college classes and a $600 stipend, Fleischman said. The program at Villanova, funded by a $190,000 National Science Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant, with accommodations donated by Villanova, is in its sixth year. Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania also host summer Young Scholars programs.

But Fleischman said this is the final year for the program as it is now structured because of National Science Foundation cutbacks.

Julia Clark of the foundation said the program is being restructured to include more teachers. Also, the name was recently changed and is called the Teacher and Student Research Development Program.

Young Scholars, which was founded in 1988, is in place at about 70 colleges and universities around the country as of this year, said Clark, program director. Since 1995, Villanova has been one of only a few Young Scholars locations nationwide that includes teachers.

The new program, Clark said, will have a ratio of three students for every one teacher at all college programs. Colleges will be encouraged, but not required, to select students and teachers from the same school.

``The idea is to recruit students and teachers from the same school so they can work as a team and have a greater impact on a larger number of students in their [own] school,'' Clark said.

Fleischman said he understands the NSF's goals, but disagrees with the change.