Bringing Students to the Scientific Frontier

What is science? 

Is it the expansion of human knowledge through meticulous research and innovation?  

Is it gaining a better understanding of the natural world through first-hand wilderness experiences and exploration?  

Is it slapping together makeshift boats out of cardboard and duct tape, setting them afloat in a choppy lake, climbing aboard and hoping the craft will carry you across safely and that your understanding of the laws of buoyancy is sound enough to save you from a soggy fate? 

Yes, yes and, well, yes, according to the principles that guide the University of Northern Colorado (UNC)’s Frontiers of Science Institute (FSI).  

Founded nearly seven decades ago in 1959 as an initiative aimed at getting more women and residents of rural areas into STEM, FSI is a yearly program that provides high school sophomores, juniors and seniors with a six-week-long, immersive, residential learning experience based out of UNC’s Greeley campus.  

This year’s cohort arrived on campus during the second week of June, composed of 16 high school students in total — 13 from across Colorado and three from states across the country. The program concluded on Saturday, July 18, with a presentation of research and celebration of the students’ accomplishments. 

The program is directed by Victoria Duncan, Ph.D., who also serves as assistant director of the Mathematics and Science Teaching Institute in the College of Natural and Health Sciences (NHS).  

“We want to help demystify what college looks like for them,” Duncan said. “To give them the confidence and familiarity with what it’s like so that they can hit the ground running in a few years when it’s their turn.” 

FSI does just that in a variety of ways.  

Throughout the program, student participants live in UNC dorms, eat in UNC dining halls, attend lectures in UNC classrooms and conduct experiments in the university’s various labs, halls and athletic facilities. 

“It’s been a great introduction to learning how to be more independent,” said Rikki Skilbred, a student participant and junior at Compass Community Collaborative School in Fort Collins. “We’re living on our own, cooking and eating on our own and making a lot of connections through group-building activities, which are all great things to know how to do before we’ve even left high school.” 

One such activity just so happens to be a nautical physics competition that takes place on a lake at Colorado Youth Outdoors in Fort Collins. Using knowledge of buoyancy and physics gained from lessons earlier in the program, students fashion boats out of cardboard, tape and other classroom materials with the goal of making it safely to a makeshift island in the middle of the pool. 

Many stay dry and successfully traverse the treacherous waters. Others, Duncan said, go for an unplanned swim.  

“Either way, it’s so much fun for everyone and absolutely hysterical,” Duncan said. “It’s a blast to see how competitive they can be and how much fun they have taking what they’ve learned and putting it to a very tangible test.” 

A variety of field trips are also a key part of the program. From visiting local organizations like Xcel Energy to taking hikes deep into the Colorado wilderness, students are encouraged to explore science beyond the confines of the classroom. 

Domenica Plaza Homiston, a senior at Fairview High School in Boulder, said her experience during FSI directly influenced her plans for the future. 

“We did a wilderness medicine class that I really enjoyed,” Plaza Homiston said. “Learning things like how to apply a tourniquet and how to dress a wound from actual physicians assistants made me realize that’s the kind of thing I’ve always wanted to do. I didn’t even know that was a thing before this.” 

During their time in FSI, students are broken up into groups of two or three and assigned to a mentor — usually a UNC graduate student, but sometimes an NHS faculty member — who guides them through research topics, helps them design and execute their projects and serves as a role model and professional expert for the students to learn from. 

Kara Phillips is an upcoming graduate of UNC’s Kinesiology doctoral program who specializes in Exercise Physiology. Now in her final year of graduate school and having recently successfully defended her dissertation, Phillips has served as an FSI mentor four times — one for each year of her doctoral program. 

“Every year, the experience pushes me to be creative in how I can tailor my expertise to what the students want to learn,” Phillips said. “Every year, I feel like I learn as much from the students as they learn from me.” 

Throughout her years mentoring for FSI, Phillips said she’s been proud to further the program’s mission of making science accessible for everyone — not just those who can afford it.  

“That’s a huge part of what FSI is all about,” she said.  

Duncan concurred, citing FSI’s longstanding history of doing outreach to students from all walks of life and tradition of providing large amounts of financial aid to those who participate in the program.  

The university has raised over $100,000 for FSI each of the last three years and received grants from six corporate and foundation donors this year, including Xcel Energy, Adolph Coors Foundation, Union Pacific, Chevron, Suncor Energy, and the Rollie R. Kelley Family Foundation. The funding supports programmatic costs and provides scholarships for students to reduce their cost of attendance. 

In 2025, every student who attended FSI received some form of financial aid, and thanks in part to Duncan’s efforts writing grants and fostering relationships with sponsors from local communities, as well as through the generous contributions of several FSI alumni, the same is true for all 16 students in the 2026 cohort. 

“My biggest goal is to give students an opportunity to experience science hands-on, especially those who might not get the chance to do it otherwise,” Duncan said. “Science shouldn’t be this thing only the elite can study. Anyone from anywhere can be a scientist.” 

That mission rang true for Sai Dasari, a senior at Rock Canyon High School in Littleton. 

“A big reason I would recommend it is due to the diversity of the program,” Dasari said. “I signed up for it as a STEM-based experience, but I’ve learned so much about teamwork, working on new projects with new people and diving into topics that I never even knew existed.” 

Dasari’s interest in science was first sparked in the third grade, when he and a classmate tackled a project on the topic of skin cancer in a unique way, presenting their work in the form of a puppet show. 

Since that bit of research theatre, Dasari has undertaken a variety of science-related passion projects, even volunteering at a local hospital, where his desire to enter the field of medicine was born. 

As someone who has loved working on scientific projects from a young age, Dasari said FSI was just the thing for kindling that spark. 

“This program really helps people build interest and passion in things they can do, and I think that’s a really important part of science and of everything,” Dasari said. “Without passion, what’s the point in doing it?”