The FSI Experience

What are the expectations of students in FSI? 

• FSI simulates a true collegiate experience while students live on campus at UNC. Students are expected to demonstrate independent living skills—critical not only to success in FSI, but in college life and beyond. FSI will provide opportunities to develop these skills, but students are expected to take responsibility for their daily routines, time management, and academic work. 

What does independent living mean? 

• Punctuality & Attendance: Students make their way to classes, research, and activities on time—limited or no reminders or escorts provided by FSI staff or instructors.  

• Time Management: Students are responsible for keeping up with their assignments and research tasks while balancing classes, field trips, and social activities. Independence includes managing deadlines without reminders from instructors or mentors.  

• Meal Management: Breakfast grocery items will be available in the dorm kitchen, and students are responsible for preparing breakfast each morning (they will not be reminded by staff). Weekday meals are provided at Holmes Dining Hall. On weekends, students are responsible for planning and cooking simple meals and snacks with support from Resident Assistants (groceries are purchased by FSI).  

• Shared Living Spaces: Students will live with a roommate in their room, use community bathrooms, and have shared access to kitchen facilities. Respect, cleanliness, and cooperation are essential. Weekly, required cleaning duties of shared spaces will be assigned by the Resident Assistants (RA’s).   

• Hygiene & Self-Care: Daily personal hygiene and health routines (for example, showering, brushing teeth, organizing belongings, taking medication) are all up to the student. Students must also manage their own laundry, ensuring clothes stay clean and ready. 

What does the general rhythm of a typical weekday look like? FSI balances structured academic blocks with an independent, vibrant campus lifestyle: 

• Morning: Classes & Team Projects 

Your day kicks off by shifting straight into college-level STEM seminars. This is followed by dedicated “Info Time”- a block focused on collaborative committee work and special program projects. 

• Mid-Day: Lunch & Recharge 

Take a break from your morning projects to eat, catch up with friends at the campus dining hall, and enjoy the university atmosphere. 

• Afternoon: In the Lab & Field 

Your afternoon is dedicated entirely to hands-on research. You’ll head out to your assigned campus research site to collect raw data, run experiments, and work directly alongside your research mentor. 

• Evening: Dinner & Independent Time 

After dinner on campus, your evening is your own to manage. This independent time is yours to spend attending organized social events, focusing on study and project work, or exploring the campus and local areas with your peers. 

A Note on the Schedule: While this is your standard weekday schedule, this will occasionally shift for field trips and excursions. 

FSI matches you with an active university research environment based on the STEM interests you highlight in your application. While every lab and field site is unique, the core structure of your six-week project remainsfocused on authentic scientific inquiry. 

• Diving into the Process: You will work alongside your mentor to tackle a specific scientific question. Your week will be spent hands-on: learning laboratory or field techniques, collecting raw data, troubleshooting experiments, and analyzing your results. 

• The Final Deliverables: The culmination of your hard work is professional scientific communication. You will create and present a formal scientific research poster, deliver an oral presentation summarizing your findings at our final program symposium, and complete a final summary project (for example: scientific paper, podcast, summary or methodology brochures, or even a comic strip!). 

• Understanding the Goal: Because authentic publishing typically takes many months (or even years) of continuous work, publication is not a goal or outcome of this six-week experience. Instead, FSI aims to teach you the foundations of conducting research, equipping you with the vital skills needed to pursue future research in your career, while giving you an impressive, stand-out experience to highlight on your resume and college applications. 

ur administrative team handles the day-to-day operations, logistics, and strategic vision of FSI to ensure a safe, organized, and impactful summer. 

• Director: Dr. Victoria Duncan, UNC alumna and Assistant Director of the Math and Science Teaching Institute (MAST). While Dr. Duncan oversees the overall vision, academic integrity, and strategic management of FSI, she maintains an incredibly active, day-to-day involvement throughout FSI. She is deeply invested in relationship building, working directly with students daily and hands-on chaperoning program field trips to ensure every scholar is supported. 

• Assistant Director: A dedicated UNC graduate student who works closely alongside Dr. Duncan to manage daily programming, coordinate logistics, chaperone program field trips, and maintain direct, day-to-day student engagement. 

• Student Intern(s): A local student from the Greeley/D6 community who works closely with the leadership team to assist with daily programming and camp operations. 

Living on a college campus is a big step, and our residential staff live in the dorms to help build community and provide student support. 

• Resident Assistants (RAs): Three undergraduate UNC STEM students who live in the residence halls full-time during FSI. They are CPR/First Aid certified, trained, and provide full-time supervision while at the dorm. Throughout camp, RAs focus heavily on relationship building, helping scholars build critical life skills and independence. They also coordinate social activities, drive for and chaperone program field trips, and support scholars as they adjust to independent campus living. 

Learn from and collaborate with the educators, industry experts, and researchers who drive real-world STEM innovation. 

• Instructors & Faculty: Experienced faculty and staff from the University of Northern Colorado, as well as experts from visiting schools, academic institutions, and varying STEM industries. Our classrooms and seminars are dynamic, interactive, and led by industry experts who explore advanced, real-world topics. 

• Featured Seminar: The STEM Entrepreneurship Challenge – A unique course where you work in small teams to design a tech startup concept and perform a mock pitch to a panel of professionals. 

• Research Mentors: You will primarily work hands-on with accomplished graduate students, alongside occasional faculty mentors, from UNC’s various STEM departments who open their active laboratory environments to you. We intentionally emphasize this near-peer mentoring model because working closely with advanced graduate researchers gives you a relatable, true scoop into the daily reality of collegiate and graduate-level STEM research. Please note: To ensure the best possible placements, our matching process is dynamic and tailored to aligning mentors with student interests. You will officially learn about your mentor, lab placement, and research topic once you meet them face-to-face after arriving on campus!