Through this award-winning outreach program, 2,000 students in 75 schools across the Phoenix metro area conduct real scientific research in their own backyards. Ecology Explorers creates a community of scientists among university researchers, K-12 students, and their teachers. Students collect data that is helping us to understand the workings of an urban ecosystem while learning about scientific inquiry and the environment.

In this program, middle-school students in south Phoenix are helping to revitalize a Sonoran Desert riparian area in the heart of the city with the Rio Salado project. Rio Salado is creating a natural oasis easily accessible to city dwellers.

SCENE’s popular Research Experiences for High School Students program provides academically talented sophomores, juniors, and seniors the chance to participate in real-world scientific discovery and see what it takes to be a professional scientist. Students are immersed in cutting-edge research, investigating original scientific questions. They work for six–eight months with Arizona State University scientists, engaging in their mentors’ research projects and undertaking their own related research. Students also enter the Central Arizona Science and Engineering Fair (CARSEF), where they have garnered top honors. Juniors and seniors who complete the program receive a small scholarship to the college of their choice.