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UNC Asheville Summer Fellowship Program is First-Ever in Western NC

Project SEED connects local high school students with Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Mentors

By UNC Asheville

August 26^th, 2025

A rigorous eight-week summer research fellowship at the University of North Carolina Asheville that included seven local high school students recently concluded its inaugural year at the University. The American Chemical Society (ACS) Project SEED program at UNC Asheville connected these students with undergraduates and mentors in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Since 1968, Project SEED has engaged more than 12,000 students nationally, and this is the first program to be established in Western North Carolina.

“Project SEED is a natural extension of our commitment to our students and community,” said Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry Pin Lyu, who led the program. “The Chemistry Department at UNC Asheville has a long history of supporting undergraduate research, with 65% of our students participating in active projects. It’s so rewarding to bring these high-impact practices directly to local high school students and connect them to cutting-edge research that opens new doors of opportunity to careers of the future.”

The first cohort of SEED Fellows made a big commitment by dedicating eight hours a day, five days a week, to research in six research labs to enhance their research skills. Through Project SEED, students learned safety training, lab skills training, professional development, and weekly social networking, and they concluded their experience with final poster presentations that exhibited what they had learned. The students also provided fresh perspectives to the program’s mentors with their creative solutions to their projects. The students’ high school teachers assisted with outreach, helped students navigate the application process, and eased them into the program, which has a steep learning curve.

Next year, Project SEED seeks to expand by bringing on more mentors and possibly other departments to increase its impact and reach more students.

UNC Asheville Summer Fellowship Program is First-Ever in Western NC

Learn more about the SEED Fellows, mentors, and a high school teacher in their own words

"Project SEED let me dive into science through hands-on work, which gave me a meaningful learning experience and a better understanding of a career in the sciences."

-Asher Blackwood, Nesbitt Discovery Academy

“My favorite part of ACS Project Seed has been experiencing both research and chemistry in an active and practical way. This experience will continue to influence how I view chemistry research and will allow me to make more educated choices when it comes to my studies.”

– Rich Miller, Nesbitt Discovery Academy

“Project SEED gave me an amazing opportunity to get hands-on with real chemistry research. Working with mentors and other students taught me how science is collaborative and exciting, but I also got to take the lead on my own experiments and take on leadership in the lab. It deepened my love for chemistry and sparked a new interest in research.”

– Daniel Resnick, School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville

“My favorite experience with Project SEED has been the ability to use resources I don’t have access to at my school. It has given me experience with research that I can apply in college. It also furthered my interest in studying biochemistry.”

– Oliver Haynes, Nesbitt Discovery Academy

UNC Asheville Faculty Mentors

“ACS Project SEED at UNC Asheville gives high school students an early opportunity to engage in real, substantive chemical and biochemical research. The students working with Dr. AmandaWolfe and me over this summer were tasked with designing, synthesizing, and testing molecules to kill pathogenic bacteria. These students rose to the challenge, and their successful contributions to an ongoing, federally funded antibiotic discovery project have advanced the research. And for an aspiring scientist, what’s better than getting paid to spend your summer in the lab?”

– Ryan Steed, Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor, UNC Asheville Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

“Mentoring exceptionally talented students, Maya and Juliana, through ACS Project SEED has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my summer. Watching them step into the lab with curiosity and leave with greater confidence, sharper skills, and a deeper understanding of science was incredibly rewarding. Their enthusiasm, questions, and willingness to learn reminded me just how impactful hands-on mentorship can be, not just for students, but for mentors, too.”

– Saman Majeed, UNC Asheville Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

High school teacher

"The SEED program under Dr. Lyu's leadership has given my high school students training to use various equipment, such as X-ray diffraction, computer modeling, and a scanning electron microscope, to collect and analyze data used in their focused research. The SEED fellows have been able to take all the conceptual theories learned in their high school courses and apply them to real-world problems using real data they collected themselves. The guidance and patience shown by the UNCA professors and undergraduate students working with them have been so influential on the SEED program participants. This has truly been an amazing experience for my students!"

– Greg Tucker, science teacher, Nesbitt Discovery Academy High School.

Tucker was involved in coordinating the program logistics and helping to organize the weekly Friday social networking time, which bridged worlds for the students and guest speakers.

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