image: Project Exploration logo

Project Exploration
950 East 61st Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Contact | Mailing List

FacebookTwitterLinkedInYouTube
image: Project Exploration Changing the Face of Science

Support Us


Make a Donation Today and
Help Us Change the Face of Science

Dr. Paul Sereno with the Advanced Field Science Program 2009 students in Montana.
Dr. Paul Sereno with the Advanced Field Science Program 2009 students in Montana.
Photo G. Lyon


Not long after I arrived as a young professor at the University of Chicago to teach and do scientific research, I felt somehow incomplete. I would leave my class of stellar students and walk through neighborhoods filled with kids who would never dream of doing what I do for a living. After all, science was for the kids in magnet schools, for high achievers, like the kids I taught in my class.

The funny thing was, as a child, I had struggled in school, just like many kids in those underserved neighborhoods. My achievement in science came only after I got to college. I first developed a love for biology and fossils in my time away from school, on field trips and on my grandfather’s farm. So, I thought, why not fill empty seats on my university field trip with neighborhood students? Curiosity, energy, and an open mind would be the only requirements.

That is where Project Exploration began for me—a desire to create a potentially life-altering opportunity for students who, like me, didn’t at first consider a career in science as a viable option. Your donation to Project Exploration provides intensive, relationship-based science programs for minority youth and girls—precisely the groups that have been historically left out of science.

Paul Sereno and Junior Paleontologists at the University of Chicago Fossil Lab.
Paul with the Junior Paleontologists at the University of Chicago Fossil Lab.

We have dozens of students who are embarking on a future that would not have been possible without Project Exploration. Susan exemplifies that spirit: She was in ninth grade and had always gone through school unnoticed. She wasn’t great at school, and she didn’t know what her goals were for her future. But then she heard about Project Exploration’s Junior Paleontologist program and applied.

Our staff saw immediately that Susan was a “PE kind of kid:” she was curious, she was eager, and she had never had an opportunity like this before. Over the next few years, Susan grew to love science and developed a real passion for writing. And when she wanted to go to college, she knew it was uncharted territory: nobody in her family had gone to college, and her friends were down on being smart. But Project Exploration had taught her that she was capable of so much more. Today, Susan is studying to be a medical assistant.

The United States is falling behind in science at a critical juncture when science could not be more important. Project Exploration is changing the face of science. But we cannot do it alone. Please send in a gift today that will change the future for our kids.

Sincerely,

Paul Sereno

Paul Sereno
Cofounder and President, Project Exploration

Donate Today!

Make a credit card donation online with Google Checkout below. You will be directed to our Google Checkout secure site in a new window. You will immediately receive an email acknowledgement from Google Checkout of your donation for your tax records. Thank you!

$

See our current donors, funders, and members

Other Ways You Can Get involved with Project Exploration:

Project Exploration is a 501c(3) tax-exempt organization. Your gift directly supports our programs ensure communities traditionally overlooked by science—particularly minority youth and girls—have access to personalized experiences with science and scientists.

Privacy and Security Policy
Project Exploration is committed to preserving your privacy and safeguarding your credit card and other sensitive information. Project Exploration does not sell or trade the names or personal data of its donors. Project Exploration will only ask for personal information that we specifically need to process your donation.

 

Youth Programs

Public Programs

Features

Publications (PDF)