Summer research program sets CCU freshman up for early success

When Olivia Shirley, a freshman at Coastal Carolina University, walked into her first collegiate course and took a seat among her peers, the young Chanticleer felt that she belonged there among the glass laboratory equipment, black laminate top science tables and other accoutrements of scientific research.

While all her classmates also work toward advancing the academic and scientific research community, Shirley had a proverbial leg up before she even set foot on campus as a student. She began college in the fall of 2018 with a published research paper, presentation credits and a second-place award from the South Carolina Academy of Science under her belt. Achievements of this nature are typically only accomplished by a few junior- or senior-level undergraduate students and graduate students, not high school students or college freshmen, says CCU chemistry professor Paul Richardson.

“It is very rare for a high school senior to perform research and even more rare for one to have work published,” he said.

Read Olivia's story here.