EDUCATION
Education makes up a core component of Oak Crest’s mission. At Oak Crest, students of all educational levels have access to the excitement of science research. While it is important to provide students with a broad range of research opportunities, we also recognize the need for focus. It has been our experience that the environmental and medical sciences provide an ideal framework for such a research portfolio. These common themes also have proven to be popular with students due to their societal relevance and importance, thus leading to engagement both inside and outside the laboratory.

One of the objectives in Oak Crest's ongoing educational outreach effort is to include underrepresented groups with the long-term goal of increasing the diversity in science, both in academia and industry.

Students can participate in research at Oak Crest at any time during the calendar year. This flexibility is particularly beneficial to community college students, who often need year-round, part-time employment to support themselves.

Oak Crest’s individualized approach to hands-on, in-lab education fills a unique niche aimed at fostering an interest and participation in science research by the local community, starting at the high school and community college level. Students at Oak Crest learn about the process of research by actually conducting independent cutting edge research projects themselves. They also write research proposals, present at weekly meetings, write scientific papers, and present posters at national meetings such as the American Chemical Society Annual Meetings.

Faculty members at Oak Crest have minimal administrative responsibilities and do not teach formal classes, specifically to grant them time to mentor their students directly and spend time with them in the laboratory conducting research. Due to its small size, Oak Crest’s laboratories are set up in a centralized, open-planning layout. The intimate nature of the workspace furthers student-student and student-mentor interaction and enhances the group’s camaraderie.