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What exactly is a virus? What are they made of? How do viruses cause diseases?

There is much to learn about the virus that is causing the current pandemic, and scientists from around the world are performing large-scale studies to determine how our bodies react to infection, develop vaccines and identify treatments for COVID-19 patients.

During a three-week online noncredit course , high school students will take a comprehensive look at how new viruses evolve, how they can be detected and how viruses affect the body.

, assistant teaching professor and biotechnology program advisor in the Biology Department at the College of Arts and Sciences will break down information and investigate a variety of topics including evaluating various strategies that have been and are currently being developed to detect and prevent the treatment of emerging viral infections.

“The idea for this course came from my own high school children who, while quarantined at home, asked me so many questions about viruses  that I started giving them readings and videos,” says Phillips. “When I heard my oldest child explaining what a vaccine is to one of their friends, I realized they were trying to make sense of the world around them. The course is designed with that purpose in mind.”

This Summer College online pre-college program begins on June 29 and runs through July 17.  The live synchronous sessions run Monday through Friday from 3 – 4:30 p.m. EST.

Students must be of rising high school sophomore, junior, or senior status or a 2020 high school graduate. For additional information, including the full list of summer program offerings, visit . Applications are now being accepted.