Eleven ninth- and 10th-graders from the Triangle spent three weeks of their summer break in the laboratory at the Shodor Education Foundation watching how the AIDS virus and hepatitis-B spread and affect a population.

The students demonstrated their computer models and findings Friday afternoon at Shodor's Broad Street headquarters.

As Heejoong Kim pressed a button on a computer monitor mounted on the wall, dozens of symbols began moving around, simulating how diseases are transmitted through a population.

"These blue things represent men; pink things represent women, and the H's are hepatitis. Also, some of the men and women have AIDS," he explained, adding that the model computes hundreds of interactions and shows how the effects of infection are compounded over time.

For instance, some of the male icons contracted HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- then spread it to female icons. Some of the infected males died, their blue icons turning into small crosses. Those who had AIDS contracted hepatitis more readily because their immune systems were weak.

"We can actually see what these two diseases are going to do and how they affect each other over a long period of time," Kim said. He concluded that AIDS spreads more readily than hepatitis, and that AIDS-infected people are more likely to spread the disease before they die.

Other students looked at how AIDS is transmitted in the African country of Swaziland and analyzed the effects of public health strategies like changing the birth rate and the age at which people first engage in high-risk behaviors.

"People can either start taking part in high-risk behaviors earlier or later," student Ebonee Farrow explained. "If it's earlier, they have a higher infection rate, and the population of the country starts to die off."

The Shodor Scholars summer program is not reserved for the "gifted," said Shodor President Robert M. Panoff, who added that teachers nominate students based on their interest in science and math. Shodor also provided nearly $10,000 in need-based scholarships this year to qualified students.

Panoff, who holds a doctorate in condensed matter physics from Washington University, created the foundation in 1994 to promote the teaching of science and math through original research using professional tools and methods. The foundation also develops free, Web-based teaching materials for middle school, high school and university educators. Major funding comes from the National Science Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a charitable foundation in Research Triangle Park.

On the Net:

Shodor Scholars Program: www.shodor.org/succeed/ssp/index.html

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