NIH director Francis Collins spoke to students Oct. 4 in a presentation about the experiences in his career.

Collins spoke about working for the human genome project and encouraged students to take an interest in science.

“I’m absolutely passionate about the need to get the next generation of scientists inspired,” Collins said.  “The Science and Engineering festival is a great gift to Washington, D.C., so anything I can do to try to rev up the excitement, I’m there.”

He said he hopes students will get involved at NIH while in high school.

“You’re in a great place here because you can find out opportunities from your teachers and really get a sense of what it’s like,” he said during the assembly.  “There’s no substitute for having that experience of what a real laboratory working on a cutting-edge problem is like.  But be careful, because you’ll get hooked.”

Collins ended his presentation playing the guitar and singing about genetics. 

The event was part of Nifty-Fifty, a program where 50 scientists will speak at schools in the D.C. area this month. The program is part of the U.S. Science and Engineering festival, which will end with an event on the National Mall Oct. 22 and 23.

The festival selected scientists from a variety of fields and backgrounds in order to convey the importance of science to students.