July 8, 2005

Intense Math and Science Camp for High School Students Opens

By Rex Graham

Eighty-six of California’s most talented and motivated high school students on Sunday will begin an intensive four-week math and science summer academic experience at UCSD. The students will study everything from earthquakes to molecular biology, and much more while participating in the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS). The residential program, which is being offered for the first time this summer at UCSD, also is being offered at University of California campuses in Irvine, Davis, and Santa Cruz.

An instructor teaches COSMOS students participating in the biomedical science cluster at UC Davis in 2004.

COSMOS students’ daily schedule includes special lectures, courses, labs, course-related field trips, and team building experiences at the UCSD Challenge Course. “This academic camp gives students one-on-one contact with exceptional UCSD faculty, research scientists and instructors,” said Susan Kelly, program manager of the COSMOS program at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering. “For many COSMOS students, these are life-changing experiences.”

The program also includes plenty of fun and visits to Sea World, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and other attractions.

Weekend schedules include recreation and study groups, special activities, and supervised field trips. Social and cultural events and friendly competitions, including chess tournaments, are offered. Evening activities such as COSMOS jeopardy, dance lessons, and student-organized talent shows are popular.

This 2004 COSMOS student pipetts a sample in a lab at UC Davis.

Classes and labs are team taught by UCSD professors, graduate students, and high school teachers working as UCSD fellows. Each participating student has opted for one of five learning clusters: The Science of Computing, Kinetic Sculpture and Clocks, Living Oceans and Climate Change, or Earthquakes in Action. Each student will work on an individual project and present their findings at the conclusion of the four-week program.

The students attending UCSD this summer represent high schools from 16 counties in California. Tuition for the four-week program is $1,273, which covers room and meals in residence halls as well as transportation costs and expenses for field trips. One-third of the 86 students admitted to the program at UCSD this summer received full scholarships. UCSD plans to increase its program size to 150 students by summer 2007.

The COSMOS program at UCSD is supported by a $400,000 grant from the Toyota USA Foundation and $200,000 from Qualcomm. Additional funding this year was provided by UCSD’s California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, the Legler Benbough Foundation, SAIC, and the John Moores Foundation.

Students who have completed grades eight through twelve and demonstrated exceptional academic achievement in science and mathematics are eligible to apply for next year’s program at any of the four UC campuses by mailing a completed application by March 15, 2006. For more information, see http://www.ucop.edu/cosmos/. Admission is based upon standardized test scores, grade point average, achievement in science projects and/or competitions, teacher recommendations, motivation, and community service.

Media contact: Rex Graham, (858) 822-3075