Talented Teens To Expand Minds in Math/Science Summer Program

Heather Holliday I January 31, 2005

Students who excel in math and science will have a chance to spend four weeks at UCSD this summer as part of a residential program for students in grades 8 - 12. The goal of the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science program, popularly known as COSMOS, is to motivate the most creative minds of the new generation of prospective scientists, engineers and mathematicians, and to create a community of scholars. Students will learn about astronomy, marine mammal biology, robotics, computer graphics, environmental science and ecology, earthquake engineering, bioinformatics, tissue and tumor biology, and physics and technology.

COSMOS programs are offered every summer at University of California campuses in Davis, Irvine, Santa Cruz, and, for the first time, San Diego through the Jacobs School of Engineering.

At UCSD, 80 students will be admitted, while approximately 150 students will participate at each of the other campus's programs. Once admitted, COSMOS participants will run laboratory experiments, conduct fieldwork and attend lectures given by faculty and master high school teachers. Class sizes are small, from 20 to 23 students, offering each participant a rich intellectual experience.

The COSMOS experience also goes beyond the classroom. "The weekend activities, final projects and the COSMOS talent show were just a few of the incredible things that made my experience so memorable," says Erik Madsen, a sophomore at College Preparatory School in Oakland who participated in the program in the past. "COSMOS is not just about taking classes. It's about having fun, meeting others with similar interests, and learning about something in which you're interested at a level few high school courses would be able to match."

On a typical day, COSMOS students attend lectures, take courses or participate in labs or course-related field trips. Recreation and study groups are built into the evening and weekend schedules. Special activities and supervised field trips are planned for the weekends. Field trips during UCSD's July 10 to Aug. 6 program may include trips to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography collections, the Birch Aquarium, the Scripps research pier, and earthquake engineering laboratories.

More than 1,900 students have attended COSMOS since its inception in 2000, with girls accounting for about half of the participants.

Tuition is $1,600 for California residents, with more than a third receiving full or partial financial aid. Non-California residents pay the full tuition cost of $6,200. For more information, please visit: the COSMOS Web site.