News from PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
22 Chambers St.
Princeton, New Jersey 08542
Telephone 609-258-3601; Fax 609-258-1301
For immediate release: June 28, 2004
Media contact: Eric Quiñones, (609) 258-5748, quinones@princeton.edu
University offers range of summer learning opportunities
Students and teachers come to campus for workshops and cutting-edge research
PRINCETON, N.J. -- An important season of learning and research at Princeton is starting this month. Teachers and students from the New Jersey region and beyond will be on campus for a wide range of summer programs, which are led by University faculty, students and staff and are designed to develop participants' skills and expose them to cutting-edge research.
From high school students who will study quantum physics in Italian with Princeton scientists to elementary and middle school teachers who will learn about earthquakes and volcanoes, the program participants come away with knowledge, technical resources and mentoring relationships that help them carry their work further in their own studies and classrooms.
The following is a list of some of the programs taking place this summer. Reporters are invited to attend. The contacts listed below can provide information about where the participants work or attend school.
Chemistry
Contact: Andy Bocarsly, (609) 258-3888, bocarsly@princeton.edu
Partners-in-Science, June 28-Aug. 20
Three high school teachers will work in the labs of chemistry department faculty
members, participating in real research projects.
Community House
Contact: Marjorie Young, (609) 258-6136, may@princeton.edu
Computer Camp, July 6-30, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A camp for local students emphasizes computer literacy as well as math and
writing skills.
Cotsen Children's Library
Contact: Bonnie Bernstein, (609) 258-2697, bonnieb@princeton.edu
Field Guide to Princeton, July 19-23, 9:30 a.m. to noon
Children ages 7 to 9 will take a nature walk on the Princeton campus and photograph,
sketch and describe the animals, plants and geology they find.
Toy Architecture Course, Aug. 3-5, 10 a.m. to noon
Using a variety of old and new building toys -- stone blocks, Lincoln Logs,
Lego bricks and slotted cards -- youngsters ages 9 through 11 will learn the
principles of architecture. After a campus tour, they will draft a design
for an original building and construct a toy model.
The Daily Princetonian
Contact: Richard Just, (202) 508-4478, rajust@alumni.princeton.edu
Summer Journalism Program, Aug. 4-13
The student newspaper, The Daily Princetonian, will host 20 students who are
entering their senior years at urban and underfunded high schools. The students,
selected for their interest in journalism, practice reporting and writing
articles, including covering a Mets game and attending a press conference
in Trenton. Participants work with current and former Princetonian reporters
and end by publishing their own issue of the Princetonian.
Molecular Biology
The Power of PCR, Molecular Biology in the 21st Century: Applications
& Dilemmas, July 12-23
Contact: Shelley Winslow, (609) 258-1604, swinslow@princeton.edu
Fifty high school teachers will participate in an intensive one-week workshop
in which they learn techniques of genetic manipulation, including projects
in which they test food for genetically modified ingredients and perform DNA
testing.
Summer Undergraduate Research Program, June 14-Aug. 13
Contact: Alison Gammie, (609) 258-6380, agammie@molbio.princeton.edu
Students from Princeton as well as students from other colleges and universities,
often without major research programs in biology, spend the summer working
in the labs of Princeton biologists.
Physics Department
Contact: Helen Ju, (609) 258-5822, helenju@princeton.edu
Gran Sasso-Princeton Physics Summer School, July 24-Aug. 20
Twenty high school students from the Abruzzi region of Italy will study special
relativity, quantum physics and particle physics with Princeton scientists
in classes taught in Italian. The students live near the Italian National
Research Laboratories, located in a tunnel under the Gran Sasso Mountain,
where a group of Princeton physics professors are currently conducting research.
Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials
Contact: Dan Steinberg, (609) 258-5598, dsteinbe@princeton.edu
Upward Bound, Aug. 2-12; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays
The materials institute will provide the science program for the Trenton-based
Upward Bound program for local high school students. Participants will work
with faculty, staff and graduate students in state-of-the-art labs on reproducing
the results of just-completed research in cancer cell detection. The program
is coordinated with Mercer County Community College.
Research Experience for Undergraduates, June 8-Aug. 6
Eighteen college students from across the country will perform research in
materials science and engineering that complements ongoing projects led by
scientists at the Princeton Center for Complex Materials. In addition to completing
lab work, the students attend lectures and participate in social activities.
The students are mostly from colleges that do not have high-level scientific
research.
Princeton University Materials Academy, July 6-23, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
New Jersey high school students will participate in workshops to learn about
engineering and materials science. In the first session, which runs from July
6 to 16, members of Mentor Power, an environmentally focused group that pairs
students with adult mentors, will be designing experiments and testing original
engineering concepts. From July 19 to 23, students from Middlesex High School
will receive an introduction to emerging technologies in materials science.
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Contacts: Tony DeMeo, (609) 243-2755, ademeo@pppl.gov;
Patti Wieser, (609) 243-2757, pwieser@pppl.gov
Plasma Camp, July 26-30
Twelve high school physics teachers from around the country will work in the
Plasma Science Education Laboratory to better understand plasma science and
find ways to work the subject into their curricula.
Energy in 21st Century: Solar, Fuel Cells and Fusion, Aug. 2-6
The program offers an introduction to current energy research to 20 students
from the Bergen Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology in Hackensack,
N.J.
Research Experience for Undergraduates, June 14-Aug. 20
Eighteen undergraduate students from across the country as well as six local
high school students will spend 10 weeks working with PPPL scientists, participating
in current research projects.
Teacher Preparation Program
Princeton University Preparatory Program, July 5-Aug. 13
Contact: Torey Wilson, (609) 258-3336, twilson@princeton.edu
This program brings New Jersey high school students to campus for an intensive
series of courses, workshops and events designed to provide the crucial preparation
they need to attend selective colleges and universities. The academically
gifted students, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and live in Trenton,
Princeton and Ewing, enroll for all three summers of high school and work
with Princeton Prep mentors throughout the year.
Quest, July 12-23, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Contact: Anne Catena, (609) 258-2537, acatena@princeton.edu
In two separate programs for elementary and middle school teachers, participants
attend workshops on science, mathematics and technology taught by Princeton
faculty and staff experts. The workshops are designed to enhance teachers'
knowledge through hands-on laboratory experiments and field experiences, and
to acquaint them with ideas to use in their classrooms. The sessions include
topics such as environmental science, earthquakes and volcanoes, and electricity
and magnetism. The program also provides follow-up resources throughout the
school year.