Astrophysics Camp
Did you love physics and are you keen to spend part of your summer learning more about the practical applications of physics and astronomy? The Boston Leadership Institute runs a three-week camp where students learn more about physics and the cosmos. Want to hear more? Here’s the summary from BLI:
Since the advent of human life, we have looked to those luminescent points in the night sky with wonder and curiosity. How do we know the distances to various stars and planets? What is dark matter? Why do we need it? Is a black hole a hole? Do pulsars pulse? Venus is hotter than mercury, Sirius is hotter than our Sun – but wait, how do we know that?
Explore these astounding questions and much more with our BLI teaching team, which includes physics scholars from Harvard and Princeton!
As we traverse the cosmos, it is imperative to understand the laws of physics that allow astronomers and space scientists to grasp the behavior of celestial bodies. This course offers an exciting look into the fundamental physics of the universe and is ideal for teens interested in physics and astronomy.
Students will learn about and explore SETI signals, using data streaming online to search for radio signals in space that may originate from extraterrestrial intelligence. They will use data streaming in from Pluto from the Bright Horizons project. Cassini, a satellite orbiting Venus, streams data that students can analyze on their own computers. Students will learn about stellar nurseries that create new galaxies. They will explore how wobbling in the light streaming in from distant stars may indicate the existence of orbiting planets. This data will be explored against a backdrop of lectures on astrophysics and a field trip to a local observatory.
How do I get started? Click here.
How do I expand this narrative arc?
Want to show that you are more than just a super brain? Enter the AAP Physics Photo Competition
Spend the summer at the exclusive Perimeter Institute Physics Program
Check out the MIT BeaverWorks Summer Institute, where you’ll learn about engineering and designing autonomous systems in a variety of applications including cybersecurity, hacking, race car design, autonomous air vehicle racing, game design with AI and more!!
Looking for a smaller, less time-consuming but interesting extracurricular? Help physicists at CERN answer questions about how and when the universe started when you donate computing time and power in the CERN Particle Search.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SUMMER PROGRAMS: College admissions officers are very adept at identifying “resume padders”: expensive, one-off programs paid for by your parents which do not mesh with your narrative arc. Therefore, make sure any summer program or course you consider falls into one (or more) of these four buckets:
Highly selective/competitive
Totally unique + linked to your narrative arc
Evidence of adulthood (long hours, multi-year commitment or simply hard work)
A jumping off point or expansion for an authentic narrative arc.
If none of the above apply, a program could still have value to you if it allows you to test a potential interest. However, if it does not end up being a jumping off point for further interests, then you may not want to mention it in your high school resume