Penn Summer Science Initiative 2004

The Penn Summer Science Initiative, PSSI, is sponsored by the Penn Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, MRSEC, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. It will accept up to 24 high school juniors from the Delaware Valley for a four-week lecture/lab. course in materials science from July 12-August 6, 2004. The course will run from 10:00 am to 3:30pm daily in the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, LRSM, building. The course will consist of a formal lecture on materials science every morning followed either by a computer instruction laboratory or a discussion group on issues in science. Monday afternoons will be spent visiting local industrial laboratories. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons will be devoted to experimental laboratory work in which the student will be exposed to a variety of materials characterization techniques e.g. scanning electron, atomic force and optical microscopies, thermal analysis techniques, mechanical testing, and x-ray diffraction. Friday mornings will be spent visiting some of Penn's major facilities e.g. Regional Laser Lab., Robotics Center, Ion Scattering Laboratory, Museum Applied Science Center for Archeology, etc. and Friday afternoons will be spent writing group lab reports. This program will be taught by Penn faculty and staff who are associated with the LRSM and by teaching fellows in the Penn NSF-Access program.

Students will be selected for this program based on their scholastic achievements, curriculum vitae, and teachers' letters of recommendation. Students must have taken chemistry and/or physics courses. Minority and female students are especially encouraged to apply. This student enrichment course is free. Any student wishing to apply to this program should fill out the On-Line Application Form. Subsequently a CV, school transcript, and two letters of recommendation from current or former teachers should be sent to:

On-Line Application Form

Send application to:

Dr. A. R. McGhie, Associate Director
Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter
University of Pennsylvania
3231 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6202
 
Tel. (215) 898-6461
Fax (215) 898-8296
e-mail: mcghie@lrsm.upenn.edu