Yale Astronomy Department launches Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics

The Yale Astronomy Department is pleased to announce the first annual Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics (YSPA), to be held at Yale’s Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium from July 10th through August 7, 2016.

YSPA is a four-week residential research and enrichment program for 28 rising high school seniors who are interested in math, science, computer programming and other tech fields.  Students take classes in physics, math, and astronomy; complete a scientific research project using telescopes at Yale; learn the basics of computer programming and data science; and present their results at the end of the program.

The main goals of YSPA are:  to provide students with the opportunity to be academically and personally challenged in a professional scientific research environment; to accelerate the personal growth of our students by giving them the opportunity to live and work in a university environment with other high school seniors from around the world who have similar interests in math and science; and to teach our students practical skills in math, computer programming, data analysis, statistics, writing, and research methods–skills which are essential in all science, engineering, and tech fields.

Besides taking classes, doing astrophysics research, and learning coding and data science, students at YSPA will have the opportunities to participate in other fun enrichment activities, such as:  guest lectures from eminent Yale scientists, hands-on labs, a tour of the Yale campus, field trips to New York and places around Connecticut, hiking, pick up Frisbee games, movie nights, swing dancing and gardening.

YSPA has a small student-to-faculty ratio (28:6), so students get to know each other and the faculty very well.

YSPA is a unique combination of a research program, an intensive summer course that squeezes twelve weeks of college math, astronomy, programming, and physics classes into six weeks (students are required to complete an online course of study for two weeks before the residential program begins), and a fun summer camp for self-identified science geeks.

To find out more about YSPA, please see our website at yspa.yale.edu.