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January 2023 – Frank Steslow is named new CEO of SSP after the retirement of Executive Director, Richard Bowdon. Announcement
August 2020 – All 144 participants, from 29 U.S. states and 12 other nations, spread across 19 time zones, successfully completed the first online Summer Science Program. Their exit surveys indicated high levels of satisfaction with their faculties, peers, and the overall experience.
April 2020 – SSP’s Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to hold the 2020 Summer Science Program as an interactive, online experience. A full complement of 144 teenagers, chosen from among 1,402 applicants, will participate remotely, half each doing Astrophysics and Biochemistry. The program fee has been cut by $3,000. Financial aid will still be available, funded by our generous donors.
Our focus will be on retaining SSP’s core values: trust and respect, collaboration and connection, rigor and challenge, inclusivity and support. Academic Directors will adopt the “flipped classroom” model, with both live and asynchronous components. Site Directors will facilitate social interactions and as many SSP traditions as practical – for example the guest lecture series, questions of the day, and talent show. Teaching Assistants will combine tutoring and mentoring roles as always.
Jan. 2019 – SSP announces open call for proposals for new curricula. Announcement
May 2017 – SSP names Dr. Amy Barr Mlinar ’94 as its first Chief Academic Officer. Announcement
Nov. 2016 – The Board of Trustees has voted to hold the first Summer Science Program in Biochemistry at Purdue University in 2017. Press release
Sept. 2015 – In summer 2016, Purdue Univ. will host a pilot Summer Science Program in Biochemistry. Six SSP ’15 alumni will design inhibitors for fungal pathogen enzymes. This research may contribute to eco-friendly protection for agricultural crops, important to feeding humanity.
Oct. 2014 – Beginning in summer 2015, the University of Colorado at Boulder will host the Summer Science Program, which will relocate from Westmont College in Santa Barbara where it has operated since 2010. Press release.
Sept. 2014 – The winners of the SSP New Curriculum Prizes are: Dr. Tracy Furutani ’79 and Dr. Elana Fertig ’98 for their Marine Metagenomics proposal, and Dr. Mark Hall for his biochemistry based Anti-fungal Drug Discovery proposal. Press release.
Aug. 2014 – SSP alumni Roohi Dalal ’12, Bryan Brzycki ’12, Luke Finnerty ’14, and Claire Burch ’14 have organized a USA team for the International Olympiad for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), an annual high school science competition in which over forty countries participate.
Sept. 2013 – SSP has received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to fund a three-year expansion planning process. Development and testing of two possible new curricula is now underway. If all goes well, a third campus will open in 2017.
Dr. Edwin C. Krupp ’61 has won the 2013 Andrew Gemant Award from the American Institute of Physics. The Gemant award recognizes significant contributions to the cultural, artistic or humanistic dimension of physics.
Nov. 2012 – The Gangnam Style MIT parody starring Richard Yoon ’08 has reached 4.9 million views on YouTube.
Caltech astronomer Maarten Schmidt, discoverer of quasars, was honored at the Westmont campus for his 33 guest lectures at SSP.
Dec. 2011 – Dr. Kevin Krisciunas, Academic Director of SSP 2008 at NM Tech, AAD Dr. Agnes Bischoff-Kim, and students Erika DeBenedictis, Jeremy Steeger, Gil Tabak, and Kanika Pasricha, have co-authored a refereed paper in the American Journal of Physics, “The First Three Rungs of the Cosmological Distance Ladder”.
Sept. 2011 – Mitch Kapor ’66 was honored at the new Entrepreneurs Walk of Fame at Kendall Square in Cambridge. Joining Mitch in the inaugural class are Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Bill Hewlett, David Packard, Bob Swanson, and Bill Gates.
Sept. 2010 – Beijing – Three SSP alumni have won medals at the International Olympiad in Astronomy & Astrophysics (IOAA). Miruna Oprescu ’09 and Aniruddha Bapat ’08 won golds, and Ana-Maria Constantin ’10 received a bronze. 24 teams from 22 countries participated in the 4th annual IOAA.
Aug. 2010 – Dr. Jerry Nelson ’60, Prof. of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the UC Santa Cruz, has won the $1 million Kavli Prize in Astrophysics along with two other researchers, for their innovations in the field of adaptive optics in telescope design.
March 2009 – Erika DeBenedictis ’08 won the $100,000 first prize in the Intel Science Talent Search, for developing a software navigation system to improve spacecraft travel through the solar system.
March 2007 – Mary Masterman ’05 won the $100,000 Grand Prize in the Intel Science Talent Search competition, for designing and building a low-cost spectrograph.
Daniel Handlin ’06 won $20,000 for a new way to locate geo-stationary satellites. Congratulations Mary and Daniel!
SSP International is a nonprofit offering inspiring science immersion experiences. Founded in 1959, its mission is to provide opportunities to accelerate learning, doing and belonging in science. SSP International’s flagship program is Summer Science Program, a leading education experience for exceptional high school students in astrophysics, biochemistry, genomics and more.
