FRONTIERS

Frontiers is a summer program in science, mathematics and engineering conducted by WPI for students about to enter their final year of high school. The purpose of the program is to allow students to explore their academic interests (in physics or any of 9 other disciplines) in a relaxed setting, while at the same time getting a taste of college life.

I have conducted the Physics portion of the Frontiers program for over fifteen years. The academic program consists of a blend of many different activities: informal lectures, multimedia presentations, hands on laboratory experiments, and tours of research laboratories. As one example, students might learn about the atomic physics in a morning presentation and follow this up with a spectroscopy lab in the afternoon. Or they might learn about the physics of black holes and see a Stephen Hawking film about it in the afternoon.

The program is flexible and designed to cater to a variety of tastes. The hands-on afternoon sessions allow participants to undertake a variety of less structured activities. Nor is it all academics. There's our famous luncheon party followed by an afternoon of (physics-related!) fun and games.