Educational Outreach
Young Scholars' program
Director: Professor Paul J. Sally, Jr.
The Young Scholars Program (YSP) for mathematically talented 7-12 graders, is a pioneering program initiated in 1988 by the Department of Mathematics at the University of Chicago. Essentially a free workshop, this program annually attracts ~120 talented 7-12 graders for a four week, intesnsive summer program conducted at the University by faculty and students from MRSEC, Math, Physics, and Computer Science. The emphasis in this highly successful program is on diversity and enrichment, not on acceleration through the standard school curriculum.
Young Scholars Program Participants, Summer 2002
Each day, students participate in interactive lectures and in extensive computer labs. Most importantly, 1/3 of each day is spent in small problem solving groups in which counselors guide them to a deeper understanding of concepts covered in the lectures.Geared towards bright & gifted students from the greater Chicago region, particular attention is paid to the recruitment of minorities and females, especially from the Chicago Public Schools, looking for strong potential as well as highly developed talent.
The YSP program offers advanced topics on the applications of math in the sciences; in the past, these have included chaos& computers, neural networks, geometry & astronomy, combinatorics & probability, and data structures and algorithms. MRSEC sponsors specific course components, provides lecturers (most recently, Prof. Shankar Venkataramani) and teaching materials, and contributes to curriculum development.