Compass Summer Program

The Summer Program, the cornerstone of the Compass Project, is an intensive, all-expenses-paid educational experience that takes place right before the start of the fall semester. It brings together 15 to 20 incoming freshmen to learn about topics in physics and mathematics, with an emphasis on problem solving and model building, by engaging with a team of graduate students and by participating in activities that take advantage of the campus and surrounding area.

The Summer Program curriculum is built around a central physical question; for the 2011 Summer Program, the question was “What is a non-Newtonian fluid?” Compass’s teaching staff believes that learning driven by interaction among peers and real-world problems is much more effective than learning based on telling students what they need to know. Therefore, the Compass classroom emphasizes group work, collaboration, and hands-on activities, and the instructors act as guides to the students by introducing interesting problems and questions and by helping them focus their exploration of those questions. Additionally, the problem solving portion of the program gives students an insight into their own learning process and makes them more effective collaborators and communicators.

During the program, Compass students spend the majority of their time together. They live in the same dorm, share meals, and work together on problem sets. In addition to coursework, the Summer Program also provides a wide-ranging set of activities, both academic (like research lectures, lab tours, and trips to observatories and science museums) and non-academic (like hikes, frisbee games, a star party on the roof of Campbell Hall, and game and movie nights).

Ultimately, the Compass Summer Program is about making friends, learning about exciting science, building confidence, and making the entrance to college a more enjoyable experience by creating a unique space for the program participants to forge lasting relationships and friendships with professors, graduate students, and, most importantly, other undergraduates.

Past Summer Programs

• Summer 07 – What do earthquakes tell us about the interior of the earth? (Earthquake physics)
• Summer 08 – What is Time? (Special Relativity)
• Summer 09 – The Quantum Mechanics of Vision
• Summer 10 – How does wind power work? (Fluid mechanics)
• Summer 11 – What is a Non-Newtonian Fluid?