Summer Course Introduces High School Students to Scientific Computing

Scientific computing workshop participants

Scientific computing workshop participants.

Nineteen Long Island high school students recently completed a two-week workshop designed to teach them the basics of computer programming for scientific research. With this new program, Brookhaven Lab looks to use its resources to begin to fill a gap in public science education while also building a pipeline to help identify and train the computer-literate researchers of tomorrow. 

“Whether you’re going into physics, biology, chemistry, materials science, atmospheric science, or climate change, computational science is now everywhere,” said Scott Bronson, manager of K-12 programs in Brookhaven’s Office of Educational Programs. “Having computer programming skills is not an optional thing – it’s a prerequisite. This program is helping to develop the nation’s next generation of scientists and scientific facility users and meet the growing needs across research supported by DOE’s Office of Science.”

During the two-week course, the high school students were introduced to problems that would flummox many adults. The students covered 35 total lessons, many of which involved math at a graduate school level. For Dave Biersach, a senior technology engineer at Brookhaven who served as the instructor for the workshop, setting these kinds of challenges allowed the students to unlock potential they might not always be able to show in a traditional classroom setting.

Biersach also sees potential to take the knowledge built up from this summer school and bring those lessons to public schools. With the curriculum and practical exercises now in place, local educators could eventually use them to set up computing clubs at their schools, or even offer full courses based on what Brookhaven has done. 

To read more about the workshop visit: www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=25855

2015-5889  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom