July 23, 2001 High schoolers give COSMOS program an A+ By Jennifer McNulty The smile on 16-year-old Long Vuong's face last week said it all. Vuong, a student at Willow Glen High School in San Jose, couldn't stop grinning as he described his experiences with COSMOS, a UC math and science program for high school students. COSMOS gives participants a chance to take advanced math and science classes in a college setting. Photo: Jennifer McNulty "We don't have anything like this at our school," said Vuong. "It's been a very memorable program." COSMOS, known formally as the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, is UC's four-week residential program that gives students a chance to take advanced math and science classes in a college setting. Programs are offered at UCSC, UC Irvine, and UC Davis for students entering grades 8 through 12. Participants take thematic courses that focus on one or two subjects, attend lectures, participate in labs, and go on both academic and social field trips. The cost is $1,050, and full and partial scholarships are available. Vuong signed up to participate in the environmental toxicology and conservation biology "cluster" at UC Santa Cruz. Like the 10 other students in his group, Vuong was thrilled by the exposure he got to professors, laboratory and library facilities, and scientific fields that are not offered at his school, including astronomy and Earth sciences. "I'd really like to be a researcher, working on health and disease," said Vuong, who had planned on becoming a cardiologist before COSMOS. Alan Jennings, 16, who attends Davis High School, also discovered a new career interest. For Jennings, a talk by Steve McCabe, curator of succulents at the UCSC Arboretum, was pivotal. "It was all very fascinating," he said. "I was interested in plant biology before, but now I'm almost certain that it's what I want to do when I grow up." Although the majority of COSMOS students come from schools across California, a handful came this summer from New Mexico, Ohio, and Florida, said assistant program manager Jason Hayes. "We've had an excellent time," said Hayes, who coordinates academic programs for COSMOS. "The kids have learned a lot." Professor of mathematics Anthony Tromba received rave reviews for the passion he brought to the subject of mathematics. "I've never really looked at mathematics in that way before," said high school graduate Elsie Wanton, who is headed to St. Mary's College in the fall. "It's not really about numbers. He related math to music, to bubbles, to beehives." "He was really passionate about it, and he made everyone else feel passionate, too," said Carrey Sullins, 16, from Watsonville High School. In environmental toxicology, Vuong's cluster did research with UCSC postdoctoral researcher Catherine Kwik-Uribe on the toxicity of ethanol and hydrogen peroxide on trout brain cells. Both substances are toxic, the group determined, but the results were inconclusive and would require further study. "We would have to ask for additional funding to support further research," said Vuong, sounding like an experienced academic researcher. In the field of conservation biology, each cluster member conducted independent research on an endangered plant or animal, prepared a report and a scientific poster, and gave a 5- to 10-minute presentation. As part of their research on the fate of the California condor, the white abalone, the island fox, and the green sea turtle, among others species, students used the Internet, the Science Library, and interviewed UCSC faculty as they sought to learn what had caused a species to become endangered, what its outlook for survival is, and what steps should be taken to protect it, said Dan Swezey, 16, of Corralitos. Research projects and lab assignments gave students opportunities to work with equipment like micropipettes and spectrometers, and one-on-one interactions with faculty and graduate students were invaluable, according to many participants who said they now feel better-prepared to take advantage of all that college has to offer. Tucked in among the academic offerings were field trips to Elkhorn Slough, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Techology Museum in San Jose, the Exploratorium, the San Francisco Zoo, and the Golden Gate Bridge. But for these highly motivated students, the focus on learning made the biggest impression. "(COSMOS) opened up a lot of possibilities for me," said Luis Fernandez, 16, who attends King/Drew High School, a magnet school in Watts. Return to Front Page