Outreach

Carnegie Mellon's Physics Department pursues outreach in many ways, through centrally organized programs and through personal efforts of individuals. The following is a sampling of just a portion our activities.

The Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences (PGSS), directed by Barry Luokkala, brings high school students to campus for a five week annual summer program.

The Governor's Institute for the Physical Sciences brings K-12 educators from across the state of Pennsylvania to campus for two weeks.  The schedule of activities is built around a series of keynote lectures in astrophysics, materials, biopolymers, chemical bonding, particle physics and green design.

The Summer Academy for Minority Scholars in engineering, science and computer science enhances the group of talented, university-bound, minority high school students and prepares them for the challenges and commitment necessary for success in technical disciplines.  Kunal Ghosh is the Academic Director for this program and George Klein teaches in it.

The Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary Students (CMITES) offers a summer program for academically talented 3rd - 7th graders designed to complement what students have studied in school and provide them with challenges in mathematics, science, or the humanities.

The Buhl Lectures bring a distinguished visitor to campus each year for public and technical lectures.

The CMU - Milliones Physics Outreach Program joins the CMU Department of Physics with a public middle school (grades 6-8) located in a predominantly African-American section of Pittsburgh.  Each Fall,  Milliones School students are guided in the preparation of projects for a Pittsburgh community science fair.  During the spring, the students make weekly visits to the CMU campus to participate in physics workshops and to prepare their projects. The program is led by Professors Kisslinger and Ferguson.

Professor Richard Holman is active in the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute, a collaborative activity between Carnegie Mellon and Chatham College the last three years. The Institute takes place weekly in the spring, and involves approximately fifty K-12 teachers, with Holman teaching the Seminars on Sciences component of the Institute.