UCI offers high schoolers a starry future in the cosmos

When Jamaal Sanders was a high school senior, he enrolled in the California State Summer School for Mathematics & Science at UC Irvine. The program for highly motivated high school students changed his world.

Sanders always liked things that went fast, or flew, or combusted. He liked figuring out how things worked. COSMOS introduced him to engineering, and he suddenly found an outlet for his penchant for propulsion.

“I enjoy solving problems, and that’s what engineers do,” Sanders says. Today, he’s a UCI undergraduate, working toward his bachelor’s in June. He’s already accepted a job with General Electric, which will pay his way through graduate school.

COSMOS’s goal is to inspire a future generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers. The program targets students at a crucial time: As they begin thinking about future careers.

For COSMOS director Marjorie DeMartino, such stories are common.

“I know my work is important when students come to me and say participating in COSMOS was the best decision they ever made,” says DeMartino, whose commitment to the program, which she implemented in 1999, helped earn her the UCI Alumni Association’s 2005 Lauds & Laurels award for staff achievement.

“Peer pressure in high school makes a lot of students not want to stand out in science or math, and we have to change that,” she says.

COSMOS serves up to 150 students chosen for their achievement in science and math, who enjoy hands-on experience in university laboratories and research facilities in the four-week residential program.

All COSMOS courses are designed and taught by UCI faculty and scientists. Upcoming topics include astrophysics, “Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit” and “Engineering: Rockets and Rollin’.” Instructors frequently engage their colleagues at research institutes, California private colleges and universities as well as postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, so COSMOS students learn from experts in their fields.

DeMartino selects local high school teachers as “teaching fellows” to work with the faculty and students and chooses about 25 undergraduate resident assistants to serve as advisers and role models.

“There is a beautiful, symbiotic relationship between the students and faculty who participate in COSMOS,” she says. “They help recharge one another.”

Application forms for the July 9-Aug. 5 session are available online at www.cosmos.uci.edu. Application deadline is 5 p.m. March 16; tuition is $2,000 for California residents, which includes housing, meals and instruction. Financial aid is available.

Cole Porter classic

Drama at UCI will present “Kiss Me, Kate,” Cole Porter’s musical masterwork inspired by Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” at the Claire Trevor Theatre. Performances are at 8 p.m. March 10, 11, 15-17, and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. March 12 and 18. Tickets are $12-$27. Information: (949) 824-2787.

Coping mechanisms

The UCI Libraries Speaker Series will feature “Coping with Traumatic Life Events” by Roxane Cohen Silver, professor of psychology and social behavior, at 5:30 p.m. Wed., March 15. The free talk will be held in Langson Library.

Silver has conducted extensive research on coping with traumatic events, ranging from personal grief to societal loss such as the Sept. 11 tragedy. She will discuss how people handle loss and common misconceptions about coping. R.S.V.P. to [email protected]. Information: (949) 824-5300.

Nobel Laureate to speak

Sponsored by the 2005-06 Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellows Series, Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan environmentalist, will speak on “Environment: The Language of Human Life,” at 7 p.m. Mon., March 20, in the Humanities Instructional Building, Room 100. Information: (949) 824-1948.

Alzheimer’s and Aging

UCI neuropsychologist Mina Oak will discuss Alzheimer’s disease and aging at 1 p.m. Wed., March 22, at the Oasis Senior Center, 800 Marguerite Ave., Corona del Mar. For more information, visit www.uci health.uci.edu.