COSMOS Student Profiles
COSMOS is a month-long residential program for California high school students who demonstrate high achievement in science and mathematics and are motivated to explore complex topics in depth. Participants attend classes and live in the residence halls at one of four UC campuses--Davis, Irvine, San Diego or Santa Cruz-- and have the opportunity to engage in social activities during the evening and field trips on weekends. Special events are designed to enhance students' personal, social and academic growth. Each COSMOS site offers different theme-based course clusters that reflect the unique resources and specialties of the campus.
BYRON LICHTENSTEIN
Lick-Wilmerding High School,
San Francisco, CA
12th Grade
UC Irvine COSMOS 2006
Participated in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Course Cluster
COSMOS provided a focus on a talent that I never knew what to do with. Ever since a young age, I was always identified as a "gifted student" by teachers who told me that I should pursue my skill, but I always asked them what that skill was. Adults asked whether I would be pursuing mathematics in college, and I would say no, for although I understood numbers, they were never the liveliest subject in school. They seemed too rigid compared to my other interests: art and history. But after a summer at COSMOS, I now have been inspired to pursue science and mathematics.
Last summer I attended a course at UC Irvine COSMOS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. The class presented a whole new approach to science that perked my interest, one that was heavy on the demonstrations and projects, and avoided the abstract and theoretical. When learning about engines, we actually built engines. When learning about the physics of flight, we actually constructed a fully functional radio controlled airplane.
Attending COSMOS the summer between my junior and senior years showed me that there is a creative aspect to science and math, and gave me direction that I had been searching for throughout high school. It was an amazing program, one that stimulates and nurtures the intellects of young adults.