The chance to command one of the world’s most powerful computers is now open to Marion County high school students.
Written by Dave Claborn,
Director of Community Relations & Development
The Ohio State University at Marion
With financial support from Frontier Communications, Ohio State Marion physics professor, Dr. Chris Orban has secured a spot for a Marion County high school student to join him at the STEM-focused "Summer Institute" program organized by the Ohio Supercomputer Center. The Summer Institute is a highly-competitive, two-week residential camp held June 14 -26 on the Ohio State Columbus campus. Students will work on projects led by Prof. Orban and other researchers at OSU, as well as receiving tours of a number of different research labs on campus.
Thanks to a donation from Frontier Communications, high school students from Marion county can compete on a level playing field to participate in the Summer Institute. Remarkably, this summer will be the first time in the 25 year history of the program that a student from Marion county will be able participate. "I'm sure this is a problem of advertisement and not of ability" says program director Brian Guilfoos, who is pleased to see Prof. Orban working to make more students and teachers aware of this state-wide program.
In addition to teaching physics at Ohio State Marion, Dr. Orban is involved in research into the beginnings of the universe. He uses supercomputers to simulate the process of galaxy formation and plans to involve students in the Summer Institute in developing animations of the simulation data he and his collaborators have generated. “Students will be able to make movies of these visualizations,” said Orban. “Everyone’s visualizations will be projected onto the new OSU planetarium.” Although he lives in Columbus, Dr. Orban is dedicated to creating opportunities for area students. He likes to think back to the days when he participated in science fair and how much of a springboard it was for his future career. Helping Marion County students become involved in the Ohio Supercomputer Summer Institute is a way for Orban to give back.
“As much as I’d like to, I don’t have the time to advise every sharp-minded high school student in the county on a science project, but what I can do is partner with programs like this and create a wider pathway for high school students from Marion to be involved,” he said. Dr. Orban has had a research relationship with the Ohio Supercomputing Center for quite some time, first as a Ph.D. student and later as a post-doctoral researcher and now a professor. He looks forward to this summer which will be his first involvement with the educational programs there.
Interested students entering their sophomore, junior, or senior years can apply online at https://www.osc.edu/education/si. The application deadline is April 21st. Those accepted will be notified in early May.
Program director, Brian Guilfoos says students applying to the Summer Institute shouldn’t be intimidated. “There are lots of students that participate in the program who don’t have any programming experience at all. They just have a passion for science and they want to learn more and they’re very bright kids. That’s all it really takes to be successful,” he said.
Thanks to Ohio State Marion’s assistant professor of physics, Dr. Chris Orban and Frontier Communications, a slot is being held open for Marion County students. But they need to apply by April 21st.