Ohio Supercomputer Center Selects Students for Summer Institute 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Jun 15, 2006) — 

The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) has selected 18 high school students for its highly acclaimed Summer Institute (SI) 2006: Real Science/Real Supercomputers.  In its 18th year, SI will take place on July 16-28 at OSC in Columbus, Ohio.

Previous feedback from students and teachers shows that SI has been a life-altering learning experience for students and teachers alike.  A once-in-a-lifetime experience, SI provides an interactive and engaging learning environment and builds Ohio’s future workforce.

Through SI, OSC gives students hands-on experience with the same supercomputers that scientists and engineers throughout the world use for their research.  With the guidance of OSC staff members, experts in fields such as physics, mechanical engineering, biology, mathematics, and computer science, students will work in small groups to solve complex science and engineering problems using OSC resources.  Through their team projects, students will learn about time management, collaboration, and project management while discovering high performance computing and networking. 

SI is not solely for students.  Each year, OSC selects a few Ohio high school teachers to work on project teams with the students.  This is a unique opportunity for students and teachers to work collaboratively in a highly challenging environment.

To make SI a well-rounded educational experience, OSC invites experts in science, engineering, and computer science to give talks about their research and spark the students’ interests in exciting career paths available to those with the technical skills developed at SI.  Also, students take science-related field trips to visit the labs where scientists do their work.  These trips bring to life the work students hear about in SI lectures.

SI’s highly competitive application process requires that students demonstrate talent through a computer programming assignment, written essay, and teacher recommendations.  Students must also meet state guidelines for gifted students.

The following exceptional students were selected to participate in SI2006:

Kevin Bhasin
Rocky River High School

Ronak Buch
Lakota East High School

Andrew Burkett
Lakota Freshman School

David Burl
Chagrin Falls High School

Soham Chakraborty
Shaker Heights High School

Abishek Ganesh
Dublin Jerome High School

Nickolas Halliday
Elyria High School

Stephen Halter
Glen Oak High School

Joey Huntley
Upper Arlington High School

Kevin Jiang
New Albany High School

Daniel Kaplun
Richmond Heights High School

Dominic Labanowski
Upper Arlington High School

Alex Lesman
Dublin Coffman High School

Nathan Malkin
Upper Arlington High School

Jacob Peddicord
Buckeye Valley High School

Joseph Wang
Western Reserve Academy

Cullen Wong
Dublin Coffman High School

Susan Xie
Hudson High School

For more Information about SI, contact Elaine Landwehr, SI co-director, at si-contact@osc.edu or 614/292-0890.

About OSC
OSC is Ohio's high performance computing, networking, and research center. The Center provides scientific computing, networking, educational outreach, and information technology resources to state and national high performance computing and networking groups. OSC empowers its academic, industrial, and government partners to make Ohio the education and technology state of the future. More information about OSC can be found at www.osc.edu.