The UCSD Young Physicists Program brings middle school and high school students from across San Diego together with Physics students and professors from UCSD on Saturday mornings each month. A typical morning involves college-level lab activities, interactive demos, lots of interaction with undergraduate and graduate students, plus a presentation by different guest professors who talk about cutting-edge research as well as reasons for choosing physics as a career, and tips on how to make it happen.

Using fun, somewhat simplified, college-level lab projects, and with assistance from graduate and undergraduate students, participants discover first-hand what college physics is like and are amazed at what they accomplish and learn. UCSD professors describe exciting research topics in everyday words, giving an idea of how many different unexplored areas there are in physics and how new research changes our understanding of the world. Fun experiments from our sizable Interactive Lecture Demo collection don't just illustrate the sort of surprises that nature has to offer; they are also available for close-up inspection and experimentation.

Funds are used to buy teaching demonstrations and supplies used for the Saturday sessions as well as off-site teaching at area high schools. Resources are essential to maintaining the program and ensuring it remains free to all interested students. Future plans include transportation programs for underprivileged students who cannot afford the commute to UCSD and visits from YPP leaders to areas in the city of San Diego that are underrepresented in the program.

For more information about YPP, please visit our website at: http://ypp.ucsd.edu

To contribute to this fund through our secure online giving site, please click here. See Giving to Physics for other options.