Students and faculty participating in this year’s summer program were welcomed on Monday, June 3 with lunch, talks and an icebreaking excercise.»See more photos from the event

The Computing Sciences summer student program is back, and it’s bigger than ever. With the official kick-off on Tuesday, June 4, 188 students from across the U.S. and abroad have begun filling the cubicles of Berkeley Lab’s Shyh Wang Hall – a record number this year.

Initially launched in 2010, the summer student program offers undergraduate and graduate students in science and engineering fields the chance to gain research experience working with staff in ESnet, NERSC, and the Computational Research Division. Over the next two months, these students – who come from across the U.S. and internationally – will work on focused research projects with mentors from the CS area, attend lectures and workshops designed to help hone and broaden their skills, and present a poster on their work to peers and CS staff at the conclusion of the program.

“The Computing Sciences summer student program gives students a unique opportunity to interact with Berkeley Lab staff, learn about the work done at the Lab and at CRD, NERSC, and ESnet in particular, and in many cases contribute to that work. The program has been very successful, and this year is hosting 150+ students,” said Osni Marques, a staff scientist in the Computational Research Division who chairs the program.

Summer also brings an influx of faculty/student research teams courtesy of a joint effort between CS and the Sustainable Horizons Institute through the Sustainable Research Pathways (SRP) program. This program aims to recruit students and faculty from a variety of institutions, including minority-serving institutions and women’s colleges supporting students from under-represented or under-privileged backgrounds, for summer research opportunities with the CS organization. This year 44 students and faculty are participating in the summer program through SRP.

In addition, for the first time, two students will be spending the summer in the CS area through the SOAR (Support, Opportunities, and Rapport) for Youth program, a local non-profit established in 2009 by former Berkeley Lab employee Diana Brown. In community partnership with the UC Berkeley, Bay Area Child Support Services, and community foster youth servicing organizations, SOAR is designed to help foster youth move through adolescence and into their adult lives with confidence and independence.

Learn more about scheduled events and talks for the 2019 summer student program.