Math Science Summer Program

One thing that makes the adventure of working in [STEM] field[s] particularly rewarding, especially in attempting to improve the theory, is that… a chief criterion for the selection of a correct hypothesis… seems to be the criterion of beauty, simplicity, or elegance.  – Murray Gell-Mann (1929- ) U.S. Physicist (Nobel Prize 1969) “Particles and Principles”

Description

What makes the UMaine Upward Bound Math Science program different is the project research model and the philosophy that students can benefit through trial and error, hands on, integrated learning in conjunction with professionals in the field. Math Science students gain practical, hands-on research experience working with graduate students or faculty on the UMaine campus. Students often come away from the summer program more aware of how to socially interact with peers and expectations in a professional scientific higher educational setting. We give students experiences, language and skills needed to succeed in higher education, as well as the help and guidance needed to get there confidently.

 

The UMaine Upward Bound Math Science Program is unique. Students experience diversity and positive transition (learning to live on a college campus) in ways they may not have known. Whether it is the city to country transition, or meeting someone from another ethnicity, barriers (fear of the unknown) can be broken with students learning to accept a wider group of peers and ideas. Students also meet hundreds of other students with the same academic goals, and have the security of an encouraging academic community supporting them. They have a community of teachers and peers with whom they can engage in intellectual conversation or have someone with whom they can just be silly.