Summer Students: getting professional at CERN
The summer season at CERN is known for the traditional visit of Summer Students coming from Member and non-Member States. This time, a total of 176 future scientists are spending part of their summer with us, learning and working in the laboratory.
Summer Students enjoying a lecture on particle physics by Ronald Kleiss.
Now that summer has finally arrived, you'll have noticed some changes at CERN: longer queues at the bar, faces you don't recognise in the corridors, and a breath of fresh air, but where is it coming from? The answer is easy: the Summer Students are here!
Aged between 20 and 27, this group of 176 future scientists has been selected from 600 candidates to spend their summer at the Laboratory. This year, there are 24 more 'Summies' than last following a recommendation in the 2000 5-yearly review to increase the number of students.
The Summies mainly come from Member States, but this year there are also 11 Americans, two Mexicans, an Armenian, a Turk, a Pakistani and two South Africans. Judith Ncapayi is a 26 year old South African student who came to CERN thanks to a grant from the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) paid by CERN. She is delighted with CERN because now she's got the chance to experience life at a big international laboratory.
The Summies come to CERN with a project to work on, and they each have a supervisor who follows their progress. Judith met her supervisor in South Africa before coming to CERN and when she arrived here, she knew exactly what her job would be. Other activities organized for the Summies include the Lecture Programme every morning until mid-August, a variety of hands-on workshop activities and visits to familiarize the students with CERN and its work. They also have the chance to make a presentation on their work in the Auditorium or make a poster presentation of their work project just like at the major physics conferences. And then, last but by no means least, there's a hectic social life after hours. The Summer Students meet people from all over the world, not only other students but also CERN people, and they do so in surroundings that just beckon to be discovered. So, not only do they not have time to get bored, they also have a tremendous opportunity to sample the world of particle physics - and, who knows, perhaps we have the budding scientists for the future of CERN already in our midst.
