Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics


The Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics is an American residential program for mathematically talented high school students. The program has been conducted each summer since 1971, with the exceptions of 1981, 1996, and has more than 1500 alumni. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Summer Studies ran online for a shortened program of four weeks.
The program was created and is still headed by Professor David C. Kelly.

Background

The program is housed at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and generally runs for six weeks from early July until mid-August. The program itself consists of lectures, study sessions, math workshops, maxi-courses, and mini-courses.
On a typical day, students spend four hours in the morning in class, have lunch together with the faculty, and then have several hours to use at their leisure. During this "down time" students and faculty members often host quasis, where they participate in an activity as a small group, such as juggling or making sushi. They return for the "Prime Time Theorem", have dinner, and then spend three hours in a problem solving session. One of the instructors blogged the content of her class.
Many students go on to professional careers in mathematics. An occasional publication has resulted from work done at the program. Well-known alumni of the program include two MacArthur Fellows, Eric Lander and Erik Winfree, as well as Lisa Randall, Dana Randall, and Eugene Volokh. Many alumni return to the campus for a few days around Yellow Pig's Day of each year. This observance was formalized for 2006 in "Yellow Pig Math Days," which was conducted in observance of 2006 being the 34th offering of the HCSSiM Program.
The Summer Studies has been funded in the past by the American Mathematical Society and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Notable alumni