Summer Individual Workshops Schedule

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BACK T0 SUMMER WORKSHOPS

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	​​1:30-2:30	​3:30-4:30	​5:00-6:00
​​June 18	​	Forensics and Crime​
​June 19	​Geology & Radiometric Dating​​
​June 25		The Psychology of Happiness (1)​
​June 26		The Psychology of Happiness (2)​
July 11		​	​Physics of Engineering devices (1)
​July 12		​	​​Physics of Engineering devices (2)
​July 13		Thermodynamics: Chaos and Disorder
​July 23		Fossils
July 24	Gravity and Orbits		What's in a Computer? (1)
July 31	Rotation and Stellar Collapse		What's in a Computer - how to build one? (2)
Aug 6		​Science of Climate Change (1)​
​Aug 7		Science of Climate Change (2)
Aug 11			Economics - The power of Markets (1)
Aug 12			Economics - The power of Markets (2)
Aug 13	Pain and Pain Relief (1)​		Herpetology
Aug 14	Pain and Pain Relief (2)​​		Natural Selection and Genetics

Summer Individual Workshop Descriptions

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Forensics and Crime
Taught by Ishanvi Kommula

An introduction to applications and methods used to extract various types evidence from crime scenes and how to analyze them. This workshop will provide an overview on forensics as it is the most important aspect of a criminal investigation, using science to allow authorities to accurately identify a lead suspect. From shoeprints and soil composition to blood spatter patterns and DNA electrophoresis, we’ll go over how a real forensic analyst pieces together the scene of the crime.

Geology and Radiometric Dating
​Taught by Ishanvi Kommula

An explanation of how fossils and types of rocks are dated using the laws of geology and radiometric dating. In this workshop, we will go over how paleontologists are able to determine the age of rocks and fossils with isotopes and relative dating, allowing them to establish patterns of evolution. We’ll also talk about important rules in geology like superposition, cross-cutting, intrusions, and unconformities.

The Psychology of Happiness
Taught by Iona Xia

With the constant pursuit of success, sometimes people put their happiness off to the side. Due to this, depression rates have skyrocketed in the past few decades. However, now many people wonder what it actually takes to be happy? Fancy cars? A well-paying job? In this course, we discuss the psychology behind the pursuit of happiness, and the changes that are necessary to have a happier lifestyle. ​

Thermodynamics: Chaos and Disorder
Taught by Eric Ju

The world is a chaotic and disorderly place. From cooling down a cup of coffee to why your room or desk is never organized, thermodynamics allows us to understand how energy affects the world around us. We will first go over the history of thermodynamics, and then we will cover how to represent energy and work using units. Finally, we will investigate different scenarios and see how thermodynamics plays out in these scenarios.

Fossils 
Taught by Varun ​Kumaravelu

A quick introduction to the world of fossils as we discuss recent development and discoveries in the field of paleontology, as well as the process of discovering fossils and a rundown of the fossil record and history

Gravity and Orbits
Taught by Daphne Guo

An introduction to Newton's theory of gravitation and how it describes planetary and stellar orbits.

Rotation and Stellar Collapse
Taught by Daphne Guo

An investigation of stellar collapse, using the principles of rotational physics.

Heredity  
Taught by Aseem Rajopadhye

​A dive into the field of genetics, this workshop will give attendees insight into how genes work, how they are passed on, their defects and problems, and potential job opportunities in this promising area of science

The Science of Climate Change
​Taught by Iona Xia

Climate change is one of the most important issues in the world right now. In this class, we will cover the science of greenhouse gases and the role of aerosols on the energy balance and climate. We will also cover how to possibly mitigate climate change.  

Pain and Pain Relief
​Taught by Irene Tian

A scientific explanation of how and why we experience pain, known factors that influence pain, and how we can control our experience of pain and pain relief

Economics: The power of markets
​Taught by Ashish Kashyap

Economics is the science of unlimited wants and limited resources. We make economics decisions every day: what to buy, whether to work or play, what to study. We respond to markets all the time: Economics is all around us. Learning economics will improve your ability to make decisions and see the unseen. ​

Herpetology
​Taught by Varun ​Kumaravelu

Creatures that slither and crawl once dominated fledgeling continents, and gave rise to most recognizable modern life. Learn about the most basal vertebrates in existence, and their relevance to humanity.

Natural Selection and Genetics
​Taught by Varun Kumaravelu

How did life arise on Earth and take on all the complexity that characterizes it today?

What's in a Computer? (Part 1)
​Taught by Justin Lo

Have you ever wondered what's in the mysterious black box under your desk or in your Mom's laptop? Have you had someone thrown the words CPU, GPU, RAM at you but have no idea what they mean? This course is for you. This course goes through all the basics of what's inside that computer of yours and what makes it light up and be useful.

What's in a Computer - How to build one? (part 2)
Taught by Justin Lo

Building a desktop is fun, cost effective, and satisfying. Now that you know all the basics of what's inside a desktop computer, do you wonder how all the parts go together? This course will cover all the cabling, screws, mounting and all that weird stuff, putting together everything and making it all work (including OS installation or else your precious black box will instead be your precious black brick). Congratulations, after this course you will be able to build and run a weird black box of your own, well sortof. What an achievement!

About our Workshops

Supporting our Local Hospitals Battling COVID-19 
In these challenging times, we've decided to offer our spring workshops online this year and we will donate the proceeds to hospitals on the front lines battling the COVID-19 crisis.

Expert Instructors
Almost all of our instructors are high schoolers who are alumni of the Kennedy Science Olympiad team and have competed at the Science Olympiad National Tournament. We're excited to share our passion for science with younger students through these workshops.

Wide Range of Topics
In parallel to the many different scientific​ disciplines explored in Science Olympiad, we're excited to be offering 22 different workshops covering a wide range of different topics and fields. Feel free to sign up for whichever ones interest you!