Research Science Institute

The Research Science Institute (RSI) is one of the most prestigious international summer research programs in the United States for high school students. RSI is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and hosted by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Founded by Admiral H.G. Rickover in 1984 (and originally called the "Rickover Science Institute" through the 1986 session), RSI is now run by CEE president Joann P. DiGennaro. Approximately 80 students from several countries (generally, around 50 from the United States and 30 from other countries) are selected to participate in the six-week summer program. RSI has connections to the Department of Defense, and three RSI positions are reserved for overseas Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) students. The first week of RSI is composed of tutorials and seminars on contemporary research of interest, while the remainder is centered on individual research projects through mentors in the Boston area. The RSI Distinguished Lecture Series, which continues throughout the program, brings distinguished professors, scientists, and industry leaders in STEM, including a number of Nobel laureates, to speak to RSI students in evening lecture-style format. In recent years, the RSI Distinguished Lecture Series has included Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dudley Herschbach, Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Phillip Sharp, evolutionary biologist Pardis Sabeti, mathematician and chess master Noam Elkies, Akamai Technologies co-founder and CEO Tom Leighton, and mathematician Michael Sipser. RSI's staff is generally composed primarily, if not entirely, of alumni, with recent Rickoids (RSI alumni, from the Institute's original name) filling in as counselors and TAs and older alumni taking administrative, lecturing, or tutoring positions. RSI is currently led by Dr. Amy Sillman and Albert Wang.

...
Wikipedia