HHS Junior Selected For Columbia Science Honors Program

Congratulations to HHS junior Alistair Xhayet who was selected to participate in the Columbia University Science Honors Program (SHP). The SHP is a highly selective program for high school students who have a strong interest in the sciences and mathematics. The SHP holds classes at Columbia from 10:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. on Saturdays throughout the academic year.

Courses are primarily in the physical, chemical, biological, behavioral, and computing sciences; and instructors are scientists and mathematicians who are actively engaged in research at the University. After taking an initial entrance exam, Alistair selected four areas of study and received his first choice –Particle Physics- Exploring Matter and Force.

For more than a century, physicists have probed the inner workings of the atom in order to understand the fundamental constituents of matter and the forces that act between them. This course, according to the SHP website, will present an overview of the Standard Model of particle physics, together with possible new physics at the high energy frontier.

Topics will include: high-energy particle accelerators and detectors, quarks and leptons, matter and antimatter, unification of forces, neutrinos, the Higgs boson and the LHC, supersymmetry, and string theory. There will also be a brief discussion of special relativity, quantum mechanics, and the role of symmetries in physics. Recent observations, including the discovery of the Higgs particle, neutrino oscillations, and evidence for dark matter in the universe, will also be explored.

Over 4,000 high school students applied to the program and roughly 10% were chosen with class sizes of roughly 15 people. Alistair is excited to be a part of this program and hopes to return for next year’s program as well.

In addition to the Columbia Science Honors Program, he spent his summer months with a group of scientists and pediatric doctors who are studying the potential link of depressants in expectant mothers with autistic children.

In the winter months, Alistair is an avid ski racer –the ultimate combination of physics, math and science.