PRIMES: Program for Research in Mathematics, Engineering and Science for High School Students

In mathematics you don't understand things, you just get used to them.
- John von Neumann

MIT PRIMES is a free, year-long after-school research program serving high school students who live within driving distance from Boston. Program participants work with MIT researchers on exciting unsolved problems in mathematics, computer science, and computational biology.

Thirty PRIMES students present their projects at the Second Annual PRIMES Conference at MIT

 

William Kuszmaul is giving a presentation  

Message from Chief Research Advisor Pavel Etingof

Welcome to PRIMES!

Mathematics is a unique and wonderful way of life. The goal of PRIMES is to allow high school students to discover the beauty of being a research mathematician, so that more of them choose mathematical research as their profession. In this program you will learn, through a first-hand experience, how mathematicians ask and answer questions, look for patterns and form conjectures, discuss their work and collaborate with each other, read and write mathematical texts, make and correct mistakes, feel frustrated and elated, give talks, and use sophisticated computer systems. You will also be able to discover how mathematics can be applied to real life problems, for example, in molecular biology (in particular, in cancer research). And hopefully you will experience the unforgettable thrill of proving a new theorem or solving a previously unsolved problem! This will develop into a lifelong passion for mathematics. I promise.

We look forward to receiving your application!

For more detail, see

Q&A with the Chief Research Advisor

How to Succeed in Mathematical Research

World-class research … in the 10th grade (MIT News article)

 

 

To sustain PRIMES, we need your help! Please designate your gift to MIT "Math Department Special Needs (3879500)" with a note "For PRIMES." We appreciate your support!

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