The Summer Science Program (SSP) is an academic summer program where high school students experience college-level education and do research in celestial mechanics by studying the orbits of asteroids, biochemistry by studying the kinetic properties of enzymes, or genomics by studying antibiotic resistance. The program was established in 1959 at The Thacher School in Ojai, California. It now takes place on three astrophysics campuses, New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and University of Colorado, Boulder in Boulder, Colorado, and two biochemistry campuses, Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and Indiana University Bloomington in Bloomington, Indiana.
Example of an astrographic plate taken at SSP, in this case showing 39 Laetitia (circled in blue). Reference stars are also circled.
Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is about 10 miles (16 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide and divided into a lower and an upper valley, each of similar size, surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,637 at the 2020 census, up from 7,461 at the 2010 census.
Image: Ojai Valley Museum 2014 02
Image: Post office in Ojai, California (cropped)
Image: Bars and cafés in Ojai, California (2) (cropped)
Image: Ojai, California (20960249094) (cropped)
