The 2025 Simons Puerto Rico Winter School in Computational Physics
The Simons Puerto Rico Winter School in Computational Physics is a Simons-funded collaboration among the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (UPRRP), Brown University, and the Simons Flatiron Institute to host a one-week institute on the UPR Rio Piedras campus during which UPRRP undergraduates will learn about a wide range of computational physics topics from leading experts.
The school consists of general interest lectures from both Brown and UPRRP faculty followed by computational practica during which students can engage in programming activities and interact with practitioners. Initial lectures will focus on the microscopic world of quantum, chemical, and biophysics before transcending scales to more macroscopic topics in astrophysics, high energy physics, and climate physics.
In addition to exposing students to the breadth of computational physics research, the school also serves as an opportunity to connect UPRRP undergraduates with researchers who can subsequently serve as research mentors.
UPRRP Professor of Physics Carlos Vicente said that after excluding last year’s summer interns, they wanted to provide opportunities to new students, and there were 24 students from which to choose. Of those 24, most would have been good candidates for the summer internship, and they are currently finalizing the selection of eight candidates for the Summer at Brown Internship. Carlos relates that there were hurdles to overcome in the Winter School; for example, the group had to move to a different location due to last-minute week-long power outages at the Rio Piedras campus. The group ended up meeting at the UPR-Carolina campus. He jokes that the new location was “a hit” because the Carolina campus has “the culinary school, and the meals were quite good!”
It is common for UPR students to face hurdles like the fallout from tropical storms or frequent power outages that create logistical disasters that could quickly derail their academic pursuits. Their resilience and dedication to their goals are motivated by more than good cuisine: they are single-minded in the pursuit of the excellent physics instruction afforded by the Simons Winter School.
Each successive year, the Simons Winter School evolves to meet student needs and interests. For example, this year, the joint faculty introduced the “master class,” a private lesson with speakers that was more interactive and included questions and tasks for the students. Prof. Vicente says that “the students loved the master class, it allowed them to interact with the Brown Faculty in a workshop environment, which had high impact on student engagement.” Remarking on the talent of the UPRRP students, Prof. Vicente reports that the UPRRP students performed at a high level. He says, “There is a lot of talent. Some of these physics students have not taken advanced courses, but they are eager and quite able to grasp the main ideas.”