The campers have been dropped off and settled in their cabins.  Immediately following started the Sigma Quest.  All teams ran through 10 stations jumpstarting their creative imagination while getting to know their fellow campers.  Team posters were created.

Lilianne enlightened all with the lecture on learning vs instinctive interactions. Lecture carried a cautionary message to beware of our animal nature getting the best of us and to expand our knowledge for further protection. 

The last day of Sigma Camp was full of  excitement, radical change of schedule several times during the day added to the mystery.

It is Friday at SigmaCamp.  This is a bitter-sweet moment.  All semilabs have produces spectacular conclusions to their week-long run.  Soap bubble fights in topology, chemistry of chocolate in cooking, Big blow up in chemistry, glowing proteins in biology, interrogations in Biosensors, jamming radios in physics, and something outstanding being soldered in radiation, Rubic’s cube demonstration and calculations in Groups, and other stellar performances all over the camp.

Lectures today were very animated; Lawrence Hobbie's pro-GMO lecture raised some interesting ethical questions. Igor Zaliznyak's lecture on Archimedes and calculus was also received very well, as was Vicka Bershadsky's one on the power of illusion. Meanwhile, Pavel Etingof talked to us about the many faces of a dodecahedron.

Today SigmaCamp had some really interesting morning lectures; we talked about the neurobiology of maximizing intelligence (given by Lilianne Mujica-Parodi); an invitation to geometry (given by Alexandre Kirillov, Sr.); the discovery of new drugs (given by Mark Lukin); chaotic introduction to chaos theory (given by Alexei Tkachenko); and non-euclidean geometry (given by Slava Gerovitch). Semilabs were as interesting as ever; campers delved even further into their respective fields, finding new things to learn every step of the way.

Another fun day of SigmaCamp has come and gone successfully! We had an immensely exciting day today. Lectures went incredibly well (especially the one on pain perception), including the interesting lecture given by Maxim Kontsevich (renowned mathematician, Fields Medal winner). Despite the very hot weather, all campers enjoyed all of their incredible Semilabs. Sigma campers were given a bit of a treat today; we had a picnic by the lakefront during lunch!

Today was a wonderfully exciting first day of camp! After several interesting lectures (including ancient alchemy), the campers moved on to their very first Semilabs! The kids learned all about the color blue; the science of cooking; robotics; cells and DNA, and many other fascinating lessons. Most exciting of all, today we had a celebrity in our midst! We were lucky enough to be able to have an informal talk session with famous mathematician Maxim Kontsevich, Fields Medal winner.

Welcome to SigmaCamp! Sunny weather + fun-loving counselors = an amazing day! Campers finally got to meet their counselors, and got to know their teammates through character- and team-building stations; aka the infamous SigmaQuest (organied by our very own Andrey Khesin). The campers had to assemble a real camping tent; escape a lecture room with only wooden box clues to guide them; play scientific charades (much more fun than normal charades, especially for the scientists); and they even had time for a friendly game of soccer!

 Here we will be posting news and photos from SigmaCamp 2015.

Stay tuned!