mathematics, and computer science (including the founder of Lotus Development Corporation)." The program is co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology which are affiliate universities, and by Harvey Mudd College, which is an academic partner to the program. History The program was established in 1959 at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, as a response to the launch of Sputnik 1 and the start of the Space Race. The Headmaster at Thacher was concerned that the country's top high school students were not being adequately informed and inspired about careers in the physical sciences. He decided to create an intense summer program to challenge such students and give them a taste of "doing real science," with assistance from Caltech, UCLA, Claremont Colleges, and Stanford. Financial support came from Hughes Aircraft. The first SSP was led by Dr. Paul Routly and Dr. Foster Strong. In 1960, Dr. George Abell joined the program for his first of more than 20 summers at SSP. The first year, SSP had 26 students. The students used data from the "Russian ephemeris" (Ephemyeredi Mahlikh Planyet) to find asteroids to photograph, measured the positions, and submitted the data to the Minor Planet Center at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. The students were excited to find that when they calculated the orbit of 9 Metis, their data resulted in a significant correction to the Russian ephemeris. Women were admitted starting in 1969, and reached 50% of enrollment in 2010. After 41 summers at Thacher, a significant threat to the continuation of SSP came in 2000, when Thacher School decided to use its entire campus for a different purpose. SSP alumni incorporated Summer Science Program, Inc., solicited funding largely from the alumni community, and found a new host campus. Beginning in 2000, SSP was held at the Happy Valley School, located just across the Ojai Valley from The Thacher School. In 2007, Happy Valley School was renamed Besant Hill School. With the alumni rescue complete, they soon began looking to expand the program. In 2003 a second campus opened at New Mexico Tech in Socorro with the support of New Mexico Tech, Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, and others. In 2010, the California campus moved to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, then in 2015 to University of Colorado Boulder. In 2016, following three years of planning and preparation, a pilot