High school students enrolled in Ellen Fraser’s Advanced Placement Precalculus class and Rob Mancuso-Marine’s AP Computer Science classes were guests at the Della Pietra Lecture Series, held at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. The goal of the series was to bring greater awareness of recent and impactful discoveries in physics and mathematics to the Long Island community, and in particular high school and college students with an interest in the sciences.  

The students listened to Abel Prize winner Avi Wigderson from Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study deliver  a lecture titled “What is computation?” where he explained main ideas underlying the computer revolution, electronic commerce, artificial intelligence and the role of computation in understanding nature. The students also enjoyed an art exhibit on Quantum mechanics before attending the lecture. 

Ms. Fraser said the lecture series was an extraordinary opportunity for Shoreham-Wading River students to hear about recent science discoveries from a world-renowned scientist.