Summer Programs

The Department of Biostatistics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is proud to offer enriching summer programs for both undergraduate and high school students. These special programs provide unique opportunities for eligible students to explore biostatistics, computational biology, and data science, guided by our world-renowned faculty, researchers, and graduate students. 

For more information on contact details, eligibility, and how to apply, please visit the individual program pages below.

Summer Programs for Undergraduate Students

Summer Program in Biostatistics & Computational Biology

Are you passionate about math, statistics, and computation? Intrigued by big data? Eager to make a real impact on public health? The Summer Program in Biostatistics & Computational Biology offers undergraduate students a one-of-a-kind opportunity to delve deep into the world of quantitative methods for biological, environmental, and medical research. Work alongside Harvard’s preeminent faculty, researchers, and graduate students for six transformative weeks, and discover how you can contribute to groundbreaking advancements in biostatistics. 

Dive into the Summer Program in Biostatistics and Computational Biology.

Summer Program for High School Students

StatStart

StatStart is your gateway into the exciting world of biostatistics and computing. This one-month intensive summer course is designed for high school students from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds in the greater Boston area. Immerse yourself while programming in R, mastering basic statistics, and developing your statistical programming, computational thinking, and problem-solving skills.

With hands-on instruction for three hours a day, four days per week (Monday – Thursday), mentoring by Biostatistics PhD students, and guidance with college applications and career counseling, StatSmart is your launchpad to college biostatistics success. 

Dive into StatStart.

Data Science in Action: Machine Learning for Self-Driving Cars

With Data Science in Action: “Machine Learning for Self-Driving Cars,” the future is now. This immersive two-week program introduces high school students to the fascinating world of programming and machine learning. You’ll learn to program a neural network to recognize images and control a self-driving toy car. 

With a blend of theoretical learning and hands-on experience programming in Python, you’ll work in teams to tackle exciting challenges, from basic coding tasks to advanced image classification. Each team is equipped with a laptop, a Raspberry Pi, and the materials you’ll need to construct your car.

The course consists of a theoretical and a programming component. As a student in the program, you are introduced to different machine learning concepts and the Python programming language, which will allow you to program the concepts you have studied. You’ll receive hands-on programming and technical support from teaching assistants, plus access to additional video tutorials to help you along an unforgettable journey into the exciting future of data science.

Dive into Data Science in Action.

Learn more about all of Harvard Chan School’s exciting summer programs in public health.