About

The Sally Ride Science Academy, operated by UC San Diego's Division of Extended Studies, offers a menu of week-long STEAM workshops for high school students each summer, with a small number of four-week asynchronous courses available as well. Named for Sally Ride — the first American woman in space, who cofounded the organization in 2001 and spent her post-NASA career advocating for STEM access and diversity — the Academy has operated as a nonprofit within UC San Diego since 2015 and is now in its 25th year. High school workshops are open to students in grades 9–12.

Courses span a wide range of STEAM fields, including marine biology, astrophysics, computer science, architecture and urban planning, pharmaceutical science, filmmaking, and more. In-person sessions run daily from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at UCSD's Extended Studies facility in La Jolla; live online and asynchronous options are also available, with virtual courses open to students outside San Diego. Instructors are drawn from UCSD's faculty and research community, with a strong contingent affiliated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Each completed course earns 1.5 UC San Diego Extension units; the four-week asynchronous courses earn 4 units. Enrollment is open — there is no competitive application — and students can register for multiple courses across the summer. Course fees run approximately $200–$495 depending on the offering, and need-based scholarships are available.

The Academy is not a research internship or a selective academic program, and families should approach it as enrichment rather than a credential. What it offers is genuinely solid: access to UCSD-affiliated instructors, hands-on STEAM exposure across an unusually broad range of fields, and the flexibility to sample multiple areas in a single summer. For San Diego–area students in particular, it is an affordable and accessible way to explore STEM interests in a university setting without the commitment of a longer residential program.