Why AIMS?

A Defining Moment in Education

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future technology — it is reshaping how we work, discover, create, and learn, right now. Every field, from medicine and law to art and engineering, is being fundamentally altered by AI. The students entering high school today will graduate into a world where AI literacy isn't optional — it's foundational.

Yet most students encounter AI only as a consumer: a chatbot to query, a tool to generate homework answers. Very few have the opportunity to understand what's actually happening beneath the surface — the mathematics, the algorithms, the design choices, and the profound questions about how intelligence itself works.

That gap is exactly what AIMS Summer School was created to fill. And there is a narrow, critical window to reach students at the right age — when their mathematical thinking is developing rapidly and their intellectual curiosity is at its peak — to give them the depth of understanding that will set the trajectory for everything that follows.

Not Just Another Summer Program

AIMS Summer School didn't emerge from a trend. It grew out of decades of experience in the most rigorous and respected tradition of summer mathematics education in the United States — programs like the Ross Mathematics Program, PROMYS, Mathcamp, and SUMaC. These programs have produced generations of mathematicians, scientists, and thinkers by focusing on deep inquiry over rote learning, and by trusting young people with genuinely hard ideas.

AIMS carries that tradition forward and extends it into the age of artificial intelligence. We don't teach AI as a disconnected technical skill. We teach the mathematical foundations that make AI work — linear algebra, probability, optimization, algorithmic thinking — alongside hands-on exploration of how these ideas come alive in modern machine learning systems. Students leave not just knowing how to use AI tools, but understanding why they work and where they break.

Every element of the curriculum has been carefully designed: the progression of topics, the balance between theory and practice, the interplay between mathematical depth and computational exploration. This is a program built by people who have spent careers thinking about how to teach hard ideas well.

Built on a Proven Tradition

The best summer programs don't just teach content — they transform how students think. AIMS inherits its pedagogical DNA from a lineage of programs with a track record spanning decades.

Deep Inquiry, Not Lectures

In the tradition of Ross and PROMYS, students at AIMS are guided to discover mathematical truths for themselves. We pose questions, not answers. The struggle is where the real learning happens.

Intellectual Community

The residential experience is essential. When mathematically passionate students live, eat, and think together for weeks, something powerful happens — they push each other further than any classroom alone could.

Mathematics as a Foundation

AI is built on mathematics. Rather than teaching AI as a black box, we build understanding from the ground up — so students can reason about these systems with genuine depth and confidence.

AI as an Accelerator for Learning

We don't just teach about AI — we teach students how to use AI effectively as a tool for their own intellectual growth. Learning to collaborate with AI systems is itself a critical skill for the decades ahead.

Designed by Someone Who's Been There

Dr. Jonathan Hanke

Founder & Academic Director

AIMS Summer School was created by Dr. Jonathan Hanke, who brings over 30 years of experience at the intersection of mathematics education, research, and real-world application. His journey through the world of elite math programs — first as a participant, then as a counselor, teacher, and board member of the PROMYS Foundation — gave him a front-row seat to what works in developing young mathematical minds.

Jonathan earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Princeton University in 1999 as the last doctoral student of the legendary Professor Goro Shimura. He went on to hold faculty positions at Duke University, Rutgers University, the University of Georgia, and Princeton, and conducted research at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn.

His career then moved into industry, where he worked as a Senior Data Scientist at the Metis data science bootcamp in New York City, and later held Vice President roles in data science and risk at Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Fidelity Investments. This rare combination — deep mathematical research, hands-on data science teaching, and real-world AI deployment at scale — informs every aspect of the AIMS curriculum.

Today, Jonathan teaches Data Science at Princeton's Center for Statistics and Machine Learning and works in the Natural and Artificial Minds group at Princeton's AI Lab. He has designed and taught courses in Cryptography, Data Science, and AI at Princeton for over a decade, including the freshman seminar "Artificial Intelligence and Human Society" and "Secrecy, Search and Society." He understands both the theory and the reality of AI — and how to make it accessible to bright, curious young people.

Ph.D. Mathematics, Princeton PROMYS Foundation Trustee Princeton AI Lab 10+ Years Teaching at Princeton Goldman Sachs / Citi / Fidelity 30+ Years in Math Education

What Makes AIMS Worth It

Intellectual Depth

This isn't a surface-level introduction. Students engage with real mathematics and real AI — the kind of depth that changes how they think, not just what they know.

Timing That Matters

High school is the critical window. Students who develop mathematical maturity and AI fluency now will have a profound advantage in college, careers, and their ability to shape the future.

A Launchpad, Not a Finish Line

AIMS gives students the foundation and confidence to keep going — into advanced coursework, research, competitions, and a lifelong relationship with mathematical thinking.

Why Now

The board of the Math and AI Learning Foundation — the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that hosts AIMS Summer School — believes we are at an inflection point. AI capabilities are advancing faster than educational institutions can adapt. The students who will lead in this new landscape need more than what most schools can currently offer.

We created AIMS because we believe the best response to rapid technological change is not fear or passive consumption, but deep understanding. A student who grasps the mathematics behind neural networks, who can reason about what AI can and cannot do, who has used these tools as a genuine partner in learning — that student is prepared not just for college admissions, but for the world they'll actually inherit.

This is an investment in a student's future that pays dividends for decades. The mathematical maturity, the computational thinking, the experience of sustained intellectual challenge in a community of peers — these are things that compound over a lifetime.

Commitment to Nondiscrimination

The AIMS Summer School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law in its admissions, educational programming, financial aid, employment practices, or other activities.

We recognize the existing gender and racial disparities within the mathematics community. In our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment, we highly encourage applications from individuals of underrepresented backgrounds.