4-D: An adjective that refers to being able to define something in terms of four dimensions: height, width, depth and time. 

abstraction: An idea or concept, as opposed to a concrete example. 

agriculture: The growth of plants, animals or fungi for human needs, including food, fuel, chemicals and medicine. 

astrophysics: An area of astronomy that deals with understanding the physical nature of stars and other objects in space. People who work in this field are known as astrophysicists. 

biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things. 

black hole: A region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation (including light) can escape. 

calculus: The branch of mathematics that deals with things that are changing, such as amounts that will be accumulating or rates of speed (acceleration). 

cosmic: An adjective that refers to the cosmos — the universe and everything within it. 

dimension: Descriptive features of something that can be measured, such as length, width or time. 

equation: In mathematics, the statement that two quantities are equal. In geometry, equations are often used to determine the shape of a curve or surface. 

error: (In statistics) The non-deterministic (random) part of the relationship between two or more variables. 

field: An area of study, as in: Her field of research is biology. 

geometry: The mathematical study of shapes, especially points, lines, planes, curves and surfaces. Geometry can also refer to the defined shape of something (such as it had a very spherical geometry). 

grad school: Short for graduate school. A university program that offers advanced degrees, such as a Master’s or PhD degree. It’s called graduate school because it is started only after someone has already graduated from college (usually with a four-year degree). 

high school: A designation for grades nine through 12 in the U.S. system of compulsory public education. High-school graduates may apply to colleges for further, advanced education. 

internship: A training program where students learn advanced professional skills by working alongside experts. People who participate in these training programs are called interns. Some intern in medicine, others in the sciences, journalism or business. 

mature: (adj.) Connoting an adult individual or full-grown and fully developed (non-juvenile) form of something. (verb) To develop toward — or into — a more complex and full-grown form of something, be it a living thing, a technology or an idea. 

mechanics: The study of how things move. 

mentor: An individual who lends his or her experience to advise someone starting out in a field. In science, teachers or researchers often mentor students or younger scientists by helping them to refine their research questions. Mentors also can offer feedback on how young investigators prepare to conduct research or interpret their data. 

middle school: A designation for grades six through eight in the U.S. educational system. It comes immediately prior to high school. Some school systems break their age groups slightly different, including sixth grade as part of elementary school and then referring to grades seven and eight as “junior” high school. 

milestone: An important step on the road to stated goal or achievement. The term gets its name from the stone markers that communities used to erect along the side of the road to inform travelers how far they still had to go (in miles) before reaching a town. 

model: A simulation of a real-world event (usually using a computer) that has been developed to predict one or more likely outcomes. Or an individual that is meant to display how something would work in or look on others. 

motivator: A thing, event or idea that encourages an animal (or human) to behave or act in a particular way. 

NASA: Short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Created in 1958, this U.S. agency has become a leader in space research and in stimulating public interest in space exploration. It was through NASA that the United States sent people into orbit and ultimately to the moon. It also has sent research craft to study planets and other celestial objects in our solar system. 

online: (n.) On the internet. (adj.) A term for what can be found or accessed on the internet. 

perseverance: The quality that allows someone to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult 

Ph.D.: (also known as a doctorate) A type of advanced degree offered by universities — typically after five or six years of study — for work that creates new knowledge. People qualify to begin this type of graduate study only after having first completed a college degree (a program that typically takes four years of study). 

physics: The scientific study of the nature and properties of matter and energy. Classical physics is an explanation of the nature and properties of matter and energy that relies on descriptions such as Newton’s laws of motion. Quantum physics, a field of study that emerged later, is a more accurate way of explaining the tiny motions and behavior of matter about the size of electrons. A scientist who works in such areas is known as a physicist. 

quantum: (pl. quanta) A term that refers to the smallest amount of anything, especially of energy or subatomic mass. 

quantum mechanics: A branch of physics dealing with the behavior of matter on the scale of atoms or subatomic particles. 

relativity: (in physics) A theory developed by physicist Albert Einstein showing that neither space nor time are constant, but instead affected by one’s velocity and the mass of things in your vicinity. 

role model: Someone whose skill, behavior and/or personality makes them an inspirational ideal, the type who inspires others to model themselves after this person. 

simulation: (v. simulate) An analysis, often made using a computer, of some conditions, functions or appearance of a physical system. A computer program would do this by using mathematical operations that can describe the system and how it might change over time or in response to different anticipated situations. 

star: The basic building block from which galaxies are made. Stars develop when gravity compacts clouds of gas. When they become hot enough, stars will emit light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The sun is our closest star. 

technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts. 

theoretical: An adjective for an analysis or assessment of something that based on pre-existing knowledge of how things behave. It is not based on experimental trials. Theoretical research tends to use math — usually performed by computers — to predict how or what will occur for some specified series of conditions. Experimental testing or observations of natural systems will then be needed to confirm what had been predicted. 

theoretical physics: A branch of physics that uses mathematical models to understand the nature and properties of matter and energy. A scientist who works in that field is known as a theoretical physicist 

theorist: A scientist whose work relies on mathematical analyses and computer models of events and physical objects or phenomena — not on experiments that test situations in the real world or that use testing and observations to collect data. 

undergraduate: A student who is attending college but has not yet graduated. 

vector: (in medicine) An organism that can spread disease, such as by transmitting a germ from one host to another. (in biology) A material used to introduce the genes of some outside organism, often for genetic engineering, immunology or other purposes.