ICS Summer Academy 2024: Continued Growth and Success

Two years ago, UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) set out to help high school students better understand the ever-changing and growing field of computing. “Computer science is more than just programming,” said Computer Science Professor Magda El Zarki in 2022, as she prepared to launch the inaugural ICS Summer Academy two-week course on data analytics. In 2023, the Summer Academy added a second session with another two-week course on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Expanding yet again, the 2024 ICS Summer Academy added two new course offerings, teaching 113 local high school students. During Session I, running July 9 to July 19, students could take the data analytics course or the new cryptography and security course. During Session II, running July 22 to August 2, students could take the AI/ML course or the new software engineering course.

“Many students, particularly in the cryptography and software engineering classes, discovered a new set of intriguing subjects,” says Julie Lindo, Director of Outreach for the ICS Office of Outreach, Access & Inclusion, which organizes the ICS Summer Academy. “For example, some students began with a preconceived notion, thinking ‘I’ve got a handle on software engineering — it’s just more programming with a system design in mind,’ only to realize the field’s complexity and breadth of opportunities for exploration!”

Mason Neurauter, a sophomore at Newport Harbor High School, took the data analytics course, taught by Statistics Professor Zhaoxia Yu, and the software engineering course, taught by Informatics Professor Hadar Ziv. “In both courses, we covered topics more challenging than what I was used to in high school,” he says, noting that he learned how to visualize data and observe trends using the R programming language, and he developed software for a capstone project and gained experience with GitHub. “I also ended up developing my first video game, which has led me to found a Game Development club at my high school.” He says the courses “significantly improved” both his presentation and teamwork skills.

Ceidy Hernandez, a recent Loara High School graduate who is now a first-year informatics student at UCI, also took the data analytics course. “I gained extensive knowledge in RStudio and had the unique opportunity to present in a lecture hall, which was both exciting and instructive,” she says. “Professor Zhaoxia Yu’s expertise and teaching style rendered complex concepts more accessible and engaging.” She also appreciated having this opportunity to connect with both faculty and fellow students.

In addition to professors, the ICS Summer Academy also has program assistants — current ICS students — helping with the courses. “The summer program gives students a chance to explore exciting fields in a hands-on, real-world way,” says computer science major Anastacio Ruiz. “They get to take the skills they learn and apply them towards completing a project, which makes learning feel a lot less like school and more like a cool challenge.”

This capstone project is a central component of the program. Students work in groups on a research problem, tackling questions such as how poverty affects standardized test performance or whether certain cell types are associated with the severity of COVID-19. Or they might create an app for personal fitness tracking, a food-ordering app, or a social media app for high school students to meet up and socialize.

“The students were able to attend lectures from UCI professors and work on capstone projects that covered extremely interesting topics like cryptography and artificial intelligence,” says Margaret Galvez, another computer science student working as a program assistant for Professor Michael Shindler, who taught the cryptography and AI/ML courses.

“What I enjoyed most about the program was seeing how much the students learned in such a short amount of time, collaborating with like-minded peers to create impressive capstone projects, and also having fun,” says Galvez. “It wasn’t just about hard work, as the program also incorporated team-building activities such as dodgeball and tours around the school. Overall, it was inspiring to witness their growth and enthusiasm.”

Tours of the UCI campus included visiting research labs in the School’s Departments of Computer Science, Informatics, and Statistics. Students also explored career pathways in the many related fields of computing.

“It was a really great group of students,” says Lindo, who is already working on setting up the 2025 ICS Summer Academy. “They put in a tremendous amount of effort and learned so much so quickly; it was just amazing to see.”

For more information, see the ICS Summer Academy website. If you would like to be added to the email list for notifications about future sessions, complete the interest form.

— Shani Murray