The School of Information Technology is committed to community outreach to provide opportunities for high school students to learn about technology and paths that they might pursue in the future. As part of this commitment, the School of Information Technology hosted a variety of camps in summer 2023 for high school students to learn about technology and introduce them to Illinois State.
GenCyber Cybersecurity Camp
Sponsored by the National Security Agency and National Science Foundation, the GenCyber program provides cybersecurity experiences for students and teachers at the secondary level.
Twenty-six high school students from across Central Illinois participated in the on-campus camp held June 25-30. Students participated in classes on topics including fundamentals of cybersecurity and Internet-of-Things, as well as hands-on projects utilizing Raspberry Pi devices and Python programming. As space for camp was limited, an additional single-day event, GenCyber Day, was held August 11 and attended by 19 students.
Dr. Sumesh Philip, associate professor in the School of IT and director of GenCyber Cybersecurity Camp said, “There is a lack of skilled professionals in cybersecurity and related fields, and we need to address this shortage by reaching out to students in the K-12 space before they decide on a college major. Summer camps are a great way to reach high school students who may be interested in pursuing cybersecurity as a college major. We also get to showcase our own major and facilities to potential students who may join ISU.”
EARLI-STEMBirds
EARLI-STEMBirds is a collaborative effort of the Bloomington-based Western Avenue Community Center, School of Information Technology, College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST), Center for Mathematics Science and Technology (CeMaST), and the Office of Equity and Inclusion. The program immerses students from underrepresented groups in STEM activities and campus life with the goal of increasing their confidence in their abilities and their interest in pursuing a college education.
Thirty-two students resided on-campus June 17-21 and participated in a variety of classes and activities in chemistry, biology, botany, astronomy, and technology. Students also attended a presentation on online safety for adolescents/teens.
Dr. Will Lewis, assistant professor in the School of Information Technology, led the effort and observed, “It is well-documented that there are large gaps in STEM achievement and degree attainment among women and racially minoritized groups. This one-week summer camp at ISU was designed to help increase STEM career interest and self-efficacy among these groups.”
Artificial Intelligence Foundations in Autonomous Vehicles for Career Explorers
Funded by the Illinois Innovation Network and supported by the Center for Mathematics Science and Technology and University of Illinois Springfield, this program aimed to introduce artificial intelligence concepts and machine learning models through an experiential learning approach using smart cars.
More than 20 students attended the daily workshops held July 24-28. Students built smart cars using Arduino microcontrollers, created computer vision models that were trained on traffic signs, used those vision models to control the car’s behavior, and examined the performance of those models in an environment where noise could impact the car’s vision.
Dr. Elahe Javadi, associate professor in the School of IT and program leader, stated, “Artificial intelligence models have been present in different areas of our lives; examples include models used in Siri, Alexa, smart security cameras, and in the Netflix recommendation system. The models and the areas of impact are only getting stronger and wider. It is important for the future of humanity and democracy for all people to get educated in these areas so they can have informed interactions and be informed about the benefits and potential harms.”
