UCF Hosts Academically Competitive Summer Institute

Dedicated to providing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related summer opportunities for middle and high school students, UCF will be offering the Summer Institute beginning in June. The Summer Institute offers tracks in Biology and Computer Science, as well as a Programming Competition institute. Each track offers a mix of activities designed to maximize learning through hands-on, individualized instruction with outstanding instructors.

Biology Field Institute: July 20 – 24, 2015

The Biology Field Institute is a one week program for rising junior and senior high school students interested in seeking further understanding of Central Florida’s diverse ecosystems, from Orlando to the east coast.

This exciting program will introduce students to field techniques and experimental approaches used in water quality assessment, vegetation monitoring, forest ecology, and studies of gopher tortoises and marine turtles. Throughout the program, students will gain hands-on experiences with professional biologists in a fun and educational setting.

The institute includes an overnight field trip to learn about nesting marine turtles alongside an experienced marine turtle biologist, and an opportunity to interact with both UCF graduate students, and undergraduate interns studying marine turtle ecology and conservation. In addition, students will spend one day in the lab learning basic data analysis, and the importance of communicating science.
Programming Competition (residential): June 15 – 26, 2015

This two-week program is designed for gifted and high-achieving students who have a background in Computer Science with an interest in algorithms and programming competitions. The Programming Competition offers lectures on data structures and algorithms commonly seen in competitions, several practice competitions, problem reviews of those competitions, and personalized coaching from coaches and members of UCF’s acclaimed Programming Team. The camp is specifically designed to help students improve their performance in contests such as USACO, TopCoder, CodeForces, and eventually the ACM ICPC.
Computer Science Gaming: July 6 – 24, 2015

The Computer Science Gaming program is a three-week program for gifted and high-achieving students who have an interest in learning the foundations of computer science and computer technology. The program offers a mix of activities designed to maximize learning through hands-on, individualized instruction with outstanding instructors. It is also designed to expose students to broader topics in computer science through the distinguished lectures series where researchers speak about computing from pragmatic and academic points of view.

·         Early applications for the Biology and Computer Science programs are due April 24.

·         Early applications for the Programming Competition are due March 15.

·         Final applications are due May 22 for the Biology and Computer Science programs and April 30 for the Programming Competition.

For more information and to register for the Summer Institute and any of its programs, click here.