USC Viterbi School of Engineering has several opportunities for K-12 students to get involved in on-campus activities through VAST. VAST offers the following categories of K-12 programs:STEM Education Research Programs, STEM Opportunities for K-12 Students, Summer Programs for Students, MESA Competitions, and Past Programs.
Students and/or parents should get in touch with the contacts for the specific program of interest or contact Larry Lim for general information.
Campus Events
Middle School Literacy Achievement in Health, Math and Science Program
Supported by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, this program is affiliated with the Homeland Security Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), and the Center for Emerging Materials and Solid State Lighting with the goal of improving middle school STEM achievement. This program is located in Paramount Unified School District and is a middle school teacher training and middle school curricular intervention program focused both on STEM education and science literacy.
Contact: Dr. Gisele Ragusa ragusa@usc.edu
Inner City Civil and Environmental Engineering Academy
Supported by the National Science Foundation and located in the Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF) Charter School organization in Los Angeles, this project aims at leading middle and high school students to engineering by providing them with innovative engineering educational materials, pedagogy and curriculum that have dramatically improved the content knowledge and retention of students in engineering at USC. The focus of the academy is environmentally and technology relevant STEM secondary education and teacher professional development with an emphasis on increasing students’ science literacy.
Contact: Dr. Gisele Ragusa ragusa@usc.edu
Engineering For Health Academy
The Engineering for Health Academy (EHA) is a small learning community supported by the State Department of Education through the Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center (BMES ERC) within the context of the larger comprehensive high school at Bravo Medical Magnet High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The EHA offers grades 9 through 12 innovative courses of study infused with societally relevant health related engineering technologies curricula.
Contact: Dr. Joseph Cocozza cocozza@usc.edu
Website: http://bravoweb.lausd.k12.ca.us/eha.php
Pedagogical Games
Supported by a National Science Foundation Creative IT award and located at LEMA High School in Los Angeles, the PedGames program will study STEM learning in the context of creating computer games (game-making). Project goals include (a) developing a collaborative game making curriculum where standard based math content is effectively integrated; (b) identifying scaffolding opportunities, such as promoting student collaboration and reflection through online discussions and wiki-based journaling; (c) developing instructional assessment tools based on discourse analysis and course topic ontology that will monitor student progress over time according to the game making project goals.
Contact: Dr. Jihie Kim jihie@isi.edu
Website: http://ai.isi.edu/pedtek/pedgame.html
MESA Program
MESA is a program of the Viterbi School of Engineering (under contract with the University of California) that serves educationally disadvantaged students and, to the extent possible by law, emphasizes participation by students from groups with low rates of eligibility for four-year colleges. MESA provides a pipeline of academic services from elementary through university level to increase the number of these students who graduate with degrees in math, science, and engineering. The USC MESA program serves its students with innovative academic, college and career counseling and hands-on science programs, which are great opportunities to compete, show off and meet new friends.
Contact: Larry Lim llim@usc.edu
Website: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/ced/precollege
Science for Life Elementary STEM Program
Supported by the National Science Foundation through the Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center (BMES ERC) the Science for Life Program is an elementary STEM program that includes modular science and engineering curricula for in-the-classroom instruction focused on biomedical engineering and specifically the BMES ERC testbeds and research thrusts. The program is linked to the California State elementary science standards and includes many hands-on engaging science activities for elementary school students in Los Angeles Unified School District.
Contact: Dr. Joseph Cocozza cocozza@usc.edu
Website: http://bmes-erc.usc.edu/
Family Science
The Family Science program is an afterschool and evening program supported by Iridescent (a non-profit community science organization). In this program, parents and students work together in engaging science activities intended to increase students’ interest in science education.
Contacts: Tara Chklovski Info@IridescentLearning.org
The USC Science, Technology and Research (STAR) Program
The USC STAR Program is a longstanding USC program in which high school students in USC research labs. In this program, high school students collaborate on BME research projects and present research seminars to faculty, mentors and peers. The students also enter posters of research in local school based competitive science fairs.
Contact: Dr. Roberta Diaz Brinton rbrinton@usc.edu
Website: http://pharmweb.usc.edu/USCSTAR/
The Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems
The Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems (CRES) is dedicated to diverse outreach. Ongoing activities include expanding the number of involved schools and museums in the LA area, developing a teacher-training programs in robotics, and putting together an introductory-level (high-school and up) robotics textbook.
Contact: Dr. Maja Mataric mataric@usc.edu
Website: http://cres.usc.edu/Activities/outreach.php
Mission Science
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering in partnership with USC's Neighborhood Outreach offers an exciting program for community children and their families. Elementary school aged students can learn about science in an informal atmosphere by working on projects, perform experiments and do hands-on science activities at ten sites in the University Park and Health Sciences Campus communities.
Contact: Larry Lim llim@usc.edu
Website: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/ced/precollege/mission
USC Chevron Frontiers in Energy Research Summer Camp
Through the USC Chevron Center for Smart Oilfields Technologies (CiSoft) , Chevron Corporation has come together with Viterbi School of Engineering collaboratively to host a summer camp for High School Juniors and High School Science and Math Teachers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The Frontiers of Energy Resources Summer Camp offers a preparatory, interactive training program focusing on various energy resources including fossil fuels, solar, biofuel, wind, nuclear energy, and information technologies for energy efficient operations. This unique program is designed to introduce outstanding high school students going into their senior year and high school math and/or science teachers to the opportunities and career possibilities available in the global energy resources industry.
Website: http://cisoft.usc.edu/frontiers-of-energy-resources-summer-camp/overview/
Summer Engineering Programs
Discover Engineering and Mission Engineering Students are introduced to various engineering disciplines through a series of lectures, academic exercises, research assignments, guest lecturers, field trips and engineering projects. Through designing, building and testing projects, students will experience a wide range of engineering applications for a variety of engineering majors, such as:
aerospace engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science.
Contact: Larry Lim llim@usc.edu
Website: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/ced/precollege/summer-engineering
Summer Programs (4-week High School Programs)
The 4-Week college immersion program offers high school students university experience in an engineering subject area of their choice. Courses are interactive, engaging and challenging, allowing students to explore new areas of study or build on their high school coursework. The three offerings in engineering and information technology include: Introduction to Video Game Design, 3D Design and Prototyping, and Discover Engineering . Benefit from academic instruction and support from faculty and staff while earning 3-units of USC elective credit.
Contact: Candace House
Website: http://summer.usc.edu/4week
FIRST Robotics
FIRST Robotics is an international competition for high school students.
This intense six-week event provides students with true hands-on opportunities to learn real world engineering skills by designing and building robots to compete with teams from schools around the world. The southern California local kick-off and robot kit distribution is held at USC in early January. The Viterbi School of Engineering also sponsors and provides support for neighborhood schools, including the Foshay Learning Center and Manual Arts High School.
Contact: Larry Lim llim@usc.edu
FIRST Website: http://www.usfirst.org
TEAMS
TEAMS is an annual paper and pencil competition giving students in grades 9-12 the opportunity to discover engineering and how they can make a difference in the world. Student teams work collaboratively and use the practical applications of math and science, with an engineering focus, to problem solve everyday world challenges. Competition themes are based on the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges.
Contact: Larry Lim llim@usc.edu
TEAMS Website: http://teams.tsaweb.org
GameDesk (now Pedagogical Games)
Located at Crenshaw High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District and Supported by the Integrated Media Systems Engineering Research Center (IMSC ERC), the Gamedesk program is a high school program in which high schoolers engage in educational game making in an art and mathematics integrated course.
Contact: Dr. James Baker jimbaker@imsc.usc.edu
Website: http://ai.isi.edu/pedtek/pedgame.html
