NJIT Hosts Summer STEM Boot Camp for Tech-Minded High Schoolers
Nearly 100 high school rising juniors and seniors spent their July days at New Jersey Institute of Technology, where they’re studying advanced topics such as cybersecurity, engineering, entrepreneurship, neuroscience and robotics.
The students came from 64 school districts throughout the Garden State, across all backgrounds and income levels, for the program called StemX produced by NJIT’s Center for Pre-College Programs. To attend, they had to maintain a B grade-point average at their school and write an application essay. About a third of the students received scholarships due to financial need.
“The Center for Pre-College Programs sponsors initiatives that are designed to spark students’ interest and engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Our STEMx summer program offering is an example of how we help students understand the important connections between these disciplines and how they are used to solve problems in an increasingly complex global community,” Executive Director Jacqueline Cusack said.
The programs have been running since the 1970s, but they usually attract younger students, explained Kerry Eberhardt, director for program operations and outreach at the center. Changing the focus to immersive one-week sessions, instead of schedules similar to high school, has made the difference to recruit older students this summer, she noted.
A group in the event’s third week learned about neuroscience. Serhat Sen, an instructor from Bergen County Academies, showed how a head-mounted device can measure your attention span on a scale of 0-100. Students tinkered with it until they understood how to control their own thoughts to register low or high values. Then they could program it to turn a light circuit on with a high value, or off with a low value. The final challenge was to program a prosthetic hand that has a separate motor for each finger. By concentrating hard enough, but not too hard, students were able to toggle the motors and thus control the finger movements individually.
Applied engineering technology called the Maker Experience was also offered in the third week. Highlighting NJIT’s Makerspace — the largest of its kind in New Jersey — the experience showed students the practical value of the Makerspace, moving beyond tours to demonstrate how its technologies can be combined to realize designs. With tutoring instruction provided by NJIT electrical engineering student Valmik Revankar, students prototyped a catapult game through some of the Makerspace technologies. This hands-on experience illustrated the Makerspace's potential to bring ideas to life.
Students also had the opportunity to explore the fascinating world of materials science, gaining hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies and techniques that are shaping the future of engineering and innovation.
Another group during the event’s first week learned about building a new business from Kathleen Naasz, research professor and director of undergraduate student entrepreneurship, in the university’s Martin Tuchman School of Management.
“We've been very flexible in terms of making sure that we're meeting their needs. Day one, we started with some design thinking principles. They built a prototype of a product. We gave them the framework of creating a new hydration device ... Now, day three, they have their own businesses in mind,” Naasz said.
A junior and first-generation American, Esther Paul, said she enjoyed the entrepreneurship training and dreams of giving back to her Newark neighborhood by becoming a teacher. She’s even considering opening her own school someday.
Paul currently attends North Star Academy - Lincoln Park. “My school was really pushing us to do something this summer. When I saw the NJIT opportunity, I jumped on it,” she said. “So far I've learned that being an entrepreneur. is having a risk-taking mindset, being able to push through different challenges and just thinking how to make things better. You don't necessarily have to make something new because there's already so much, but you can make things better every day and just make things easier for people. That's what keeps the market going.”
That week ended with a pitch showcase, judged by Naasz and recent alumni. There’s also optimism that some of the students will choose to become Highlanders after high school, Naasz added. “My main hope is that I inspire them to look at the world differently, to really see opportunities to identify problems and try to solve that. If they get exposure to NJIT, and it's a school that they were not aware of and they see a fit, that's great.”
Another expert, Krista Valenuela, talked to students in week two about cybersecurity. Valenzuela is bureau chief for cyber threat outreach and partnerships at NJCCIC, a government-run technical organization that often partners with NJIT. Her office in Trenton has seen a fair amount of NJIT interns and alumni pass through in their careers.
Students who attended any of the first three weeks received access to the fourth week for free. That’s when they study college preparation. “That fourth week, we're going to help you come up with a plan. So whether you're a rising junior or a rising senior, wherever you are, we're going to help you understand how to navigate the college application process,” Eberhardt said. “How do you choose a major? What are some things that you need to be able to understand, that you'll be facing as a STEM major or going into a potential STEM career? What are some of the challenges? How do you prepare for those challenges?”
“This program leverages the power of partnerships,” she continued. “I think when you consider that we are an R1 research institution, the faculty are very focused on research, but they're also focused on outreach about that research. They want to inspire and inform students, and we want to give pre-college students access to the amazing things that happen at this university.”
