WISE Summer Programs: Three Months of Activities

In June the WISE program hosted 111 middle school girls for the week-long Girls in Science and Engineering (GISE) camp.  The girls came from more than 50 different schools to participate in hands-on learning opportunities in science and engineering. Focus areas included Human Genetics, Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Lego Robotics and Computer Science. A favorite camper activity was the cardboard canoe race in the Lurie Fountain on north campus. One evening during camp, parents and families are invited to campus for a pizza dinner and to participate in an UM admissions information session. One parent summed up her appreciation for the camp by reporting that her daughter has been going to summer programs for every week of the summer since she was an infant and the WISE GISE camp was the best program in which she has ever participated.

In July, the Grace Hopper Project, a computer science program for high school girls, debuted a new curriculum: All About the Music. Forty girls from several states and as far away as Hong Kong learned how their cell phones, MP3 player or videogames really worked. Their hands-on experiences included examining the hardware for the "Dance Dance Revolution" game by cutting apart the dance mats after a sizzling contest and soldering parts of a music box.  Although much of the time was spent learning about analog music, digital music and data compression, students also ate dinner in a residence hall and viewed the campus from the top of the North Campus carillon tower.

In August, WISE piloted the IBM STEM Entry Point Program, an eventful 2-day non-residential program for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing young women.  The program, held on the University of Michigan’s North Campus, allowed the nine participants to explore the world of engineers and scientists during the busy days. The participants included students who loved science and math since they were in first grade and students who only recently considered a career in science and engineering. In the Chemistry and Cosmetics workshop, students refined lotion and mixed hand scrub as smells of peach, strawberry and lemon wafted through the halls. Each one also constructed K’NEX cars to safely carry an egg down an 8-foot ramp. One of the highlights of the two days was the testing of M-Signs in the Virtual Reality Lab. M-Signs is an innovative process being developed by two College of Engineering graduate students which records the motions of someone using sign language. Participants left the campus with cool cars, vials of lotion, lab jackets and souvenirs from program sponsor IBM.

October 2006 eNews

April 2006 eNews

Archived issues of WISE eNews