MIT – Institute for Educational Advancement

10 Reasons to Attend Summer Academy

��Ƶ Staff — Tue, 28 May 2019 23:29:32 +0000

It’s hard to believe June is right around the corner (where did the year go?) and we are so excited to kick off the first of three Academy sessions this summer! Whether you are new to Academy or still deciding, check out this list of reasons why you should sign up today:

Where else can you find amazing classes such as Hacker Calculus, Zoo Design, Geochemistry and Create and Rule Your Own Country? Our schedule is packed with inspiring, creative and one-of-a-kind offerings for bright students that you won’t find anywhere else. Click for the full list.
We also have three curricula! This summer, we’ll be offering Black Death, It’s Electrifying: Fueling the Future and The Penguin Predicament. These curricula are NAGC award-winning and her past offerings are always popular. They utilize problem-based learning (PBL) approach and allow students to take on roles, help solve problems and navigate real-world situations.
Our are top-notch! Not only do they provide outstanding enrichment, guided inquiry, and incredible content, but they also bring with them impressive backgrounds and experience: JPL, CalTech, USC, The Natural History Museum, The Huntington Library, UCLA, MIT and much more.
At Academy students love to learn! This isn’t summer school – it’s summer enrichment, packed with peers that value learning for all the challenge, new perspectives and flat-out fun it provides. Interested in meeting like-minded peers? Join us this summer!
Rockets, explosions and dissections – oh, my! Academy classes are hands-on and designed to promote building, construction, tinkering, art, experiments, role-playing and debate. As the saying goes, we’re not afraid to get our hands dirty – and neither should you!��
More than just classes: we offer free community events throughout the summer, such as student-led workshops, movie nights and an open house – and who knows what else might pop up? Our Learning Center is the perfect place not only for classes, but for meeting new peers and parents through fun and engaging events and activities that allow for socialization, games, free play and conversation.
New science lab! Have you heard? The Learning Center now has a science wet lab, complete with science equipment and technology, sinks, workstations and lab tables and stools. We’ll be utilizing this space for the first time this summer and couldn’t be more excited to engage in scientific inquiry in an authentic environment.��
Two words: 3D printer! Our Hacker Calculus course, running for the first time this summer, will include use of the printer and building visual models of calculus concepts and equations.There are still spots available in sessions II and III!
Here, There Be Dragons! Our Dungeons and Dragons course is running in sessions I and III and spots are still available. Historically one of our most popular courses, this class engages students in fantasy, decision making, leadership, social skills and strategy. Don’t miss out on your chance to embark on the many exciting journeys of this class!
Flexible schedule: We offer four classes per session for each of three age groups – and the choice is up to you! From just one class to a full-day option, you can customize your schedule to best meet your interests and learning needs. The Academy Team would be happy to answer any questions and discuss the different course options with you, so please don’t hesitate to give us a call: (626) 403-8900.

We look forward to seeing you at Academy this summer!

The Summer Academy application deadline is May 29. to learn more and to submit your application today.��

How Studying the Humanities Made Me a Better Scientist

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 01:19:35 +0000

This article originally appeared��on Medium and has been reposted with permission��from the author. .��

By Vinjay Vale, 2013 CDB Scholar

Today’s education system has created a rift between STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and the humanities. It may seem counterintuitive, but��studying the humanities actually makes you a better scientist. Scholars of literature, philosophy, art, and history develop an understanding and appreciation for what it means to be human. I believe it is vital for scientists to study these fields, especially in a modern world full of rapid technological advances.

Through my own research, I experienced firsthand how the humanities can help scientific research.

My Regeneron STS project was on Artificial Intelligence, specifically teaching computer programs to learn and interpret geometric structures in visual scenes. The current state-of-the-art has poor spatial and compositional understanding; for example, it classifies a leopard-print couch as a leopard despite the furniture’s lack of a head and tail. Understanding how objects are composed of their parts is critical for complex vision tasks like visual reasoning. My approach to the problem deviated from the modern paradigm of neural networks. Believe it or not, I was inspired by a 1987 psychology paper by American vision scientist Irving Biederman on the Recognition By Components theory for human vision. The theory is based on breaking down complex objects into simple spatial elements called geons.

As I worked on my project, I spent multiple weeks outside the lab where I exclusively read books and papers, on subjects ranging from art to artificial intelligence, some suggested by my mentor Kevin Ellis (who I met through the��). In philosophy class, meanwhile, I learned about Plato’s Theory of Forms, and realized that I was trying to recreate a similar understanding of the visual world in computers.

Making connections between these diverse fields helped me develop the necessary insights to make headway on my interdisciplinary problem: teaching a computer to learn and interpret visual scenes.

My work falls into an emerging category of AI research called��explainable AI — that is, building artificial intelligence systems that can articulate their thought processes to humans. This is an important area of AI safety, which merges ethics and philosophy with the more technical side of computer science.

In general, the gray area where ethics and tech meet is ripe for exploration. The underlying digital buzz permeating all aspects of our lives makes human moral judgement all the more essential. Think about social media, big pharma, self-driving cars — scientists who understand ethics have the capacity to make a positive impact on the world.��that engaging in arts, history, and literature bolsters morality, compassion, and empathy. As a pianist, composer, and avid reader, I’d certainly like to think I’ve benefited in this way.

My study of the humanities also has made me a better collaborator, by helping to sharpen my communication skills and compassion. I know that in the future I want to be part of interdisciplinary teams of scientists that tackle significant real-world problems. There’s no doubt that the interpersonal and collaborative skills that I learn from studying and discussing history, philosophy, and literature will be essential in the future.

Whether we’re talking about clinical trials (where every day human behavior can make or break a drug) or computer science (as in my experience drawn from art and psychology), understanding human nature is fundamental to doing science. When most people think about the future of humanity, they envision a universe where science has propelled our species towards a better tomorrow. But science alone is not enough to solve the world’s problems: that science needs to be done by��people who understand what it means to be human.

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College Selection and Admissions for Gifted Students: Resources

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 20 May 2015 05:50:05 +0000

Kate Duey is the Director of Admission Planning, LLC. She has worked with ��Ƶ supporting gifted students since 2009 and has a wealth of knowledge about their unique challenges and their wonderful potential. Kate has a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She earned College Counseling Certification from the University of California, Los Angeles. Kate is a member of the National Association of College Admission Counselors, the Western Association of College Admission Counselors, and the California Association for the Gifted.

Gifted students and their families face special challenges during the college search and application process. ��Ƶ parent and supporter Kate Duey recently spoke to a group of parents and students about these challenges during an ��Ƶ Gifted Child Parent Support Group Meeting.

Below��are some of the resources Kate��recommends��on college selection and admissions��for gifted students.

Online Comprehensive Resources

Books for Gifted Applicants��

Interesting Webpages for Gifted Applicants

Books for All College Applicants

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The Many Faces of Gifted: Hazem

��Ƶ Staff — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 21:22:57 +0000

By Carole Rosner

Every gifted person has a unique story. The following story is part of a series of posts depicting the many faces of gifted by highlighting gifted children and adults we have found through ��Ƶ programs. ��Ƶ’s – mentioned in this story – links gifted high school students from across the country with mentors who advance each participant’s skills through the application of knowledge and exposure to real world experiences.

Hazem Zureiqat
2001 Apprentice, U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena
Planning and Studies Department Manager, Engicon
Co-Founder and CEO, Sowt

“I had spent all my childhood in Jordan, and I was interested in pursuing my university education in the United States. I saw the Apprenticeship Program as an opportunity to get a taste of higher education and research in the U.S.,” Hazem Zureiqat, 2001 Apprentice, explained.

Hazem was in 11th grade when a colleague of his mother discovered ��Ƶ’s Apprenticeship Program. Hazem had never been to America before but travelled 20+ hours that summer to spend two weeks at Caltech with Dr. Susan Hough.

“The experience, as a whole, was memorable—from meeting and interacting with fellow high school students from the U.S., to conducting research on the campus of a prestigious university, and to experiencing the Los Angeles area. I can’t think of a program that leaves such a large impact in such a short period of time.”

Hazem said that although he’d conducted some research before this Apprenticeship, he was used to researching questions that were more straightforward than those he encountered through his Apprenticeship. “I participated in a research project that looked into the relationship between earthquake occurrences and weather conditions. The research we carried out at USGS (U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena) and the research question lacked clear, definitive answers–even among experts and practitioners. I participated in various tasks, from gathering and crunching the numbers to assisting in preparing the final PowerPoint presentation.”

After graduating high school in Jordan, Hazem did venture to America for college. He went to Macalester College and then MIT, where he received a Master of Science in Transportation from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Upon receiving his Masters, Hazem moved back home and worked at the Greater Amman Municipality (“City Hall”).

“I was part of the project management team for several major transportation infrastructure projects in the capital. After two-and-a-half years at City Hall, I moved to Engicon, an engineering consulting company, where I still work. In addition to my work in transportation consulting, I started up Sowt (www.sowt.com) last year.”

Sowt, Arabic for “voice”, is an audio-based social networking platform. “It is similar to Twitter, but instead of text, people post short audio clips. Sowt was officially launched in March 2013 and is quickly gaining momentum across the Arab world,” Hazem explained. He founded the company with his brother and sister and currently runs the venture as CEO in addition to his consulting work with Engicon.

I asked Hazem where he hopes his life will take him. “I come from a region with many challenges and opportunities. I see myself as a global citizen, doing my part to improve the quality of life for the people of Jordan and the Arab world.”

Liberal Arts vs. Research Universities for Science Students

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 29 May 2013 05:17:58 +0000

By Kate Duey

Kate Duey is a private college counselor serving gifted students. She has worked with students on traditional schooling paths, home schooled students, community college students, and students seeking accelerated or early college entrance. Kate is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. She has a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA.

Is an aspiring Ph.D. in the sciences better served by an undergraduate education at a liberal arts college or a research university? The vast majority (83%) of Ph.D.’s in science are awarded to students who graduated from research universities. The top ten research universities graduating undergraduates who go on to earn the most Ph.D.’s in the sciences are:

1. UC Berkeley
2. University of Michigan
3. Cornell University
4. M.I.T.
5. University of Wisconsin, Madison
6. Penn State
7. UCLA
8. Harvard
9. University of Minnesota
10. University of Washington

Liberal arts schools, however, educate roughly 8% of American college students, and from those 8% come 17% of Ph.D.’s in science. Thought of another way, the per capita distribution of science Ph.D.’s is twice as high in a liberal arts college as in a research university. Among the National Academy of Science members, 19% received their undergraduate education at liberal arts schools. The top ten liberal arts colleges graduating undergraduates who per capita go on to earn the most Ph.D.’s in the sciences are:

Swarthmore
Carleton
Haverford
Grinnell
Oberlin
Pomona
Bryn Mawr
Williams
Amherst
Wesleyan

Why are liberal arts colleges more productive at preparing science Ph.D.’s?

Thomas R. Cech, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry who led breakthroughs in the catalytic properties of RNA, discusses this in “”.

Dr. Cech offers several explanations for the imbalance, including:

Characteristic	Liberal Arts Colleges	Research Universities
Professorial focus	– Teaching undergraduates – Researching on a small scale – Access to professors leads to confidence and self-worth	– Teaching graduate students – Researching on a large scale – Publishing – Applying for research funding – Building national and international prominence – Fundraising for the university – Performing public service in other educational settings – Working on state-wide economic development programs – Coordinating intellectual property controls – Teaching undergraduates
Cross-training	– More requirements in multiple fields – Seeing conflicting data in multiple fields – More demands to interpret new information – More written assignments – More in-class discussions and presentations	– Fewer requirements in multiple fields – Can take more science classes
Which students gain experience as lab assistants?	Juniors or seniors who have distinguished themselves	Graduate and Postdoctoral students who are required to work as part of stipend
Lab schedules	– Fewer lab users – Lab assignments can become open-ended – Less competition for equipment – Professors typically supervise lab work	– More lab users – Lab time must be scheduled – Lab experiments are designed to be straight-forward and predictable to accommodate demands on lab time – Budget cuts intensify these issues
Professorial Contact	– Introductory classes typically have 50 students – 3rd and 4th year classes typically have 12 students	– Introductory classes typically have 500 students – 3rd and 4th year classes typically have 100 students
Fellow students	– Selectivity means stronger academic preparedness overall – Higher performing students create a culture of academic development	– Undergraduates witness higher levels of scholarship and competitiveness of academic research

As Dr. Cech illustrates, it is worth exploring all options available to you when looking for a university science program, including liberal arts universities.

What has your experience been with science programs at liberal arts or research universities? Please share in the comment section below!

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The Many Faces of Gifted: Tara

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:22:36 +0000

By Carole Rosner

Tara Chang
��Ƶ Apprentice at Avery Research Center in 2003
Senior Account Director, Visible Measures

“I would absolutely recommend students to consider the ��Ƶ Apprenticeship Program. It is not only a great opportunity to do incredible research, but it is also a great community of students and researchers. ��Ƶ was a very exciting summer experience that helped define my direction in college,” explained Tara Chang, 2003 Apprentice.

Tara learned about ��Ƶ’s Apprenticeship Program at Avery Research Center in Southern California from her high school science teacher. “I was a high school junior at Marlborough School for Girls and took a course called ‘Honors Research in Science’ led by Dr. Arleen Forsheit. She introduced me to ��Ƶ and encouraged me to undertake a science-oriented summer program.”

“As an Apprentice at Avery, I was focused on discovering what molecules were used to create the ‘stickiness’ behind Post-it® notes and how we could make it more or less adhesive. A lot of my day-to-day activities included researching potential theories, posing a thesis, and working to prove the validity of that thesis.” One of the best parts of the program for Tara was that she was also able to meet with other ��Ƶ Apprentices, and everyone would share the progress and setbacks on a whole variety of projects daily.

After her Apprenticeship and beginning her senior year in high school, Tara had a fresh understanding of herself. “I felt confident that I was able to directly impact research that could help contribute to new scientific discoveries. It was great to have hands-on experience, which is very different than learning by the book in a typical classroom!”

Tara went on to study at MIT with a major in Management Science. She spent much of her time taking courses and doing research at the renowned MIT Media Lab. Continuing her passion for science and technology after MIT, Tara and her partner placed 3rd in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Academy (DARPA) Red Balloon Network Challenge in 2009. This was a competition celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Internet, exploring the roles the Internet and social networking play in the real-time communications, wide-area collaborations, and practical actions required to solve broad-scoped, time-critical problems.

“DARPA posed a question to the general public on how effectively and how quickly social media could actually be used to solve a real time problem. DARPA placed 10 large weather balloons across the entire continental United States and then challenged teams across the world to see who could find the balloons first within a one week period. Our team utilized a mix of tracking Twitter, Facebook, and online updates from local news publications and calling local businesses to help verify the location of the weather balloons. Over 4,000 teams from all over the world entered. An MIT team of post-doctoral and graduate students won in under 9 hours. My team of only 2 came in third, also in under 9 hours.”

Tara currently lives and works in New York City. She is a Senior Account Director at a start-up called Visible Measures. “Visible Measures is an online video distribution firm that helps brands reach the right audiences in the right places with their online video content. I joined the company when they were a young start-up in Boston, MA, and in 2010 I moved out to New York City to help open the New York office. We have rapidly grown over the past two years and now have over 100 employees worldwide and have raised over $60 MM in venture capital to support our mission.”

Tara still keeps in touch with some of the other Apprentices (through social media!) and often sees them when she’s back in Los Angeles. Tara’s future looks bright, and she “appreciates that ��Ƶ has helped launch a lifelong journey of discovery and meeting new challenges in science and technology.”

Does Apprenticeship sound like an experience someone you know would like? Applications are currently being accepted for ��Ƶ’s !

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