UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science’s summer camps are back, this time in person, for more hands-on learning and creating with virtual reality and wearable technology. Both camps are geared toward girls but open to participants of all identities.
Design Your Own Reality, the computer science and engineering camp, is open to anyone entering seventh through ninth grade and will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from June 13 to 17 in the Westgate Building on Penn State’s University Park campus. Campers will explore virtual and augmented realities, learn how these technologies are rooted in computer science and engineering, and discover career options to advance such ideas even further. The camp will also include a panel of renowned women computer scientists at different stages in their careers.
“AR and VR are predicted to be the next wave of apps for Internet users and are already transforming how we interact with the world,” said Ting He, associate professor of computer science and engineering and one of the camp’s faculty leaders. “I am excited not only to introduce the science and technologies behind the scenes for these apps but also to see what the younger generation has in mind for new capabilities and use cases enabled by such apps.”
Learn more about the Design Your Own Reality camp and register here.
The Anything is POssible for Girls in Electrical Engineering (APOGEE) camp is open to anyone entering seventh through 12th grade and will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from July 25 to 29 at Penn State’s University Park campus. Campers will have the opportunity to learn about the electronics and signals that surround us every day, interact and work with women electrical engineers and students, and be introduced to the hands-on, do-it-yourself culture by building and creating. The camp theme is wearable technology, which includes fitness trackers, smart clothing and more. As with the Design Your Own Reality camp, the APOGEE camp will include a panel of accomplished women engineers from around the world.
“I am very excited to be getting back to an in-person APOGEE camp this summer,” said Tim Kane, professor of electrical engineering and APOGEE’s faculty leader. “I’m looking forward to the sound of the first radio a camper builds, the smell of solder and hot-glue and the creative projects that always surprise and delight me. I’ve missed seeing the spark of genius in the eyes of all our campers — and I’ve missed seeing the faces of our campers’ parents when I explain to them how amazing their kids are!”
Learn more about the APOGEE camp and register here.