The Summer Scholars Program at the University of Miami welcomes students from grades 10 and 11 while exploring their interests. Students can take a wide variety of courses, ranging from cryptocurrency to indigenous advocacy, to prepare themselves for the next stage of their education.
On July 21, the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering graduated its first cohort of Summer Scholars. Faculty experts exposed the students to the foundations of industrial engineering as well as project management and computation.
Nina DeCario Miville, Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, guided the Summer Scholars through Introduction to Project Management and Work Design Systems, teaching them problem solving and engineering design through hands-on experiences in the field and the laboratory. “I really enjoyed the team building activities with the students,” Miville said. “It was inspiring to show them their first glimpses of what engineering can be and a university education.”
“The program helps us get the message out to high school students that industrial and systems engineering is a discipline that uniquely combines business and engineering skills in one dynamic profession,” Miville said.
About the impact of the program, one of the students wrote to Miville, “Your class opened my mind to a whole new type of engineering I had never imagined I would enjoy…I cannot even begin to tell you how glad I am that I was placed in your class. You showed me industrial engineering in a way that simply fascinated me…It’s looking like industrial engineering might be in my future and I have you to thank for that. I hope to be in one of your classes again in the future.” Watch the short video students prepared at the conclusion of the course here.
The Summer Scholars also embarked on Computing and Digital Solutions for the Future, taught by Khaled Abdel Rahman and Lokesh Ramamoorthi, lecturers in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
“The students visited the University’s Innovation Lab and had fun using augmented reality (AR) glasses to explore AR.” Ramamoorthi said. “Teaching the high school students was a great experience. They were very curious not only about the course, but also the overall college experience. As their instructor, I got to learn a lot from their exploratory way of thinking.”
High school students in grades 10 and 11 interested in becoming Summer Scholars and earning college credit in 2023 can read more here. In addition to the offerings mentioned above, students can enroll in courses offered by the Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil and Architectural Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering.
