Amanda Prestia
Rice Center for Engineering Leadership
July 26, 2021
In its second year, Rice ELITE Tech Summer camp increased enrollment to 360 students, with students joining from 27 states and three countries. The camp, which ran four consecutive weeks in June, also introduced scholarship opportunities to Houston-area students, with 60 students joining camp through this program.
Advanced engineering topics for high school students
Rice ELITE Tech Camps at Rice University seek to inspire the next generation of college students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers and engineering degrees by introducing them to advanced engineering concepts and hands-on practices. Originally launched as a pandemic-alternative to the popular ELITE day camp, ELITE Tech offers seven different tracks from a variety of technical subjects, including artificial intelligence, internet of things, Python and R coding, 3D modeling and 3D printing, data analytics, machine learning, and more.
During weekly sessions, students learned not only the skills necessary to process data or develop new codes and algorithms, but discovered the impact that technology has on real world decisions made every day by individuals, companies, and governments. In short, beyond learning how, students discovered whyprofessional engineers use these tools. Real-world topics covered include coding for human spaceflight engineering, data analysis for COVID-19 research, as well as combining data science and R coding to understand consumer markets behavior, using AI to maintain smart cities, utilizing python to predict thermal mechanical behavior, and how the internet of things drives decisions in industry.
“We are very proud of the impact made this summer by our camp,” said Ebony Wiley, Rice ELITE Tech Camp Director. “From engaging a new generation of engineering students from across the country, to offering technical internships to Rice Engineering undergraduates, we are excited to continue to grow our programming and grow young engineer’s understanding and passion for the field.”
Rice ELITE Tech employed 20 Rice engineering students as Live Instructors (LIs). These LIs worked to deliver daily live technical sessions to campers, as well as offering office hours to students who needed extra help with camp curriculum. The students had to learn technical subject matter often more advanced than their level of academic training, thereby making the live instructorships serve more as technical internships and leadership training opportunities.
New this year: Scholarships offered to Houston-area students
Thanks to a generous donation by Rice alumnus John Stanton ’62, sixty Houston-area high school students received full scholarships to attend a week of camp of their choice, as well as a laptop computer to use during camp. Scholarship recipients were able to keep their computers to use in school this fall.
“With Mr. Stanton’s gift, these local high school kids, who were first generation and/or underrepresented minority students, were able to come to a camp they otherwise wouldn’t have access to,” said Fred Higgs, RCEL Faculty Director. “This opportunity will serve these ‘Stanton Scholars’ far beyond their week-long Rice ELITE Tech Camp experience.”
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Rice ELITE (Emerging Leaders in Technology and Engineering) Camp launched in 2018 as the premier pre-college engineering summer program for high school students, with a unique focus on preparing young people to be tomorrow’s leaders in technology and engineering. Created and managed by engineering faculty from the Rice University School of Engineering and the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL), the Rice ELITE Camp is a one-of-a-kind summer experience for high school students.
The virtual edition – Rice ELITE Tech Camp – focuses on a vigorous technology track, supplemented by college and engineering leadership preparation components. Students participate in intensive live, asynchronous, and self-paced STEM learning activities, while learning to apply the engineering design process to solve real world problems. Weekly sessions include engineering leadership and hands-on curriculum allowing ELITE Tech students to employ technical, scientific, and/or analytical concepts.
Learn more about Rice ELITE Tech by visiting rcelconnect.org/elitecamp
Questions: Please contact riceelitetech@rice.edu