The City of Buffalo and the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences are excited to announce Mayor Byron Brown's "Mayor's Next Generation Scientists Program," which will annually provide 50 Buffalo high school students with an introduction and advanced training in computers and science.
Starting in 2009, a new two-phase program will begin for high school students interested in learning basic and advanced computer programming, database design, and web services in relation to science, business, and the law. In the first summer, students will learn the fundamentals of computer programming and then undergo more advanced training in the second year.
During their second summer, students will also have the opportunity to work in state-of-the-art facilities, including research labs at the University at Buffalo, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and Hauptman-Woodward Research facility, and in the offices at the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences and its partner institutions.
Summer 2009 Program
July 13 - August 7, 2009
Phase I:
A 4 week (half day) summer program in which 25 students are given hands on instruction on basic computer programming using a language such as Java, Perl, or PHP (to be determined). The course would consist of a combination of lectures and on-site programming assignments, in which the students receive guidance from staff as they work to achieve a particular programming assignment. Each student will receive a laptop at the beginning of the course that they will keep upon successful completion of the course. After the summer, monthly half-day workshops will be held throughout the academic year to ensure that the participants retain their programming skills.
Pictures from Summer 2009 Program
Award ceremony with Mayor Brown
Phase II:
During the summer of 2010, graduates of the Phase I basic programming course will take a second 4 week advanced course in programming that will introduce them to topics such as database programming, graphical user interface (GUI) design, web services, etc. We will incorporate into the course examples of tools that will be of use to labs and offices throughout the Center of Excellence (UB, Roswell Park, Hauptman-Woodward). These tools may include the development of databases, web-based interfaces, graphical analysis tools, etc. We will also arrange day- or week-long placement of student teams into these labs and offices, to learn first hand the computing needs of the labs and offices. We anticipate that interested students might be invited to work in the offices and research labs throughout the academic year under the supervision of a computational scientist from UB's Center for Computational Research.
Beyond Phase II:
The students completing this program will closely interact, perhaps as interns, with engineers from CTG as part of the anticipated program for the Buffalo National Center for Medical Records and Health Informatics.
Advanced students who have completed both courses may find summer positions in various labs across UB and Roswell Park.
For more information, please contact Dr. Pitman or Dr. Furlani
Dr. Bruce Pitman
College of Arts & Sciences Deans Office
Dr. Thomas Furlani
Director, Center for Computational Research