CCR offers an extensive program in Education, Outreach, and Training, including a summer workshop for high school students, a program in computational science for middle school and high school teachers, and a graduate certificate program in computational science.

K-12

Education, outreach and training have been an important component of CCR's mission since its inception, with on-going K-12, undergraduate and graduate level programs. In terms of K-12 outreach, CCR each year runs the Eric Pitman Annual Summer Workshop in Computational Science. Every summer, high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors spend two weeks learning computer programming and its application to problems in chemistry, visualization, and most recently bioinformatics. High school students have not been the only beneficiaries of this program. Through NSF REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) grants, CCR has supported many undergraduates over the years to help with the development of the workshops, including course material in Unix, Perl, MYSQL, C++, and CGI.

Based on the success of CCR's summer workshops and desire to have a broader impact on science and math education at the high school level in WNY, CCR, in collaboration with Dr. Bruce Pitman has developed a "Next Generation Scientists: Training for Students and Teachers" program, the goal of which is to provide HS teachers with many useful, self-contained modules in computational science that HS teachers can readily incorporate into their curriculum (https://bioinformatics.ccr.buffalo.edu/workshop/bioinformatics/Portal/). This website also includes programming exercises with solutions, PowerPoint presentations on programming, bioinformatics, databases, and other topics.

Summer High School Workshops

• Eric Pitman Annual Summer Workshop in Computational Science 2008, June 30-July 11, 2008.

• Eric Pitman Annual Summer Workshop in Computational Science 2007, June 25-July 6, 2007.

• Summer Workshop II in Bioinformatics 2004, June 28-July 9, 2004.

• Summer Workshop in Computational Science 2003, June 30-July 11, 2003.

• Summer Workshop in Scientific Visualization and Virtual Reality 2002, July 8 - July 19, 2002. Joint Workshop with New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII)

• Summer Workshop in Scientific Visualization and Virtual Reality 2001, June 25 - July 6, 2001. Joint Workshop with New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII)

• Summer Workshop in Computational Science 2000, June 26 - July 7, 2000

• Summer Workshop in Computational Science 1999, June 28 - July 9, 1999

Local K-12 Education Outreach

• Next Generation Scientists Project - a collaboration of University at Buffalo faculty and local high school teachers to develop instructional activities for high school students in bioinformatics.
• NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics Life Sciences Education Program
• UB/BPS Excelsior Scholars Program - 2 week intensive summer program for 8th grade students excelling in science and math
• Sciences and Mathematics Mentoring - Buffalo Public Schools - UB Professor Joseph Gardella
• University at Buffalo: Pre-K-16 Outreach

Advanced Certificate in Computational Science

CCR also helped establish an Advanced (Graduate) Certificate in Computational Science at UB, bringing together interested faculty from Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Physics. The core of this Certificate is a 2 semester (full year) graduate course that CCR introduced in High Performance Computing, where the instructors rotate among faculty of the aforementioned departments. CCR has also been active in graduate education as evidenced by support for existing NSF funded IGERT Grants at UB.

Tours

As ambassadors for computing technology, CCR has hosted dozens of elementary, middle, and high school classes. In addition, K-12 teachers, scouts, and a wide variety of citizen groups have visited the facility, which literally has seen thousands of people come through its doors. Local industry leaders and elected officials have been educated about the promise of such technology in CCR. Staff and faculty from CCR have made presentations to local groups ranging from grammar schools, to defense organizations, to technology organizations, to Kiwanis Clubs.

Community Outreach

CCR continues to be actively involved in many community based projects by bringing high-end interactive visualization technology to high-profile urban design projects such as the Olmsted Park's Conservancy, the Peace Bridge Gateway Improvement Study, the Cars on Main Street Project, and the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus.