ADVANCED AND INTERN TRAININGWORKSHOPSAn extra long summer this year allowed for the inclusion of three intern workshops in our schedule.The Teaching Workshop focused primarily on improving interns’ teaching and classroom managementskills. The Scientific Programming class worked with interns to help them think scientifically aboutprogramming and increase their comfort with it. 'The Dynamic Web Design class introduced interns

to building database driven websites. In addition, over adozen rising 10th and 11th graders were selected, basedon applications and teacher nominations, to participate inthe Shodor Scholars Program. This program provided themwith the opportunity to receive an in depth look at how to build and develop models using differentmodeling software. The last week of this three-week program allowed the students to research topicsof their choosing and then design and implement a model to help simulate it. As a benefit to Shodor,these three weeks spent with such talented students also gave the organization personal knowledge ofstudents who may be interested in becoming Mentor Center interns.

To view the projects these students completed, visit the SSP class website athttp://www.shodor.org/succeed/programs/ssp2004.

INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOPS

This summer, fiveworkshops were offeredfor rising 6th-8th graders.Each of theseworkshops, ModelingYour World, (Sessions A& B), Engineers inTraining, Internet ScienceExplorations, and MathExplorations, focused on

introducing students to how computer modeling and visualization canbe used to study these areas.This summer students inModeling Your World usedthe modeling program, Stella,to study the spread of diseaseon both large and smallpopulations. Our futureengineers studied concepts liketension, compression, surfacearea, volume, and mass usingboth computational andhands-on examples in Engineers in Training. Internet ScienceExplorations introduced them to the inner workings of the Internet andshowed them how to build their own web pages. ProjectInteractivate (http://www.shodor.org/interactivate) activities were usedin Math Explorations to study probability, geometry, estimation,functions, and more.

UPPER-LEVEL WORKSHOPSThree discipline-specific workshops were offered for rising 8th and 9th gradersthis summer. Medicine and the Biosciences, Environmental Science, and

Forensics Sciences helped studentsdelve deeper into the uses of scientificmodeling by showing them particularexamples of how scientists in thesefields implement computational science.Students in Medicine and theBiosciences also used the modelingprogram, Stella, as well as anotherprogram, NetLogo, to model situations

in epidemiology, pharmacology, and biochemistry. At the end of the week theyhad the opportunity to workcollaboratively with otherstudents on a small researchproject and report on what theylearned. The EnvironmentalScience class used computationalmethods to study run-off,pollution, and the evolution ofthe peppered moth. For thethird class, Forensic Science, theinstructors devised a mysteriouscrime for the students to solve.Using all of the techniques they had learned thorough the week, includingDNA analysis, decoding and encryption, and handwriting analysis, the studentshad to uncover the truth in the case of “Money Mayhem.”

Summer Workshops @ Shodor

By David Hillman, NCSI Program Assistant

NCSI, the National ComputationalScience Institute, is lead by four princi-pal investigators: Dr. Robert Panoff ofthe Shodor Education Foundation, Dr.Steve Stevenson of Clemson University’sDepartment of Computer Science, Dr.Holly Hirst of Appalachian State’sDepartment of Mathematical Sciences,and Dr. Erik Jakobson representing boththe National Center for SupercomputingApplications and the University of Illi-nois’ Department of Molecular and Inte-grative Physiology.

From May through August NCSIconducted 18 workshops on a variety oftopics for more than 300 college faculty.In addition, NCSI staff assisted at 5 addi-tional workshops for other NSF-fundedprograms. NCSI workshops includednew discipline-specific workshops inchemistry., physics, biology, and parallelcomputing to complement the interdisci-plinary workshops at the introductoryand advanced levels. There were alsothree workshops focused on curriculumdevelopment. The locations of the work-shops were distributed across the coun-try, including San Diego State Universi-ty (CA), High Point University (NC),Florida State University, Centenary Col-lege of Louisiana, Centenary College ofNew Jersey, University of Oklahomaand more. Workshop participants havethe option to follow-up on what theylearn by applying to NCSI for mini-grants. These awards are available tohelp defray the costs of implementingnew technologies in classroom andresearch settings. Many of these grantshave been awarded, allowing partici-pants access to software and modelingpackages such as Fathom, Mathematica,and Stella, which can otherwise be cost-ly or difficult to obtain.

The end of summer workshops willusher in a new round of fall activities.NCSI is co-sponsoring the 28th Interna-tional Workshop on Condensed MatterTheories in St. Louis, from September26th through October 2nd, an event tobe co-chaired by Shodor’s own Dr.Panoff. The Supercomputing ‘04 confer-ence this November in Pittsburgh willalso be a major event for NCSI. Otherfall activities include an international in

Montreal meeting of Sigma Xi, the sci-entific research fraternity and numerousother workshops.

As one might conclude, this amountof activity requires a significant amountof preparation and administration. Onthat note., I would like to introducemyself, David Hillman, a new memberof the Shodor staff focused on NCSIprojects. This spring, I graduated PhiBeta Kappa from UNC Chapel Hill witha dual degree in Math and English. ATriangle local, I also graduated fromSanderson High School in Raleigh. For

the past year I have worked forBob Gotwals, a former Shodorstaff member, on the NSF fund-ed REVITALIZE grant. Thisgrant focuses on exposing ruralscience and math teachers tocomputational science tech-niques and tools. I now workfull-time for Shodor, whiledevoting a portion of my ener-gies to continuing work on thatgrant.

SUCCEED Workshops (for rising 6th – 11th graders)

This summer, eight weeklong, half-day workshops wereheld for rising 6th-9th grade students, primarily from theDurham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh school districts. Topics cov-ered include engineering, forensic science, mathematics, andenvironmental science, among others. During the last threeweeks of the summer, a group of rising 10th and 11th gradersattended an all-day workshop, covering in more detail many ofthe shorter workshops, with the goal of preparing them to befuture interns at Shodor. For more information about this sum-mer’s SUCCEED workshops, check out the back page of theSummer 2004 insert.

Summer 2004 @ Shodor

The 2004 Forensic Science class

Intern Carla Clark assists a pair ofstudents in Medicine and the Biosciences

Intern WorkshopsThis year, there were three workshops specifically made

available for current Mentor Center interns: Scientific Comput-ing, Dynamic Web Design and a Teaching Workshop. TheTeaching workshop helped interns to develop the skills in theclassroom., while Scientic Computing and Dynamic WebDesign focused or developing their technical skills. For moreinformation about this summer’s intern workshops, check outthe back page of the summer 2004 insert.

Intern ProjectsThe idea of the Mentor Center @ Shodor is to team high

school and undergraduate students with a scientist or engineerfrom Shodor or a partner organization as their mentor. Sinceeach staff member has a different role at Shodor, Mentor Centerinterns are able to get experience working on a number of diverseprojects. This summer interns were busy developing lesson plans,creating interactive math and science activities, teaching work-shops, and designing graphics for many projects. For more infor-mation about this summer’s intern projects, check out the insideof the Summer 2004 insert.

A movie voting page created by Tomas Barreto during the Dynamic Web design class

NCSISummer/Fall 2004Update

David helping a group in the Shodor Scholars Program this summer

The Mentor Center @ Shodor is funded by a grant from theBurroughs Welcome Fund

Summer 2004 Mentor Center Interns @ Shodor

For more information on the projects completed this summer, please visit http://www.shodor.org/about/interns