This week Illinois is hosting about 300 high school students from around the state for Illini Summer Academies. This 4-H program enables prospective students to learn more about Illinois and their desired degree field.
During this week, various academic departments on campus are hosting 13 academies, each with a different focus:
Aerospace Engineering
How do aircraft fly and spacecraft orbit? That question and others will be addressed in this hands-on Aerospace Engineering session. We will conduct experiments in rocket propulsion, flight mechanics, and fluid dynamics. You'll have the opportunity to design a spacecraft with a mission to Mars, and explore your creativity in our "What Would MacGyver Do?" challenge.
Career Opportunities: Aerospace Design; Automobile Design; Flight Simulation; Satellite Development, Pilot Astronaut, Mission Specialist, Safety Engineer, Systems Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Fabrication Technician, Avionics Technician, Pattern Maker and Molder
Agribusiness
Join us in the wonderful world of agribusiness! Create a marketing plan for a product, trade commodities and stocks and compete with others, follow the food supply chain around the world, and see agribusinesses firsthand in action. Take a step into the business world in food and agriculture, and find out more about how you can become a part of it.
Career Opportunities: Agronomist, Farm Appraiser, Agricultural Policy Analyst, Farm Manager, Crop Producer, Grain & Livestock Buyer, Market Analyst, Financer, Quality Controller, Marketing Head, Ag Science Teacher or Professor
Agricultural Mechanization
Are you always taking things apart and putting them back together? Do you want to know how fuel is made from algae, manure, and miscanthus? Do you wonder how the technical world and the business world interact? Technical Systems Management is the combination of agricultural, physical, and biological sciences with business and technical skills for application in the realms of food, fiber, feed, and fuel. Join this academy to learn hands-on skills such as soldering, discover how TSMs interact with the world of renewable energy, and explore the world of precision agriculture.
Career Opportunities: Construction Management, Environmental Science Technician, Production Manager, Ag Science Teacher or Professor, Technical Marketing Representative, Technical Marketing Representative, Territorial Sales Representative.
Chemistry
This academy will start and end with a BANG! We will participate in several hands on experiments including soap making, water quality sampling and analysis, food chemistry (making cheese or liquid nitrogen ice cream). Sessions will also include tours of a variety of labs in the Chemistry Department along with information on job opportunities for chemists.
Career Opportunities: Chemical Engineer, Medicinal Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry, Biotechnology, Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Science Policy, Textile Chemistry, Environmental Protection, Chemistry Teacher or Professor, Forensic Chemistry
Computer Science
Learn to program with this introduction to programming with Scratch! In this academy, we'll use the Scratch programming environment, which is aimed at beginners, but powerful enough to keep even seasoned programmers engaged and entertained. After learning basic techniques you'll design projects of your own choosing - computer games, animated stories, interactive programs - limited only by your own imagination. The software used is free and runs in any web browser, so you'll be able to continue your projects, and create new ones, after the academy is over.
Career Opportunities: : Computer Programmer, Web Developer, Software Engineer, Software Tester, Database Administrator, Help Desk Analyst, Computer Hardware Engineer, Systems Analyst, Computer Network Architect, Information Security Analyst, Information Systems Manager, Project Manager, Datacom Analyst
Creative Writing
In this dynamic and creative program, you will write and discuss fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, learning how and why to take the artistic process of writing to the next level. Sessions will include prompts, short readings, games and mini-workshops in which each delegate's work is discussed in terms of themes, strengths and direction. The Academy will feature a guest reader/lecturer - delegates will read the work of a published poet or fiction writer, and prepare interview questions. This writer will provide an afternoon lecture/workshop session on the second day.
Career Opportunities: Author, Publishing, Literature Review, Professional Writing, English Teacher or Professor, Journalist, Television Writer, Game Writer, Literary Consultant, Documentary Filmmaker
Digital Manufacturing & Informatics
This exciting academy will give you an opportunity to explore the processes of invention and creation. Learn how you can take an idea for a new product or tool, and use fabrication technologies to turn that idea into a reality. Design and build objects using cutting edge tools such as 3D printers, laser engravers, electronic cutters, milling machines, and small electronic boards. We will be introduced to the exciting field of Informatics that studies how tools like these are influencing the production and sharing of information.
Career Opportunities: Inventor, Entrepreneur, Product Designer, Materials Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Business/System Analyst, Program or Product Manager, Product Manager, User Experience Designer, Usability Engineer, Information Architect, Web Developer, Web Designer, Cybersecurity Professional
Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Illinois Summer Academy introduces students to a wide range of ECE topics from robotics, circuits, and control to biomedical imaging, child-learning, semiconductors/nano-technology, optics/photonics, and power/energy. The academy consists of various interactive lessons, projects, and demonstrations in cutting-edge research labs. The lessons include an overview of what it means to design and conduct an experiment, an introduction to control theory and the different ways we make machines do what we want, an interactive web applet visualization of how the power grid works, and introductions to optics and electronics.
Each lesson has a hands-on component such as troubleshooting an experiment, riding a Segway, using a multimeter, or working with lasers. There is also a session to introduce our great history of innovation at ECE Illinois. During the afternoon project time, students learn how to solder, make a functional circuit (an FM transmitter), and then test it with a commercial radio receiver. In a separate project, they make plastic replicas using micro stereo lithography, an additive manufacturing process that uses an ordinary computer projector and a simple lens to focus light and form an image in a photo-curable polymer.
Career Opportunities: Robotics; Cell Phone & Computer Chip Design; Biomedical Imaging; Nanotechnology; Power & Energy Systems, Defense Industry, Construction industry, Chemical Industry
Human Development & Family Sciences
Adolescence is a strange and wonderful time. How do you cope with stress? What about relationships with peers? With parents? Do you wonder about changes in your thoughts, feelings, and relationships? This academy will introduce students to the scientific study of youth and families. We will explore issues facing adolescents and talk about strategies for coping with changes and challenges. This academy will also be a chance to learn about scollege majors related to the study of children and families.
Career Opportunities: Child Care Services, Family Life Education, Human Services & Resources, Pediatric Services in Hospitals, Business Activities related to children, Counselor, Psychologist
Molecular & Cellular Biology
Do you sometimes wonder "how do living things work, what is a cell and how does it function, or what are genes and what do they do?" By asking these questions, you are inquiring about the fundamental cellular processes that are at work in every one of us, and starting on the same path as researchers in Biological Sciences and Medicine. Join the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology to fulfill your curiosity and start exploring the marvelous complexities and inner workings of the cell. Delegates will manipulate cells and their building blocks, using modern research laboratory techniques, while learning about the latest scientific discoveries that allow MCB researchers to discover answers to the above questions.
We will spend time working on:
The effects of UV light on a bacterial population,
How to insert a gene of interest into a population of bacteria
How to extract their own DNA
Blood Typing
PCR and DNA Typing
The physiology of the circulatory system
The eukaryotic cell
Enzyme Biochemistry
Delegates will also have the opportunity to tour a research laboratory, learn about the research being done, and meet the scientists.
Career Opportunities: Molecular Biologist, Cellular Biologist, Research Specialist, Medical Fields, Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Forensic Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Disease Control, Food Safety, Healthcare Policy or Law, Agriculture, Wildlife Management
Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences
The natural word is amazing and important to our everyday lives. Join NRES as we explore the environment in a hands-on, active way to learn about the sciences that encompass our natural world. From the smallest microbes to the largest forests, you will learn how scientist study nature and how they work to conserve our natural systems for everyone's benefit. We will take field trips to research plots and other green spaces to collect samples in the wild and study them further in our laboratory spaces. Get your hands dirty and let's learn!
Career Opportunities: Conservation Biologist, Environmental Attorney, Environmental Consultant, Environmental Educator, Forester, Natural Areas Manager, Park Ranger, Soil Conservationist, Sustainability Coordinator, Wildlife Biologist
Plant Science
Plant Science is an exciting field with many career opportunities where knowledge about plants, insects, biology, agriculture, genetics, plant pathology, horticulture and other topics are used to improve plants and their products and enhance agricultural production. Join this academy to explore plant biotechnology; discover how to identify insects, plant diseases and noxious weeds; investigate climate change and the effects on crops; learn what makes peppers hot; understand how a hydroponics system works; go on field trips and more!
Career Opportunities: Plant scientist, Agronomist or crop scientist, Turf Manager, Farm Manager, Food Scientist, Weed Scientist, Entomologist, Nursery and Garden Specialist, Researcher Plant Biotechnology & Molecular Biology, Sustainable Food & Production, Agro ecology, Crop Agribusiness, Plant Protection
Veterinary Medicine
Are you interested in animals, medicine, and science? Do you like helping people? Do you like unraveling mysteries? Do you like real challenges? If you answered yes to these questions, then the wide world of veterinary medicine just may be for you. Veterinarians have a strong interest and ability in science. They enjoy working with people as well as with animals. Take a step into the world of veterinary medicine and see what veterinary school is like, learn about the different aspects of veterinary medicine, and more. You will learn about the science of veterinary medicine, anatomy, immunology, bacteriology, parasitology, wildlife medicine, large and small animal medicine, and more. You will participate in clinical equine rounds, streak and read bacteriology slides, learn about veterinary specialty fields such as dentistry, ophthalmology, and forensic pathology, and so much more.
Career Opportunities: Large and Small Animal Specialties, Equine Specialties, Wildlife Management, Veterinary Toxicology, Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Food Supply Medicine, Public Policy, Shelter Medicine, Global Veterinary Medicine
Learn more about Illini Academies by visiting their website. Join the social media conversation online by using #Illini4H and #thats4H.