USC to Offer Summer Institute in Computer Science

COLUMBIA, SC – April 5, 2009 – In spite of the state and university budget cuts, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at USC will sponsor an AP* Summer Institute in Computer Science for high school teachers in the summer of 2009. This will be made possible with funding from the newly-formed Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management (CESM) and a partial match from the College of Engineering and Computing.

The AP* summer institutes are the means by which high school teachers become endorsed in South Carolina to teach Advanced Placement Computer Science courses. High school students who take AP CS and then receive a grade of 3 or better on the exit exam receive university credit for the first semester computer science course at most universities, including USC.

There has not been a summer institute in computer science in South Carolina in over a decade, and AP enrollments have been in decline. Dr. Duncan Buell, chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, sees this as a problem. The demand for computer scientists and information technology professionals is huge. Although undergraduates won’t come exclusively from the AP CS students, it is critical that we increase the opportunities for AP CS in South Carolina, says Buell. Funding for the teacher institutes normally comes from the South Carolina state Department of Education, however, in this difficult budget year, no funds were available. Buell, who is one of the Associate Directors for the Consortium, submitted a proposal to the CESM for help. We are very pleased that the CESM was willing to make this one of their first contributions toward growing the number of kids interested in computing, said Buell.

Lonnie Emard, executive director of CESM, feels this is a natural project for CESM to undertake. We are very pleased to see how this collaboration of industry and academia can begin to enable these much needed programs. We need to create a pipeline of talent who will pursue careers in the business of IT, Emard said. Inside nearly every large company there is a separate IT business, and we need to ensure that there are people ready to perform and manage those diverse IT processes and roles. AP CS is going to help us. It will raise the level of awareness in the state of what the opportunities are, and involve the faculty as a vital part of communicating that message.

Awareness of computing and IT and associated career opportunities is a major issue, according to Buell. Apparently too many kids look at the games, the MP3 players, and the iPhones and think that all the cool stuff has already been done. That represents a fun start but it only scratches the surface of an industry that continues to provide interesting challenges for a better tomorrow, addressing all the new things to do that we haven’t thought about yet.

*College Board and AP are registered trademarks of the College Board. Used with permission.

For more information, go to: http://www.gocesm.org/