PROGRAM OVERVIEW

UNITE is a six week, pre-collegiate summer experience for talented high school students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Held at University of Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada, UNITE encourages students to pursue college majors and careers in engineering and other STEM-related fields through a program of focused hands-on rigorous academics, enrichment, and career exploration.

Operating on a two-year cycle (2019-2020), UNITE targets rising 9th through 12th grade students. Student applications for 2020 summer programs will be accepted beginning in January 2020 through April 2020. Students accepted into the program receive support and enrichment designed to best help them achieve their goals of higher education and careers in STEM.

“UNITE was an extremely rewarding experience. I learned how to divide and conquer a project with my team members. I learned how to look at our world in a mathematic and scientific manner. I would recommend this program to anyone– it was absolutely incredible.”  -UNITE Student

UNITE at UNLV

During the four-week program, each faculty/graduate student mentor at UNLV will work with one to two students on a carefully designed research project. In the first four weeks, students will focus on developing projects. A series of tutorials and workshops will be provided to help students gain the necessary background knowledge and learn about how to conduct scientific research in Data Science and Engineering (DSE). Students will also work with their individual mentors, read literature, and design their projects. From week 5 through week 6, students will carry out their projects under the supervision of their mentors. They will also attend weekly seminars and workshops by faculty and advisers on various careers-related and advanced topics. In the last week, students will prepare a written scientific paper and an oral lecture for presentation in the UNLV Big Data Hub meeting. Through these experiences, students will improve their ability to formulate and solve research problems, increase their communication proficiency in both scientific and public contexts, and establish a close working relationship with their faculty/graduate student mentors. This AEOP program is expected to motivate these high school students to enter college programs in STEM.

Objectives

• Recruit a diverse pool of motivated students from high schools with limited research programs to participate in the AEOP program;
• Help students develop a broadly applicable skill set including oral and written communication, research methods, critical thinking, and problem solving;
• Encourage students to pursue STEM college studies; and
• Motivate students to develop a career interest in data science and engineering, a field of national priority.