UH Hosts Governor's Science and Technology Champions Academy

The University of Houston will welcome 50 of the state's brightest high school students to participate in the fifth annual Governor's Science and Technology Champions Academy beginning Sunday (June 24) on the UH campus.

Sponsored by Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Workforce Commission, the five-day residential summer camp brings together winners from the ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair (EMTSEF) held in March in San Antonio.

Throughout the week, youths will see how humans are exploring the depths of the seas, the far reaches of space and the remote, hostile environments here on Earth.   

Using robotics, the young scientists will explore a variety of extreme environments ranging from aerospace to ultra-deep water oil and gas operations.

PetroChallenge will take place on Tuesday (June 26) and Wednesday (June 27), from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., at the UH College of Technology. During PetroChallenge, students will form teams to act as virtual petroleum companies.  They will perform simulations of the various upstream events, such as exploration and construction. They also will take field trips to NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

On June 29, the final day, participants will design and build underwater robots that will follow directions and complete tasks under water. The underwater robotics challenges will take place outside of the UH College of Technology from 10:00 a.m until 11 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.  Each team will spend the day designing, building and fine-tuning remote-operated underwater vehicles, which will compete by maneuvering through various challenge courses in large pools.

The camp’s organizers from the UH College of Technoloy are Raymond Cline, associate dean of research, Jack Christiansen, director of the Petroleum Technology Initiative, and Karen Cohen, program manager for the college’s Coordination of Robotics Education (CORE).

For more information about The Governor’s Science and Technology Academy, please visit: http://core.tech.uh.edu/gstca/

 

About the College of Technology

With more than 3,000 students, the College of Technology offers accredited undergraduate and graduate degrees in construction management, retailing and consumer science, computer engineering technology, electrical power technology, logistics technology, network communications, human resources development and technology project management. It also offers specialized programs in biotechnology and digital media.  Housed in the College of Technology, the Coordination of Robotics Education program (CORE) is an education and outreach program that was established to provide youth robotics programs which will motivate students to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields throughout their education, and to pursue STEM related careers. CORE accomplishes its mission by providing workshops, competitions, camps and special events and support to educators and youth, schools, and community groups.


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