Summer Camp Info

Contact Information

2004 Speakers and Content Lecturers

• First Bytes participants learned about themselves and each other through a series of team building exercises led by our First Bytes counselors and Erica Dencer Weisgram, assistant instructor and PhD student from the Department of Psychology.
  
• Dr. Doug Burger, associate professor (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/dburger/) opened First Bytes with an interactive lecture on Art in the Digital Age. 
  
• Our first day ended with a special session of Art in the Digital Age led by Dr. Elaine Rich (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ear/) and Beth Kennedy.

• After a morning in the computer lab, Professor Kathryn S. McKinley, (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/) Ph.D., introduced the participants to computer architecture with a special lecture entitled  “From Your Finger Tips to a Running Program". 

• Several University of Texas professors gave mini-computer science lectures coupled with live research demonstrations.  First Bytes campers toured the Visualization Lab led by Dr. Kelly Gaither, associate director of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/)  and the Computer Architecture Laboratory led by Dr. Doug Burger http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/dburger/).   Selected student produced films from The Computer Sciences Kinetoscopic Wonderment Festival (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/film/) were previewed and introduced by Stephanie Tomlinson, computer science staff member. 

• Dr. Kathryn McKinley(http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/) introduced the Fundamentals of Logic and its importance in the study of computer science by introducing the game of SET (add her slides).  Later in the week, Dr. Elaine Rich (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ear/) (add her slides) and Dr. Phoebe Weidman (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/phoebe/) introduced Mastermind (add her slides) to the campers.  Our daily game sessions of SET and Mastermind were a great way to learn logic and problem solving. 

• Dr. Greg Lavender, associate chair for academics, (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/lavender/) provided an overview of the history of computer science through “ CS for the 21st Century”.  This interactive session included asking participants to “draw a computer scientists!” 

• Dr. Mia Markey, assistant professor, College of Engineering (http://www.bme.utexas.edu/faculty/miamarkey.cfm) demonstrated the socially relevant field of bio-informatics through her lecture, Computer Aided Diagnosis.

• On July 27th, IBM served as First Bytes’ host to a very special Field Trip.  Dr. Ann Marie Maynard, Program Director of IBM Austin Center for Advanced Studies, discussed her life as a computer scientist followed by guided tours through the IBM facility, including stops at the Pervasive Technologies Laboratory (http://www.research.ibm.com/acas/vitae.htm) and a number of IBM Hardware Laboratories.  Special thanks for a great afternoon goes to all the employees of IBM!

• The concept of artificial intelligence was introduced by Dr. Elaine Rich (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ear/) through a lecture entitled “SMART MACHINES”. 

• An afternoon field trip to Microsoft game studio, Digital Anvil was another highlight of the week.  CS alumnus, Taylor Brown, provided a great overview of the gaming industry and organized a terrific field trip.  Participants were encouraged to explore the game development as a career path.

• “Tool-Time:  A Computer Dissection” was led by Lisa Kaczmarczyk, PhD student and computer science instructor (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/lisak/) and Scott

• The history of computer science was presented through a showing of Flare Films, Inc. “To Dream Tomorrow:  A Portrait of Ada Lovelace.”  (http://www.mith.umd.edu/flare/lovelace/index.html).

• A special panel of women computer scientists and engineers led the First Bytes participants in a great CAREER CHAT LUNCHEON on our last day of camp.  These invited guests provided our campers with a first-hand glimpse of the many different career paths that a computer scientist can have.  First Bytes is very grateful to all of the women and their companies for sharing their expertise and talents with us.  This year’s participants were:  Myndi Garret, Microsoft; Tamra Kerns, National Instruments; Jessica Mendoza, Metrowerks; Anna Slobodova, Intel; Kim Tran, IBM; Stacy Hock, IBM; Janani Janakiraman, IBM; Suzette Minorini, IBM Global Services. 

• A special mini-lecture and hands on demonstration was provided to our participants during our Robotics Lab Tour led by Dr. Ben Kuipers (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kuipers/) and Dr. Peter Stone, (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pstone/).