Gabrielle Browne, a former undergraduate researcher, speaks during CS Academy to high school students about her experience in computer science. (Photo: Hayley Fry-White)
Thirty-four Black high school students from across Ontario filled the Bahen Centre for Information Technology from August 10 to 14 for the Computer Science Academy, a five-day research immersion course hosted by the Department of Computer Science in partnership with Leadership by Design (LBD).
The Academy is part of LBD’s SummerUp program, which runs academic, arts and aspirational courses each July and August for Black youth. High school students spent the week learning introductory programming, working on a research project designed by their graduate student mentors, and giving talks on the final day about what they learned. Graduate students Otman Benchekroun and Sheza Munir organized the programming and activities, and PhD students helped lead the small research groups. No prior coding experience was required, and the course was free.
Assistant Professor Igor Gilitschenski speaks to CS Academy attendees about his research in robotics and computer vision. (Photo: Matt Hintsa)
High school students participating in CS Academy had the opportunity to work on research projects under the mentorship of graduate students. (Photo: Matt Hintsa)
The week closed with a talk from Gabrielle Browne, a former undergraduate researcher who is heading to Yale's direct PhD feeder program with the Computer Graphics Group. Browne told the students her route into research was anything but straight. She was discouraged from studying math at U of T, earned an art fundamentals certificate, then trained in mechanical engineering technology and CNC machining at George Brown before applying to the Faculty of Arts & Science and enrolling in the hardest STEM courses she could find. She was told she was not “that type of student.” Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream Lindsey Shorser told her otherwise. She showed up at Associate Professor David Levin's office during office hours intending to knock and found the door already open. That conversation pulled her into Dynamic Graphics Project lab meetings, which she attended for months before being invited to join as an undergraduate researcher and work on the MorphModes shape-registration project.
“So many people told me I could drop the course, and almost nobody told me how to stay in it,” Browne said. “I want these students to leave knowing how to stay in. Look around the rooms you walk into and notice who is missing, then keep showing up and keep taking up space.”