Multimedia Journalism – CLOSED

Multimedia Journalism will introduce students to news reporting, interviewing and storytelling skills for print, broadcast and digital news outlets. Students will learn how to interview people, uncover news, separate fact from fiction, and engage a digital audience in a rapidly changing online environment. Veteran journalists who are experts in the fields of reporting, writing, audio, visuals, and audience engagement will lead students in training workshops to help them develop effective writing, research, and photography skills, and expose them to best practices for data visualizations and social media. Students also will visit a television news station to get a behind-the-scenes look into a daily newscast and meet UConn Journalism alumni working in the field. It will be an exciting introduction to nonfiction storytelling and the chance to learn techniques useful not only in the journalism field, but are must-haves in public relations, marketing and communications.

Students from diverse economic and racial backgrounds will learn about current events, the role of the news media, news judgement and journalism ethics. They will be introduced to nonfiction storytelling and give tools to sharpen their writing, research, and critical-thinking skills. Effective writing is the foundation of communication, and this course will help students communicate more effectively and clearly in their written work in the classroom and/or workplace. Journalism skills are necessary not only for reporters and editors but for those seeking to go into communications, public relations and marketing fields. Students will also gain experience using multimedia tools to gather and report news for publication on various platforms.

Pre-Med: Explore the Medical Field- S1: WAITLIST, S2: WAITLIST

Medicine is a long-term commitment that requires many years of training. Given this, many students find it difficult to decide whether medicine is the right career path for them. Through this one-week long program, students will gain insight into what it is like to be a physician. Students will have an opportunity to engage directly with physicians who are passionate about their work. Simultaneously, students will get to explore the state of the art UConn Health Center which is entering an era of unprecedented growth in all three areas of its mission: academics, research, and clinical care.

In addition, students will have an opportunity to gain guidance from UConn's Pre-Med academic advising staff. Moreover, students will be provided supervised transportation from the UConn Storrs campus to the UConn Health Center in Farmington. Students will return to the Storrs campus at the end of each academic day.

The UConn Pre-College Summer Pre-Med: Explore the Medical Field course will be taught by various doctors, professionals, and consultants from UConn Health. UConn Health is a vibrant, integrated academic medical center that is entering an era of unprecedented growth in all three areas of its mission: academics, research, and clinical care. A commitment to human health and well-being has been of utmost importance to UConn Health since the founding of the University of Connecticut Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine in 1961. Based on a strong foundation of groundbreaking research, first-rate education, and quality clinical care, we have expanded our medical missions over the decades. In just over 50 years, UConn Health has evolved to encompass more research endeavors, to provide more ways to access our superior care, and to innovate both practical medicine and our methods of educating the practitioners of tomorrow.

Each session will have a lead physician.

Shobhana Pathani, M.D

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

Lead Physician: Session 1, 4, and 5

Dr. Shobhana Pathani is a hospitalist physician at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. She completed her training in Internal Medicine at the University of Massachusetts. She has a deep passion for teaching as well as mentoring residents and medical students which she explores through her work as a faculty member at the University of Connecticut. In addition, she plays an active role in the success of an annual university summer program centered around providing high school students with exposure to a career in medicine.

Jin W. Kim, M.D.

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine

Lead Physician: Session 3

Dr. Jin Kim is a hospitalist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at UConn Health and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He also serves as Medical Director of Nocturnists, being a part of the medical staff since the inception of the nocturnist program at John Dempsey Hospital, where he plays an active role in the development of the night rotation teaching curriculum.

He received his undergraduate degree at Tufts University and his medical degree at the University of Connecticut. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at Baystate Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine, serving as Associate Chief Resident in his final year, before moving back to Connecticut to take on his current hospitalist/nocturnist role. He has an ongoing enthusiasm for his role in teaching and supporting medical residents, medical students, and pre-med students, finding each stage of training to be vital in career direction and professional development.

Agnest S. Kim, M.D., Ph. D.

Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Non-invasive Cardiac Imaging and Echocardiography Lab
Director, Cardio-Oncology Program

Dr. Kim provides care to patients with a wide range of cardiovascular illnesses, including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, and cardiomyopathy. She has expertise in advanced non-invasive cardiac imaging, including echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiac MRI, and vascular ultrasounds. She has a particular interest in the cardiac care of cancer patients.

Dr. Kim received her bachelor’s degree at Yale College. She received her medical degree from Vanderbilt University. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. After residency, she completed a fellowship in cardiovascular diseases at Yale-New Haven Hospital, during which she also obtained a Ph.D. in investigative medicine.

Debapriya Datta, MD, FCCP

Professor of Medicine
Director, Critical Care Clerkship, UConn SOM
Associate Program Director, UConn Pulmonary-Critical Care Fellowship Program
Director, PFT laboratory, CPET Program & PERT Program, UConn Health

Dr Datta is a pulmonary, sleep medicine and critical care medicine physician at UConn Health. She has completed her medical training including residency and fellowship at UConn Health Center. She treats patients with a wide variety of pulmonary disorders as well as patients with critical illnesses admitted to the ICU. Her clinical interests include dyspnea evaluation, exercise physiology, pulmonary embolism and ventilator weaning and ICU outcomes.

She is actively involved in teaching medical students at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine during their clinical rotations in the ICU, hospital floors, and outpatient clinics. She also works closely with trainees- medicine residents and pulmonary–critical care medicine fellows. She is passionate about medical education and has won several teaching awards. She is also involved in medical outcome research and has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at national and international scientific meetings to her credit.

George Y. Wu, M.D., Ph.D.

Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Hepatology Section, and Herman Lopata Chair in Hepatitis Research

University of Connecticut Health Center.

He graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Rochester, and received an M.D. and Ph.D. (biochemistry) from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He trained in internal medicine at Harlem Hospital, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and received subspecialty training in digestive diseases at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He has been a pioneer in the field of targeted delivery of biological substances specifically to liver cells, hepatocytes. He developed the concept of targeted rescue, targeted gene delivery, an immunocompetent model for HCV infection, and most recently targeted delivery of mitochondria. He has received numerous awards and prizes including the American Liver Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award, and an American Gastroenterological Association/Industry Research Scholar Award, American Liver Foundation Research Prize, American Gastroenterological Association-Gastroenterology Research Group Young Scientist Award, and a Chinese American Medical Society Scientific Award, was elected a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, and the American Association for the Study of liver Diseases. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians, and was a Fulbright Specialist. He has received 10 patents, and founded two startup companies to commercialize inventions. He has published more than 210 peer-reviewed articles, and edited 12 books. He is the comprehensive editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology, and series editor for the Clinical Gastroenterology series published by Humana/Springer Press.

Jennifer P. Kanaan, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director of critical care point of care ultrasound

Site Director, Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship

Dr. Kanaan received her bachelor's degree in biology at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. She returned to her home state to attend UConn medical school. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Rhode Island Hospital, Brown School of Medicine. Following a year at locum tenens where she worked in Alaska, California, and Arizona, she completed a pulmonary and critical care fellowship at New England Medical Center, Tufts School of Medicine. After graduation, she worked as an attending physician at Danbury Hospital and transitioned to UConn in 2007.

As an Associate Professor in Medicine, Dr. Kanaan divides her time between clinical care and teaching. She is passionate about bringing ultrasound to the bedside and has developed an ultrasound curriculum for pulmonary and critical care fellows as well as hospitalists. She directs a statewide ultrasound course for physicians.

Outside of medicine, she is a mom of four children. Her hobbies include cooking, travel, and sports.

Kevin A. Braghirol, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr Kevin Braghirol is an academic Hospital Medicine physician at UConn Health. He went to UConn for undergraduate studies and medical school. He completed Internal Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the site director for the inpatient Internal Medicine rotation at John Dempsey Hospital for the 3rd and 4th year UConn medical students. When he is not seeing patients or teaching, he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife, Nikki, and golden retriever, Larry.

Rebecca Andrews, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Associate Program Director, Categorical Internal Medicine
Lead Physician Internal Medicine Associates, Farmington

Dr. Andrews received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA before relocating to Connecticut for medical school at the University of Connecticut. She remained at the University to complete a residency including a chief medical resident year. Upon completing her residency, she practiced at a community health center where she served as the medical director and a member of the company’s QA/QI team.

She joined the faculty at UConn in 2009 and divides her time between clinical care and teaching. She is a Professor of Medicine and practicing Internal Medicine Primary Care physician with focuses on health prevention and high quality chronic disease management; chronic pain and safe opioid prescribing; women’s health; LGBTQ+ care; and healthcare policy. She has been recognized for her clinical care as one of Hartford Magazines Top Doctors. Dr. Andrews is the Director of Ambulatory Education and an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. As such, she is involved in the daily activities of the resident ambulatory clinic, mentoring, teaching, and increasing the quality of delivered care. She has developed several curricular innovations such as the office based medicine track, a business of medicine course, and a women's health track for future primary care. She is the director of the specialized primary care training tracks within the residency program. She serves as the physician lead for the Patient Centered Medical Home, the Connecticut Comprehensive Pain Center, and Internal Medicine Associates in Farmington. She is also currently serving as the Governor of the CT Chapter for the American College of Physicians and Co-Chairs the Opioid Task Force at UConn Health.

At home, she is a mom of two kids and has a long list of hobbies including creative writing, running, and photography.

Introduction to Equine Science and Horsemanship – WAITLIST

Introduction to proper management, care and basic training of houses. This is a broad introduction course that covers health, basic anatomy, management practices and the basic training of horses. You will gain insight into the equine industry and the team of professionals it takes to manage and care for horses of all ages and use. Students will have daily classroom material and labs interacting directly with the horses. Topics to be included are anatomy, physiology, behavior, training, sports therapy and equine first aid. In addition to hands on daily activities students will attend demonstrations and discussions with industry leading guest presenters where they can ask questions in areas of interest. This course will give students experiences that they can use to build a career in the equine industry as a veterinarian, farrier, nutritionist, manager or trainer.

Upon completion of this course students will be able to evaluate a riding horse based on athleticism and conformation. Identify basic horse breeds, color, conformation and suitability for disciplines. Evaluate horse gaits for soundness and athleticism. Gain insight into career paths in the equine industry and practical skills in horse care, management and behavior. Understand horse behavior and psychology as it relates to training and management. Students will learn practical skills and knowledge to prepare them for a career in an equine industry or ownership.

Students will be engaged in hands on learning activities like grooming, bandaging, lunging, ground work, TPR, tack fit, and riding.
Industry professionals demonstrating and presenting in class.
We will learn about 6 key points of horse care: turnout management, digestion and feeding, farrier care, vaccination, worming, and dental floating.
Insight into horse training for riding or competition with a strong emphasis on the Dressage Training Scale and Natural Horsemanship.
Evaluation of conformation and gaits of horses in comparison by judging an in-hand show class.
Evaluating soundness and body condition of horses

Melissa Tindall - UConn Dressage Team Coach

Melissa Tindall has been riding horses for 40 years and earned her USDF Bronze medal on her self-trained mare. She is the coach of the UConn Dressage team, has managed and been head trainer for several young horse training and sales barns in the past but her true passion is teaching. She was an apprentice with FEI rider and USDF Instructor faculty member Melanie Tenney at the BHS approved Woodcock Hill in West Willington, Connecticut where she went through the British Horse Society Instructor training program. Melissa began her riding career in hunter jumper and eventing but has focused on dressage for the last 25 years. She focuses on positive teaching and training methods utilizing in-hand work, in addition to mounted work, to encourage connection and understanding of both students and horses. She is currently competing at 4th level in dressage and schooling Prix St. George with the goal of earning her USDF Silver medal. She has ridden in clinics, lessons and demonstrations with many national and international instructors including Jan Ebeling (US Dressage Olympian), Eric Horgan (Irish Eventing Olympian), David Marcus (Canadian Eventing Olympian) and many more. These influences and her interest in the biomechanics of riding have helped shape how she teaches and trains today.

Robotics Engineering- WAITLIST

Prerequisites: Basic programming skills and any prior robotics experience is useful but not required.

The robotics engineering course is tailored for high school students, aiming to equip them with fundamental knowledge about the perception, action, and behavior of robots. Throughout the course, participants will delve into cutting-edge robotics technologies and their far-reaching implications across various sectors, including manufacturing, service, and defense. By offering an engaging blend of theory and hands-on practice, our primary objective is to inspire students to explore robotics as a potential engineering discipline. Through interactive group sessions featuring video lectures and robot programming activities, students will embark on an exciting journey into the fascinating world of robotics.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

Demonstrate a beginners level understanding of the robotics as an engineering discipline, state of the art in robotics and the relevant skills and knowledge required to become a roboticist.
Describe the nature and type of research work conducted in robotics in various robotics disciplines and the impact of those on our world.
Develop problem solving, critical thinking, and programming skills.
Automate a robot for performing simple tasks.

Shalabh Gupta received his M.S. degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, and his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA, in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Connecticut. His current research interests include distributed autonomy, cyber–physical systems, robotics, network intelligence, data analytics, information fusion, and fault diagnosis in complex systems. Dr. Gupta has published more than 120 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers with his graduate and undergraduate students.

Mainak Mondal earned his Bachelor's degree in Computer Applications from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India, in 2018, and his M.S. in Information Systems and Instrumentation Engineering from Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, in 2020. He has held various industrial design positions at multinational companies in India and engineering roles in research laboratories in Russia. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Connecticut. His research interests include aerial robotics, control systems, cyber–physical systems, sensor fusion, and applied AI in robotic systems.

Marine Biology and Conservation – WAITLIST

Prerequisites: Two years of High School Science and Math through Algebra II with a grade of C or higher Marine biologists study microbe, plant and animal physiology and ecology. While this research can be carried out on the scale of oceans much work is done in coastal waters, marshes, and laboratories. Understanding how marine organisms are adapted to their environment allows scientists and policy makers to make decisions about how to protect marine life and sustain ocean resources. To do this, marine scientists and marine biologists make observations and collect data on plant and animal diversity, ocean temperatures, currents, chemistry, and geology. This hands-on course will have you making these same observations in Long Island Sound (LIS), along the shore, in the laboratory and on the computer. Over the week you will study fish diversity in a nearby cove and marine invertebrate inhabitants of our rocky intertidal as well as seagrass and seaweed populations. You will conduct plankton tows and examine seawater properties. Dissections and laboratory experiments will inform you about the physiology and adaptations of local marine animals. We will collect data on the chemical and physical environment using instrumentation and sensors. By the end of the week, you will have learned and worked with many different types of equipment and instruments. You will conducted lab work and instrumental analysis. However, the key to being a good scientist is to be curious and ask good questions. You will use math, test hypothesis and apply reasoning to interpret your data and explain your observations. You can then begin to answer some of these questions and generate new ones. This is the foundation of marine ecology. We will be using this approach throughout the week. Finally, we will converge all our topics, data and observations to develop a better appreciation of the marine environment and create a sustainability plan for eastern LIS. This will also involve the critical thinking which we will have incorporated throughout the week as well as creativity. Our goals for you are:

To appreciate how it is all connected - that the marine environment is influenced by our local watersheds, marshes and estuaries
To understand that marine ecology is the interaction of marine organisms with each other and their physical and chemical environment
To learn the ways that marine organisms must constantly adapt to their changing environment
To experience how scientists are working to protect and conserve marine life
To learn how to synthesize and present data to make informed decisions about conservation
To always be curious and think critically

Dr. Claudia Koerting has been a scientist, faculty member and academic advisor in the department of marine sciences for nearly twenty years and she has been teaching at UConn for nearly 30 years. Her research at UConn has included marine benthic ecology, detection and ecology of marine pathogens and analysis of toxin producing microalgae but she now focuses on water quality. She is the undergraduate program coordinator for Marine Sciences. Currently Dr. Koerting teaches several undergraduate courses and mentors undergraduate research projects. Her interests and research continue in the fields of marine chemistry and marine microbiology.

Earth and Environmental Sciences – WAITLIST

This summer experience program focused on Earth and Environmental Science, high school students will explore the field via a course bridging camp and college-level study. Brought to you by UConn Department of Earth Sciences Faculty, Dr. Ouimet and Dr. Hren, students will have the opportunity to work side-by-side with field researchers and experts.

Earth Scientists study all aspects of the Earth system, including its history, structure, rocks, soils, rivers, oceans and atmosphere. The UConn Environmental Science pre-college summer course will introduce this wide-ranging discipline and discuss how earth and environmental scientists play a crucial role in understanding and making predictions about a diverse range of earth resources, processes and hazards, from mineral deposits to earthquakes to floods and climate change. Why is this important? Earth’s ecology is closely linked to sustainability and environmental science is key to this pursuit.

This Earth and Environmental summer course for high school students will integrate:

lectures and dynamic learning modules on background earth science material.
field and lab demonstrations.
collection and analysis of rock, soil and water samples.
guest visits from UConn Earth Sciences faculty across the wide range topics in the discipline.

William Ouimet, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Earth Sciences

Dr. Ouimet (Will) is an Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at UConn. He loves working with students outdoors and on field trips, and it’s one of the reasons he became an Earth Scientist. His research and teaching involves the study of erosion, rivers, landslides and environmental change around the world, as well as the influence of human activities. He works in the field, where he collects samples and maps out geological features, in the lab, where he analyzes rocks, water, soil and sediment, and on the computer, where he explores remote sensing datasets of the earth and uses models to simulate how landscapes change through time. His research has taken him all over world, from the Colorado Rockies, to Greece, Tibet, Taiwan, and the Bahamas. It has also allowed him to appreciate and explore the geology underfoot and processes at play here in southern New England, right where he grew up.

Michael Hren, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Earth Sciences

Dr. Hren (Mike) is also an Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at UConn. His research and teaching is focused on understanding how Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and environment evolve over time and how Earth’s history informs its future. His work takes him to mountain ranges around the globe, from the high peaks of Patagonia to the mountains of Tibet to the Sierra Nevada of California, where he and his students collect sediment, rocks, soils and water to bring back to UConn for analysis. He is the director of the Stable Isotope and Organic Molecular Biogeochemistry laboratory, and when not traveling for research, can be found working in the laboratory with students and colleagues from UConn and visitors from around the world analyzing modern and ancient plants, sediments and even an occasional woolly mammoth, to understand Earth and life through time.

Chemistry – WAITLIST

Everyone tells you that STEM education is important and that being a scientist, engineer or doctor is an excellent career path. Most people know Engineers build stuff and doctors heal people but what do scientists (specifically chemists) do? We’ll use each session to carry out fun hands on experiments that show different career paths open to chemists or other basic science majors.

There are hundreds of career paths you can follow as a science major. Helping sick people is a noble profession but it isn't for everyone. When you finish the course we hope you will have a better idea of some of the professions that STEM classes can prepare you for.

Pharmaceuticals: Aspirin synthesis
- Chemists do drug synthesis
Natural products and pigments: Ultramarine- making one of the most expensive paints
- Chemists make all of your favorite colors
Metallurgy: The golden penny experiment
- Chemists use metals for all sorts of things
Innovative materials: Superconductor synthesis and things that glow
- Chemists developed all of your LEDs and OLED screens.
Cosmetics: The chemistry of scents
- Chemists were involved if it smelled good or was a pretty color. Chemists also make lots of things that look like mud and smell bad.
Food: Molecular gastronomy and artificial flavors in food.
- Chemists had something to do with all those ingredients on a food package that you can’t pronounce.

Clyde Cady, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Residence in the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Cady received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota where he was introduced to bioinorganic chemistry, the chemistry of the elements as pertaining to life events. He moved to Connecticut for his Ph.D. at Yale University where he studied photosynthesis. After postdoctoral studies at Uppsala University, Sweden, and Rutgers University he started teaching general and inorganic chemistry at UConn. His special interests are directed toward introducing pre-college students to the thrills of experimental chemistry.

Learn how to report news stories with words, photos, graphics, audio, video and social media

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Is Medicine for you?

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Agnest S. Kim, M.D., Ph. D.

Debapriya Datta, M.D., FCCP

George Y. Wu, M.D., Ph.D.

Jennifer P. Kanaan, M.D.

Kevin A. Braghirol, M.D.

Narinder Maheshwari, M.D.

Rebecca Andrews, M.D.

Exploring Equine Management, Health, Care and Training

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The Impacts of Robotics on our World

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Conserving marine life and the environment of Long Island Sound - be a part of the solution

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The Earth, The Environment, and You

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The starting point of STEM

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