Montebello Teacher Advocates for Computer Science for Students

The minute she was exposed to Computer Science, Suva Intermediate School teacher Lorraine Torres became passionate about bringing the subject into her classroom and learning more herself. After 29 years of teaching a variety of subjects including math and music, Torres decided to earn a master’s degree in educational technology. In her program, she took her first ever Computer Science … Read More

Dr. Gray: STEM Educator

Dr. Gray: The STEM EducatorDr. Darin Gray, Co-Director of the K-12 STSEM Center, received two new Awards this week, adding to his long list of awards, including “Engineer of the Year” in 2020 by the Orange County Engineering Council. At the Los Angeles Awards Dinner of the Engineer’s Council, Dr. Gray was awarded the STEM Educator Award “for a lifetime … Read More

Math, Art, & Leadership at the USC Games Expo

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El Círculo Familiar: Programming Robots is a Family Activity

Read in Spanish First- and second-graders were the computer science experts at University of Southern California when 35 families gathered last weekend to face two dozen robotics challenges. Over 225 children have been learning all year to code and program robots in the classrooms of nine Boyle Heights teachers involved in USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering program called BOTS… [Read more]

What Will Robots Do Next?

The future of robotics is on display every year at USC Viterbi School of Engineering during National Robotics Week. That’s when about 1,100 visitors came to campus to see research advances made over the past year by robotics professors and their graduate students. Fifteen research labs, four student robotics organizations, two USC Viterbi K-12 outreach programs, plus several discussions (on autonomous cars, stereotypes about who is a computer scientist, and trends on manufac-turing robotics) made for a … Read More

Students in SHINE Summer Research Stay in Touch

(Back row) Matthew Burke and Marcus Guttierez (Front row) Noel Ermer, Maylin Martinez, Anouk Braun and Tristan BrankovicDuring each summer, USC Viterbi School of Engineering hosts high school students from throughout the Southland to join the research teams of faculty. The Summer High School Intensive in Next Generation Engineering (SHINE) lasts seven weeks during the summer, but the networks and … Read More

Can a 6-year-old code?

Of course they can! when they have the engaging curriculum provided by the nonprofit Code.org and a confident teacher who encourages them. What’s more, they can program robots to move through a maze, coding the rolling Sphero SPRK+ used in our BOTS program for the multiple dimensions of speed, duration (distance), and direction, including turns, forward and backwards movement. Not … Read More

BOTS Shuffle Song

My name is Kendall Work, and I am a freshman studying mechanical engineering. I work as a robotics trainer for VAST (USC Viterbi Adopt a School, Adopt a Teacher), and my main responsibility is to develop our BOTS program (Building Opportunities for Teachers in Schools) in which we help teachers teach coding and robotics to first- and second-grade students. To … Read More