The main goals of the ALADDIN Center's education component are
to:
- Make algorithms accessible and enjoyable to a wider audience.
- Educate more rapidly domain experts about new algorithms
and algorithmic techniques.
- Educate further the theory community on the needs of the
domains.
To address and meet these goals, ALADDIN will be sponsoring a
series of interrelated activities which include development, dissemination,
outreach and collaboration:
CASE STUDIES
Based on the PROBEs, case studies will be developed on how algorithms
get used in a range of applications. These case studies will describe
both the experience of getting algorithms into use, as well as details
of their implementation. These studies will serve to help domain
experts see how algorithms can be used, to help algorithm designers
learn how to effect technology transfer, and to help motivate the
study of algorithms in course work.
TUTORIALS
The ALADDIN Center will develop tutorials geared to specific domain
experts.
We intend that these tutorials could be used in the context of a
course, in conjunction with a conference, or for individual study.
Some of these tutorials will be developed in conjunction with presentations
given at initial PROBE meetings aimed at facilitating communication
between researchers from different disciplines.
NEW APPROACHES TO DEVELOPING ALGORITHMS
The ALADDIN Center will develop courses, which integrate applications
with theory, at least as motivation, while maintaining the same
level of theoretical rigor as traditional courses. In particular,
we will develop an undergraduate course based on Guy Blelloch's
graduate course
"Algorithms
in the Real World" .
PROGRAMS for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
The Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon has developed
a highly acclaimed summer program for high school students called
"Andrew's
Leap" , co-developed and run by Steven Rudich. In collaboration
with the Center, a significant algorithms component will be introduced
into the program.
WORKSHOPS FOR COLLEGE FACULTY AND STUDENTS
The Center will run summer Workshops for college faculty interested
in introducing "Algorithms in the Real World" into the
undergraduate curriculum. Sessions for students are also included
(
REU Summer 2002 Symposia). In addition
to the evident curricular goals, we intend that our Workshops will
help promote the participation of underrepresented groups in computer
science. We believe that the Center's research programs and our
experiences in recruiting women into computer science (see
Women@SCS
), make us ideally suited to accomplish these goals.
The Educational Component will be fully integrated with the
Research Component. For example, the case studies will be largely
based on the problem-oriented explorations and will in turn be
used in the course development and Workshops. In designing our
Workshops, we will work collaboratively with a core planning group
including faculty from undergraduate colleges and our industrial
partners. We intend that these joint educational efforts will
also foster a climate for ongoing research collaborations.
THE
WOMEN@SCS OUTREACH ROADSHOW
The Outreach Roadshow is supported in part by the NSF-ALADDIN
Center . It is a presentation by a group of women undergrads and
grads in the school of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon who
talk about their early thoughts on Computer Science, why/how they
began studying the area, their current experiences, what Computer
Science means to them now, and their future hopes and expectations.
The presentation includes a slide show, Q and A interaction, and
a simple demo. The intended audiences include
middle school girls and boys, parents and teachers,
and all who are interested in gender equity and computer science.