Luddy Indianapolis recently held two free events for young, local students to learn about and experience new and emerging technology. A daylong Artificial Intelligence Botathon attracted grades nine through twelve in April, while a weeklong Cybersecurity Camp for both middle and high school participants was held in June.
Luddy Executive Associate Dean, Davide Bolchini, remarked on the impact of the two events, “Through these hands-on learning experiences at Luddy, high school students work closely with our faculty to see in action what it could mean to work in a computing profession at the forefront of innovative AI technologies. The participants have the opportunity to see in a tangible way the results of their work in functioning interactive prototypes, while they are exposed to examples of the latest AI and cybersecurity concepts and platforms that will be adopted in the industry in the near future.”
Botathon introduces AI concepts to local teens
On a Saturday morning in late April, 66 students representing 21 high school teams—including Martinsville, Heritage Christian, Whiteland, and Carmel—gathered at Luddy Indianapolis for the inaugural AI “Botathon.” Led by Department of Human-Centered Computing senior lecturer Fawzi BenMessaoud, the hands-on event was designed to teach students how to program their own original chatbot in a fun, competitive environment. Teams were given a prompt to build an online “companion” for the elderly, which would converse with the user and offer supportive suggestions.
Artificial intelligence—its use, misuse, and abuse—is a much discussed topic in the media and politics today. Many applications of AI are already integrated in our daily lives with more to come. Responsibly harnessing the power and potential of AI is the goal of many researchers at Indiana University, and events like this introduce important concepts in a safe, controlled environment.
“Our first Bot-a-thon event I think went very well with so many schools participating and I don’t think we’ve ever had that many high schools attending an event at the same time. There were so many amazing team results and that made the judging tough. We thank all the students and their schools for participating and I think they were all winners because they all worked very hard to build amazing Bots,” BenMessaoud said. “I invite students to compete again in next year’s event.”
The top three teams were:
First: Carmel High School, Team-1.
Second: Ben Davis University High School team.
Third: Zionsville team.
BenMessaoud heard from many students expressing how much fun they had and how much they had learned from this experience. He shared one student team’s (Mukund S, Derek Y, Yuvraj S) response following the competition: “Attached is the bot we built as part of the competition. Thank you so much for making this happen. My group members thoroughly enjoyed participating in this unique problem-solving competition.”
Luddy Indianapolis offers an Artificial Intelligence degree, in person and online, and certifications.
Cybercamp engages next generation in data protection
From Monday, June 3 to Friday, June 7, Department of Computer Science professor Xukai Zou and the Luddy undergraduate recruitment team hosted the first-ever Luddy Cybersecurity Camp. Zou secured a grant from the National Science Foundation to provide free registrations to all these students. “This week-long camp was a hands-on, project-based experience for students interested in cybersecurity and cyber defense. Fifteen middle school and high school students attended in person, and up to 40 students per day joined online. “They all had a positive experience and great things to say,” said undergraduate recruiter Alyssa Graves. “We are so happy with how this first camp turned out, and we hope it is the beginning to an exciting new tradition!”
Participants attended from schools including Carmel High School, Creekside Middle School, Westfield High School, Zionsville Community School, Carmel Middle School, and University High School.
Xukai Zou
Zou has been coaching and mentoring a highly successful Cyberpatriot competition team at Carmel High School for the past seven years, and created this introductory camp to encourage the formation of similar clubs at other schools in central Indiana. Cyberpatriot is a national youth cyber education program sponsored by the Air Force Association.
Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting computer systems, networks, and data from theft, damage, or unauthorized access and is critical for all categories of systems, platforms, applications, and data, including personally identifiable information, health records, and other sensitive data. Its importance is growing as smartphones, computers, and the Internet have become an integrated core of cyberspace and a fundamental part of our lives today.
Luddy Indianapolis offers several Computer Science degrees and certificates that offer students opportunities to specialize in cybersecurity.
Media Contact
Joanne Lovrinic
jebehele@iu.edu
317-278-9208