Arkansas Technology and Data Science in Health & Medicine (AR Tech DaSH) is a focused outreach exposure program for high school students, teachers and the community sponsored by faculty at UAMS. The program incorporates imaging technologies and a data science curriculum focused on health and medicine in classroom outreach, a ten-day summer day camp, community outreach events hosted by the high school participants serving as STEM ambassadors, and a virtual STEM and data science focused outreach to students and teachers across the state. The goal is to serve as a model for attracting students towards STEM and data science careers to ensure that the future workforce in these fields better reflects the diverse population in the US. It is hoped that this program will be supported by a pending Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The AR Tech DaSH staff are hosting a free two-week summer day camp on the UAMS Northwest campus on June 3 through June 14. The deadline to register is April 12!
This AR Tech DaSH 2024 camp is designed for students interested in learning about STEM and data science as it relates to the health care field.
The first week of camp is focused on providing students with hands on activities including: medical related skills, anatomical basis of disease, clinician-patient simulations, and research on various diseases. Students will learn how to use stethoscopes, blood pressure devices, hand-held ultrasound devices, suturing, taking a patient history, and learn about the EEG, EMG and EKG. Students will dissect pig hearts, inspect plastinated human cadaveric specimens and embalmed human brains, and learn about computerized tomography (CT) imaging. Medical students will serve as mentors during this first week.
The second week of camp is focused on providing students with an introduction to data science and data analytics using large data sets. Students will learn how infographics are used to inform the public about relevant disease information, explore population bases disease statistics, use software to examine summary statistics for large data sets, use the graphical user interface software program Orange for data exploration, summary stats, and visualization of data sets, and use Orange to learn about machine learning. Undergraduate UA Fayetteville students will serve as mentors during the second week.
Students who complete the AR Tech DaSH camp will be designated as STEM Ambassadors and will be expected to participate in limited community outreach activities during off school hours during the next academic year. Program staff will also provide a short series of college preparation sessions for the STEM Ambassadors.
NOTE: If the NIH SEPA grant is funded then students selected to attend camp may be paid to attend camp and participate in the community outreach events. As of today, we do not have funds to pay high school students. We expect to hear about the grant status before camp starts.
Submit the online application below to be considered for acceptance into the free AR Tech DaSH 2024 camp. Spots are limited to 25 high school students from NW Arkansas. Students must currently be in 9th grade (rising 10th grade students in the summer). There are no specific course requirements for attendance at camp. We are looking for highly motivated students! An electronic letter of support from a teacher or counselor is highly encouraged. Send letters of recommendation addressed to Dr. Kevin D. Phelan at: artechdash@yahoo.com. We will be surveying students during the program so parents must complete and sign a consent form allowing us to do so.
The application period has closed.