| Courses |
AI in Action: Turning Data into Solutions
An in-person, immersive certificate program designed to introduce high school students to the fundamentals of AI and data science through hands-on, collaborative projects. The course emphasizes experiential learning, teamwork, and problem-solving using real-world datasets drawn from publicly available sources, including social impact and global challenge datasets. Students analyze authentic California environmental and health data, exploring issues relevant to their communities and state. Students work with industry-standard tools including Google Cloud Platform and modern generative AI technologies, gaining experience with the same platforms used by professional data scientists.
Students are guided through the complete data science workflow, including data exploration, cleaning, visualization, basic machine learning, and communicating results through formal presentations. Working in teams, participants tackle a datathon-style challenge that encourages critical thinking and creativity while building technical and analytical confidence. Students learn to leverage AI tools responsibly and ethically as part of their analytical process. The course culminates in team presentations where students showcase their findings and recommendations, creating portfolio-ready work that demonstrates their ability to translate data insights into actionable solutions. The course provides an accessible and supportive entry point for students curious about how data science is used to understand and address complex real-world problems. | |
Biochemistry of Aging: Protein Structure, Function, and Disease
This course explores how proteins change as they age and how modern artificial intelligence tools are transforming our ability to study these processes. Students will learn the fundamentals of protein structure and function, then investigate how chemical modifications accumulate over time and contribute to disease, tissue degeneration, and loss of cellular function. Using state-of-the-art AI tools like AlphaFold, students will visualize protein structures, model aging-related changes, and analyze how even small alterations can impact protein structure and function. Through hands-on computational projects, students will formulate and test hypotheses, compare wild-type and modified protein models, and learn to communicate scientific findings through posters and presentations. No prior coding or computational experience is required. This course blends biology, chemistry, and data-driven AI approaches to give students a modern view of how scientists can uncover the molecular mechanisms of aging. | |
BioTech Entrepreneurship Academy: Where Science Meets Business
Welcome to the BioEntrepreneurship Academy, a dynamic pre-college program for the next generation of innovators. This course plunges students into the exciting intersection of science and business that defines the biotechnology industry. Have you ever wondered how a scientific discovery in a lab becomes a life-saving medicine or a groundbreaking product? This academy provides the answer.
Students will learn the fundamentals of project management and business strategy by taking on the role of a biotech startup founder. Through an online bioentrepreneurship simulation (Startup Wars), teams will make advanced critical decisions in areas like project management, marketing, and finance, seeing the real-time impact of their choices on their vertical farming business success. A core component of this academy is also learning how to communicate ideas effectively. Students will enhance their storytelling techniques to transform data and business plans into compelling narratives. They will learn to craft a persuasive pitch for their simulated company proposal and develop a confident personal "elevator pitch" for college interviews and future internships. The course emphasizes biotech related hands-on learning, collaboration, communication, and creative problem-solving. Guest speakers from various biotech careers will provide invaluable real-world context, and excursions to local companies will bring the classroom concepts to life.
Students will conclude the course by presenting their startup's vision and journey, gaining a significant head start on their academic and career paths in STEM and business. | |
Sport Marketing & Sponsorships
Sport marketing and sponsorship is about getting and keeping the sport customer, who could be a participant, fan, sponsor, or broadcaster. Sport marketers build careers in one of the most exciting and impactful industries in the world, and understand what it takes to create memorable physical and online experiences that everyone wants to be at, and talk about. Sport marketers know the ways that sport can change the world for the better, and inspire individuals, communities, and nations.
This course will provide an introduction to the knowledge and skills needed to be a sport marketing and sponsorship professional, by examining sport fandom, branding, communications, event experiences, and sponsorship sales and activations. You will learn by working collaboratively on real-world issues with sport industry companies, by experiencing sports facilities behind-the-scenes, by analyzing innovative sport marketing and sponsorship examples, and by interacting with sport industry professionals. | |