Project and Water News

The results are in and, for the second year, CI-WATER partners at Utah State University (USU) have again received top marks on their Summer Code Camp from the people who matter most: the teen participants.

On Thursday, July 10, eighteen high school students gathered on the USU campus to boost their coding skills and learn about career and education opportunities from engineers and computer scientists. One hundred percent of the participants reported on a survey that they were “glad they participated in the camp,” with 94% indicating that “this Camp has inspired me to learn more science and engineering.”

Teen participants in the USU Code Camp after a day of coding.

The day culminated in a team challenge, the lynchpin for a successful coding camp. USU faculty members Jeff Horsburgh and David Rosenberg created “The Pineview Reservoir Challenge.” The activity requires small teams of three or four to decide how much water to release from the Ogden Valley reservoir to minimize flooding, generate hydropower, and deliver irrigation water over a 56-year period. Teams code their release decisions in Python then run their code to see the quantity of water released each year and the revenue generated by their approach to managing the water.

A team tackles “The Pineview Reservoir Challenge” with the help of a mentor well-versed in Python (far right).

The winners of the “Best Documented Code” with their prizes.

Numerous participants cited the challenge’s emphasis on a real-world problem and the use of teamwork and friendly competition to spark engagement as positive aspects of the activity.

“The complexity of the challenge allowed me to try and still press on to go above and beyond,” one teen says.

Returning camper David Oliphant credits last year’s camp for inspiring him to teach himself even more coding skills, using sources such as Khan Academy and Code.org. He reports that, last year, he took a back seat to more experienced teammates, but this year, was comfortable taking a more active role.

“Coding is a life skill,” he says.

What’s the best way to launch a STEM career? Get your hands dirty, says CI-WATER's Ginger Paige.

In this one-minute spotlight video, the University of Wyoming professor, hydrologist and STEM education expert encourages kids to explore and observe the world around them. “Develop a love for the processes, and then the science and the math that goes behind it is much more interesting,” she says.

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Herman Dolder loves his job. As CI-WATER research assistant, the engineer and BYU doctoral student helps create hydrological models and designs educational games. In this one-minute spotlight video, he explains what’s great about his career in STEM.

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Why a career in STEM? For CI-WATER research assistant Jeff McCarty, it’s that moment he’s figured out how something works.

Science and engineering are challenging fields, and that’s where the fun of it comes in for the BYU Master's student. In this one-minute spotlight video he says, "When you’re working so hard to understand how something is put together…and then finally you get to the moment when—wow! You just got it and everything clicks together, it’s just fun."

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