AUS Computing Camp introduces students to engineering design and innovation

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) recently held the AUS High School Computing Camp, an exciting new initiative for high school students across the country to help them learn about the dynamic field of CSE.

The computing camp introduced students from grade 10-12 to various aspects of engineering design and innovation. Participating high school students in the five-day camp came from schools that are part of the Sharakah program, a partnership between AUS and select high schools across the country.

This new initiative focused on a wide variety of topics ranging from web development, robotics, smart homes and Internet of Things (IoT), mobile apps, programming, cybersecurity, and more. The aim was to serve students in building their technical and soft skills through presentations, problem solving, teamwork, communication skills, and time management with the help and guidance of instructors from CSE. A competition was also held at the conclusion of the camp.

At the five-day camp, students were introduced to various concepts covering a wide spectrum of computing as they were introduced to basics of electric and digital systems and worked on building their first simple digital circuits. Participants were also introduced to the basics of programming and created their first C++ programs to solve different problems. The camp also allowed them to focus on building simple Android apps as well as developing basic HTML webpages. They were introduced to the concept of robotics and worked on building their own robots to perform autonomous tasks such as sumo fighting robots.