STEM Education Center

Welcome to the STEM Education Center in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of South Florida. The Center offers challenging educational programs for gifted high school students. The Center’s aim is to promote creativity and provide Pre-­‐college students with an in depth understanding of the various STEM fields. Through exploration and research the methods and applications of mathematics, computer science, the physical and biological sciences, as well as technological innovations and inventions are presented.

SEC’s genesis at USF goes back to 1971. Since 1979 the Center has been offering summer programs for gifted high school students continuously. For information regarding the 2013 Summer Program please go to our website at www.uc.usf.edu/stem.

A Sample of Research Papers Produced by Program Participants

Below is a sample of research projects produced during the past two years by students entering 12th grade and mentored by USF faculty:

• Knot Theory, Braids, and Cryptography, by Graham Johnson
• The Effect of Drag on Artificial Earth Satellites, by Anthony Ciesla
• The Subset Sum Problem: Reducing Time Complexity of NP-Completeness with Quantum Search, by Bo Moon
• The Design of a Two Degree-of­‐Freedom Powered Prosthetic Wrist, by Shannon Parma
• The Impact of a Sustainability Focused Strategy on Corporate Structure, by Shivam Bharadwaj
• Fundamental Sorting Algorithms: Design, Efficiency, and Applications, by Ian Ludden
• Theoretical Analysis of Mathematical Models on Electrospinning Mechanics, by Xiaodong Lu
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Surgical Mesh Made of Natural Biomaterials, by Austin White

Contact Information:

Dr. Manoug Manougian, Director
STEM Education Center
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CMC342
Tampa, FL 33620-5700
Phone: (813) 974-4068
Fax: (813) 905-9830