An interactive course taught by a professor in a High School

Courses for Universities

Challenge

In the past, having/driving a car was a luxury for the rich, but now it is an essential skill. Similarly, in the past, only programmers needed to write code, but now everything needs some form of computer program. The next generation's challenge is not that AI will replace humans, but how we can equip them with the skills to harness the power of computers, AI, and real intelligence to advance civilization.

Limitations

Driving stick-shift was once essential, but with the advent of automatic transmission and increased vehicle reliability, less people need to understand the internal mechanics of a car. Similarly, we now have car phones, radio, GPS, etc. that do much of the work for the driver. Similarly, we used to have specialists focus on challenges that were stepping stones for where we are. Now, we have humongous data, ever improving cloud resources, faster chips, better understanding of medicine and life sciences. It is not enough to keep learning disciplines like medicine, engineering, data science, etc in isolation. To take humanity to the next level, we need to harness the power of AI and all other technology to solve higher order problems.

Need

The next generation will need to transcend fields of specialization to be able to integrate biology, engineering, computers, AI, AR/VR, etc. Not only software programmers, but even medical doctors, teachers, plumbers, and farmers will need to learn how to program. And medical doctors, lawyers, and programmers of today will need to push the frontiers of science and engineering to integrate real and artificial intelligence. Maybe telepathy and teleportation are not far off after all.

Maybe, we can live on another planet (and save this one too) but we have to start to harness the technologies of the future today. So let’s start learning how to. And that is by equipping our kids with the skills to work with the future challenges.

Solution

Our ever improving course - Opening the hood of our brains - blends the disciplines of Neuroscience, Tissue Engineering, Biochemistry and Computer Science to inspire our future heroes to learn the ropes to solve tomorrow's challenges!

Instructor

Dr. Johana Carolina M. Vega Leonel Ph.D.

Dr. Johana Vega grew up in Bogotá, Colombia. She earned her B.S. from Oglethorpe University and Georgia Institute of Technology in Biotechnology. She obtained her Phd in Neuroscience - NeuroEngineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she pursued her research interests in neural network formation and revascularization.

As a NSF and NSF-IGERT fellow she was able to develop an independent project and collaborate with 4 faculty members across 4 disciplines. After her graduate education, she joined Stanford University as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Neurosurgery Department where she worked on an interdisciplinary project with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories to study neural network formation on a chip.

Dr. Vega continues to pursue her research interests, collaborating with the faculty in Neurosurgery and Radiology departments. She enjoys teaching and has taught courses in anatomy and physiology. As a Teaching College Fellow, she has taught Our Genome (THINK68), Living with Viruses (THINK61), The Cancer Problem (THINK23), Why College? and Citizenship in the 21st Century.

Dr. Vega's university level course has been accredited.

Course Synopsis

This course is an introduction to the world of Neuro Engineering. Students will examine the nervous system through an engineering lens to better understand repairing, regenerating and enhancing the
neurological system. Through readings, clinical studies, research, and new technology available in the field, students will study the formation of connections and the neural network formation
through chemical and electrical engineering models. Working in groups, students apply this information to develop and present ideas that aid the healing and regenerating processes of the nervous system.

Story

Harmeet is a Dean at Offshore University. Harmeet wants to level the playing field by offering bleeding edge courses in the field of neuroscience and computer science remotely through the university.

In an education conference he meets a professor at Island University. Island University had worked with Astute Crew LLC to set up a curriculum for their students. Island University had to do it it a low cost to make it affordable to its students. The professor thought highly of the course and the syllabus.

With that referral, Harmeet sets up a meeting with Astute Crew LLC to see if something like that could be done at Offshore University too.

The core of the syllabus was fine but Harmeet wanted to explore more interactive and laboratory exercises in the course. He also wanted to set up a guest lecture from industry experts in the relevant fields.

Astute Crew LLC set up the customized course, put the Dean in touch with pertinent hardware and software vendors to enable interactive remote learning.