Communities in Schools
Bioinformatics Camp
The Details
Program Goal
Bioinformatics Summer camp aims to inspire, educate, and empower students by providing them with unique and enriching experiences in the realms of bioinformatics. The program was at no cost to selected students ensuring that financial constraints do not limit participation.
Participant Break Down At A Glance
- 100 applications
- 56 female, 41 Male, 3 Non-binary/ Other
- 37 final participants completed the program
- Between 9th -12th grade
Student Schedule: 1 week online/hybrid program
- Day 1-4:
- 6 hours each day
- 24 total hours of programming
- Day 5:
- Showcase Day!
Student Journey:
- Learned the basics of drug development and programming
- Worked on project using session knowledge
- Mentored by professionals and peers in every session
Beyond Summer
- Periodic STEM Webinars
- Bi-Annual Surveys
- Help with college portfolio
- Inspire to take a STEM Major
Detailed Participant Breakdown
Racial Identity
|
Participants
|
---|---|
Other
|
1
|
Asian or Pacific Islander
|
24
|
Decline to Answer
|
3
|
Hispanic or Latino
|
3
|
Multiracial or Biracial
|
3
|
White or Caucasian
|
4
|
Grand Total
|
37
|
Age
|
Participants
|
---|---|
14
|
5
|
15
|
7
|
16
|
13
|
17
|
9
|
18+
|
3
|
Grand Total
|
37
|
Home City
|
# of participants
|
---|---|
Belmont
|
2
|
Fremont
|
13
|
Hayward
|
2
|
Menlo park
|
1
|
Newark
|
1
|
Redwood City
|
1
|
Richmond
|
1
|
San Francisco
|
4
|
San Jose
|
6
|
Stanford
|
1
|
Sunnyvale
|
2
|
Tiburon
|
1
|
Union city
|
1
|
Vallejo
|
1
|
Grand Total
|
37
|
27% of participants qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch (FARL)
Program Schedule Overview
Mentors
Professional Mentors
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image6-1-150x150.png)
Amrita Pati
Senior Director, Clinical Biomarkers & Diagnostics
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image11-1-150x150.png)
Daniel Ellwanger
Principal Scientist (Bioinformatics Technologies)
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image9-1-150x150.png)
Bharath Ramachandran
Director, R&D Information Systems at Amgen
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image14-150x150.png)
Ruchir Sharma
Specialist Software Engineer
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image2-3.png)
Shivani Gupta
Senior Associate Scientist
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image13-1-150x150.png)
Ittai Eres
Senior Scientist
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/blank_lady-150x150.jpg)
Vivienne Watson
Scientific Director
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/blank_lady-150x150.jpg)
Carolyn Ch'ng
Senior Manager Information Systems
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/blank_man-150x150.jpg)
John Wright
Engineer at Amgen
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/blank_man-150x150.jpg)
Jamie Rosner
Technical Product Manager & Principal IS Business Systems Analyst
Shooting Stars Peer Mentors
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image16-150x150.png)
Krishna Senthilkumar
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image3-1-150x150.png)
Pranav Senthilkumar
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image12-150x150.png)
Paul Kim
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image17-150x150.png)
Aditya Sundaram
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image4-2-150x150.png)
Andrew Williams
![](https://shooting-stars-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image15-150x150.png)
Rishabh Poikayil
Sessions Included:
Journey of Drug Development
What technologists/Engineers do at Amgen
Basics of Programming
Biomarkers and Precision Medicine
Next Generation Sequencing Pipelines and Automation
Students in Action
Team 1
- Kyle Wan
- Jeslyn Rai
- Soniya Kamatkar
- Srishti Pathak
- Madeline Rhyasen
- Aarna Singh
Team 2
- Joshua Sin
- Lucas Sin
- Mía D Bazan
- Likhita Chall
Team 3
- Arrun Mila Rashidi
- Mann Aggarwal
- Ira Deokule
- Rizakpreet Shingari
- Jake Truong
- Ayesha Ghuman
Team 4
- Audra Kinser
- Aarzu Singh
- Sara Mohtaj Khorassani
- Youwei Zhang
- Hiya Yadav
- Sharada Kittur
Team 5
- Siya Patel
- Aryan Bhagia
- Luka A Bazan
- Molly Hubbert
- Halima
Team 6
- Japneet Kaur
- Iris Singh
- Swarna
- Vinaitheerthan
- Galle Lipshitz
- Eva Rhyasen
Team 7
- Jasneet Kaur
- Trina Ta
- Ian Flores
- Ellen Li
- Ella Rhyasen
- Jesa Robis
Outcomes
Students worked together to showcase learnings
Students presented their presentations to judges and competed for first, second and third place
All final participants received gift card rewards
Program Impact
Technical Skills
- Basics of Programming
- Datasets
- RStudio and R
Soft Skills
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Decision making
- Time management
- Communication
Strategic Skills
- Innovative thinking
- Implementing functions and programs to find interesting results in their data
Survey Results
reported that they were very likely to pursue an academic or career path in STEM
50
%
of students reported their understanding and level of confidence with bioinformatics concepts significantly by participating in this camp
50
%
of students reported their understanding and level of confidence with programming significantly by participating in this camp
50
%
of students reported that they would recommend this camp to their friends
50
%
of students reported that they would be interested in future SSF camps covering different set of STEM topics
50
%
Feedback
This program showed me opportunities of bioinformatics. its inspired to me to apply in that major during college and sparked my interest in the field.
Siya
Participant
One of the things I found most interesting was how long the process of drug development actually takes and I learned more about what the process entails. I found the lecture to be intriguing and informative.
Japneet
Participant
I enjoyed learning how to code in R, learning about a software engineer’s role in biotech, and learning the application of technology and systems and how important it really is to creating better treatments/finding information
Iris
Participant
The coding sessions were so interactive! The presentations by the mentors and peers were so engaging. Us working in groups and interacting with others, also the conference made it amazing ✨
Hiya
Participant