Applications are now open.   Apply here. Deadline to apply: March 26, 2025, 5:00 pm EST. 

Summer STEM is an opportunity to try engineering for the first time or to dive deeper into engineering teamwork. Each 3- or 6-week class covers college-level topics and activities completed by The Cooper Union undergraduates in their first or second year or explores student and faculty research projects. Current high school students in grades 9, 10, and 11 can apply.  This selective program encourages all curious, compassionate, and college-interested students to apply regardless of prior experience. Summer STEM 2025 occurs July 7-August 14, 2025, Monday - Thursday, 9:00am-3:00pm. All of our classes will be held in person on our campus located at 41 Cooper Square, New York, New York.

SUMMER STEM 2025 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
3 Week Course
Session 1: July 7 - July 24, 2025
Session 2: July 28 - August 14, 2025

Design Thinking in Engineering– 3 Week Course: Session 1 & Session 2 
 

This course introduces high school students to the five key steps of design thinking: empathizing with users, defining challenges, ideating solutions, prototyping innovations, and testing results. Over three weeks, students will grow into effective problem solvers who approach complex challenges with curiosity and confidence. 
 
Learning outcomes 
 
    •    Understand the basics of human-centered design 
    •    Develop creative critical thinking skills and empathy for their users 
    •    Practice various research techniques, data collection and processing 
    •    Gain awareness of inclusive design practices 
    •    Learn basic prototyping techniques 
 

6-Week Courses 
July 7 - August 14, 2025

Embedded Systems: C-ing Beyond Arduino 

Starting with programming an Arduino Uno Rev3 with the Arduino framework and progressing to bare-metal C on the underlying AVR microcontroller, students will dive headfirst into the embedded world where all the safety is off, and all our favorite abstractions are gone. Students will start with an Arduino and get comfortable interfacing with hardware using digital IO, PWM, ADCs, interrupts, and communications protocols like UART & I2C. Once familiar, the facade will get peeled away, and students will get a rundown of a Unix shell, computer architecture, compilers, build systems, and debuggers. Using this new-found knowledge, students will go through the paces of writing a device driver using one of the available memory-mapped peripherals on an AVR microcontroller to gain familiarity with bare-metal C. Throughout the course, students will get constant exposure to practical embedded applications and by the end, will have to come up with and implement an embedded application from scratch. 
 
Student outcomes: 
    •    Gain familiarity with embedded tools and hardware devices. 
    •    The ability to apply embedded programming techniques. 
    •    Successfully traverse datasheets and sample code. 
    •    Debugging techniques (software and hardware) along with collaboration. 

Design and Drawing for Engineering 

Inspired by classes that every Cooper Union engineering student takes in their 1st year, students develop design practices and problem-solving skills by examining their community's needs. At the same time, students learn sketching, technical drawing, and computer-aided design and tools and strategies for communicating ideas through words, images, and speech. Meetings with faculty, students, and engineers will introduce current problems and the solutions developed at Cooper Union or engineering and technology companies. By the end of the program, students identify a problem, design a solution, and create a portfolio and video to promote how they imagine and engineer a better world. 
 
Student outcomes: 

    •    Learn engineering drawing skills and tools 
    •    Develop spatial visualization and rotation skills and associated vocabulary 
    •    Learn to represent 3D objects in 2D 
    •    Learn CAD with Onshape 
    •    Learn to use rapid prototyping tools 
    •    Develop tools and protocols for testing prototypes 
    •    Use Design Thinking to create ideas and products for a target audience 

Exploring NYC Through Data Visualization 

Students will learn about New York City through exploratory data analysis. This is a great class for students who are interested in coding and data science. Students will first acquire a foundation in the Python programming language and relevant data science packages. Building off this, students will learn techniques for working with various types of data. Finally, students will apply the tools they have learned to analyze a dataset from NYC Open Data ( https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us/). Students will communicate their findings by producing an infographic about their NYC dataset.  
 
Student Outcomes:  
    •    Become proficient in Python (and data science packages)  
    •    Build exploratory data analysis skills
    •    Become proficient in data visualization  
    •    Build graphic design skills  
 

 3D Design & Fabrication: From Concept to Creation  

What happens when creativity meets innovative technology? In this hands-on course, students will dive into the world of 3D design and digital fabrication to bring ideas to life. Using tools like 3D printers and laser cutters in Cooper Union’s Makerspace, students will experiment with turning sketches into prototypes. Using Cardboard, wood, plastics and found objects, students will explore how form, function, and materials intersect.  
Through interactive projects, students will tackle creative challenges, learn the basics of design principles and fabrication tools, and explore how engineering, design, and art work together to solve practical and conceptual real-world problems. Emphasis will be placed on process and experimentation, encouraging students to embrace mistakes, unexpected outcomes, and innovative thinking as core parts of the design journey.  

Student Outcomes:  
       • Gain hands-on experience with 3D printers and laser cutters.  
       • Learn the fundamentals of 3D design and digital fabrication processes.  
       • Experiment with materials and creative problem-solving techniques.  
       • Explore the connections between engineering, design, and art.  
       • Collaborate on design challenges that inspire innovation and critical thinking.  
 
 

Circular Design: Engineering Sustainability for a Greener Future 

As the world’s population grows, the need to advance civilization while preserving quality of life becomes increasingly urgent. With finite resources being depleted at unsustainable rates, this course challenges students to explore sustainable practices in product design and development. Through hands-on projects and real-world applications, students will investigate renewable energy technologies, innovative strategies to repurpose waste materials like plastics, and methods to assess environmental footprint using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). By integrating concepts from chemical, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering, students will gain a comprehensive perspective on sustainability. They will study the circular economy, a model that minimizes waste by keeping materials in use for as long as possible, and analyze case studies to see these principles applied in consumer products and infrastructure systems. Combining creativity and problem-solving, students will design functional products and 3-D printing prototypes that address real-world environmental challenges, equipping them with the skills to innovate for a more sustainable future. 
 
Student Outcomes: 
    •    Understand the fundamentals of sustainability, renewable energy technologies, and the circular          economy 
    •    Apply innovative techniques to repurpose waste materials, such as plastics, into functional and          practical products 
    •    Utilize LCA tools to analyze and minimize the environmental impact of products and systems 
    •    Collaborate effectively in teams to design and prototype solutions that address real-world envi-            ronmental challenges 
    •    Strengthen problem-solving, creative thinking, and communication skills through hands-on                  projects, data analysis, and professional presentations Accordion content.

Explorations in Interdisciplinary Art: Developing Sculpture and generative image with Arduino, Touch Designer, and More

This course will foster interdisciplinary collaboration and explore the intersections of Art and Engineering. We will learn the fundamentals to digital fabrication and working with electronics in a variety of capacities to culminate into an open-ended final project and exhibition. Students are encouraged to bring their individual strengths and interests into the work they complete for the course and expand their skillset into otherwise uncharted territory. We’ll start off with the basics of C programming with Arduino, including topics such as GPIO, motor control, and serial communication with a variety of modules. From here we’ll move into CAD and digital fabrication with laser cutting, 3D printing, and more; explore the art of the generative and reactive image with touch designer; and ideate together to develop meaningful directions behind our work. We’ll also explore concepts in sound and installation.  
 
Learning will be guided by a variety of both group and individual projects.  
 
Student Outcomes:  
    •    Working and practical knowledge of Arduino and interfacing with modules. 
    •    Solid understanding of CAD and digital fabrication techniques. 
    •    Develop skills to collaborate in a trans-disciplinary setting. 
    •    Ability to problem solve across different lenses, both artistic and technical.  
 

The Origin of Patterns: Science, Math, and Art

Orderly structures exist in our minds and our surroundings. From unique hexagonal snowflakes to honeycombs, patterns often emerging in nature in response to the constraints of physics and chemistry. But these constraints often result from pure mathematics, with the material world acting as a medium. For instance, the packing of spheres in neat lattices is a mathematical fact. Such patterns in materials form the basis for smart function. At a microscopic level we find crystals and nanoparticles that form complex lattices beyond our wildest imaginations. On the other hand, at the macroscopic level we find knitted fabrics and meta materials that go beyond the original properties of the fibers and materials with the use of patterns. Artists have long found themselves hyper-fixated with patterns (consider Escher, Mondrian). Poets work to create patterns of words and phonetics that evoke deep emotions. Musicians find themselves lost in the sensation of harmony that exists in mathematical patterns emergent in sounds of various frequencies.

In this course we will cover:
       • Mathematics + Patterns: symmetries, repetitions, tessellations
       • Chemistry + Patterns: crystals, oscillating reactions 
       • Materials + Patterns: meta materials, knitting 
       • Art + Patterns: music, lattices, clothing
 

Python-based computational explorations will be used to extend these concepts whenever possible, along with hands on experience with 3D printing of patterned materials.

Student outcomes:

• Learn the mathematics of patterns 

• Practice the use of python to generate and visualize patterns 

• Gain familiarity to the ubiquity of patterns in day-to-day life and materials

• Learn the use of 3D printing to generate patterned materials

 

Computational Physics

Physics, or natural philosophy, is the science which encompasses all others. Physics explains both the microscopic and macroscopic, and as such, concerns itself with systems smaller than atoms and larger than galaxies. In this 6-week, intensive course, we’ll develop the tools a modern day physicist needs to succeed. We’ll begin by developing mathematics, specifically linear algebra and calculus, the language of physics. Of course, we won’t be taking a traditional pen and paper approach—we’ll get our hands dirty right away, seeing how our ideas can be translated into Python programs that work. As we gain familiarity with linear algebra and calculus, we’ll begin discussing all sorts of physical phenomena, from particles moving in one-dimension to planets moving in orbits around stars. All of this work will culminate in a large final project of your choosing, which will involve simulating a real-world physical process on the computer. 

Student Outcomes:

• Understand the mathematical language physicists speak in
• Understand how to translate abstract concepts into code that works
• Gain comfort with physical concepts and develop an intuition for them

Read the SUMMER STEM FAQs to learn more about Summer STEM 2025

Hear about Summer STEM from past students and staff: What is Summer STEM? Video.

To receive updates on our upcoming programs, please complete our interest form.

Still have questions about SUMMER STEM?  Email stem@cooper.edu

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