Sameerah Wajahat (L), Yasas Witharana (C), and Tem Tamre (R) welcome campers to the 2018 Science Summer Camps. Photo credit: Michaela Ream
Science Summer Camp instructors are passionate and enthusiastic about sharing their love of science with our camps of future scientists. Meet the instructors of our Advanced Computing Science and Game Design summer camps.
Yasas Witharana
Program: BSc electrical engineering
Interests: Skiing, biking, technology, and business
What do you love most about science?
I like how everyone learns the same core facts and scientific principles to eventually apply them in many different fields.
Why do you think it is important to promote science to young people, and what makes you a good science mentor?
Young people need to have a good background in the science so they can make intelligent decisions about the world around them.
Why did you want to work with Science Summer Camps?
I wanted to work with the Science Summer Camps after reading the programs that they offered in technology. Teaching others about computing science, something I am passionate about, will make this position a memorable experience and not just a job.
Can you tell us a fun fact about your favourite scientist or scientific discovery?
Today you can buy a phone with 64 or even 128 gigabytes of storage and the memory on the phone only costs around $10 to manufacture. In 1980, only 38 years ago, a single gigabyte of memory cost over $40,000 and the hard drive would be the size of a room!
Tell us a fun fact about you.
A lot of my knowledge about technology has come from YouTube.
Tem Tamre
Program: Computer sciences and psychology, 3rd year
Interests: Fitness, technology, music, video editing
What do you love most about science?
The amazing things you can create with a little bit of knowledge, intuition, and problem-solving skills!
Why do you think it is important to promote science to young people, and what makes you a good science mentor?
I believe that being in the sciences program opens up the minds of young people to so many different aspects of the world and the inner workings of the things we interact with every day.
What makes me a great science mentor is my drive and passion for educating and being educated on the many different things that make up the world around us.
Why did you want to work with Science Summer Camps?
I want to work with Science Summer Camps so I can teach young scientists about the wonderful world of computing science and game design, in order to create fun experiences and to build upon problem-solving skills.
Can you tell us a fun fact about your favourite scientist or scientific discovery?
All the way back in the 1950s, Alan Turing developed a test for computers that aimed to test if it could show behaviors similar to humans. The first computer program to pass the test did so in 2014.
Tell us a fun fact about you.
I can play 4 different musical instruments.
Sameerah Wajahat
Program: BSc, specialization in computing science
Interests: Reading, photography
What do you love most about science?
I love the computing component of science. Programming and coding.
Why do you think it is important to promote science to young people, and what makes you a good science mentor?
Because it's the age of science and I love teaching and science both!
Why did you want to work with Science Summer Camps?
Science is the future and there's no better work than preparing the leaders of tomorrow.
Can you tell us a fun fact about your favourite scientist or scientific discovery?
Albert Einstein had an IQ of 160.
Tell us a fun fact about you.
I've lived in 6 cities.