Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute

During the last week of May, students from local high schools presented year-long projects on how to use $5 million to improve preventive care in their communities to a panel of judges, from distinctive professions. The presentations were part of a week-long online capstone event for the Project Engagement Encouraging Rising Students (PEERS) program at UH.

The program is part of the HPE Data Science Institute’s Engaged Data Science Initiative. During the fall semester, the program started with 66 undergraduates and 42 mentees.

PEERS is first and foremost a mentoring program. We use project-based learning on topics of health and data science to connect high school students with undergraduate mentors at the University of Houston,” said Andrew Kapral, director of engaged data science.

Annually, PEERS create competitions for high school students to explore the STEM and community health fields to figure out new improvements and benefits. After the competition, there is an award ceremony to commemorate the accomplishments of the students, mentors, and participants.

This year, Lamar High School won first and second place, and Austin High School won third place. The winners received scholarship prizes that will go toward their education.

Congratulations to all our student presenters, and thank you to our undergraduate mentors, guest judges, project leaders, and everyone at the University of Houston and HPE Data Science Institute who support the PEERS project,” Kapral said.