CS professors Yael Gertner and Brad Solomon and CS PhD student Kathleen Isenegger are part of a project team that has received $74,599 as part of the 2025-2026 Chancellor’s Research Program. Their program, active since 2022, seeks to broaden participation in computing in the Champaign community through a paired mentorship program by partnering high school students with a faculty research mentor.
Written by Bruce Adams
The Grainger College of Engineering Siebel School of Computing and Data Science professors Yael Gertner and Brad Solomon and CS PhD student Kathleen Isenegger are part of a project team that has received $74,599 as part of the 2025-2026 Chancellor’s Research Program.
Yael Gertner and Brad Solomon
The goal of "Expanding a High School Summer Research Program in Computer Science by Developing a Practice-based Teacher Education Unit and Mentoring Activities for High School Students in Champaign County" is to broaden participation in computing in the Champaign community through a paired mentorship program designed to promote interest and a sense of belonging in the field of computer science by partnering high school students with a faculty research mentor. The project’s goal is to expand the program, designed and implemented since 2022, in two ways:
Building collaborative partnerships with teachers by designing and piloting a professional development program for up to 15 teachers focusing on integrating computing projects inspired by research into their existing curriculum.
Developing activities that enrich student experience including organization, presentation, and communication skills. The meetings will also serve as social and networking opportunities for students to build community within the program and CS.
Other team members include Daphane Hammer, Champaign Central High School; Chrystalla Mouza, Dean, College of Education; Santiago Ospina Tabares, College of Education and Emily Walsh, Champaign Central High School.
In July 2020, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Jones announced a commitment by the university to empower its community to focus intellectual and scholarly talent to examine the greatest challenges facing our society and seek new solutions. Recognizing the critical need for universities across our nation to prioritize research focused on persistent challenges across society, the Chancellor’s Research Program was begun to provide support for academic research rooted in the goal of a more robust society.