July 7-11,2025 and July 14-18, 2025

Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Camps

Develop your skills, or learn something completely new, in our hands-on summer STEM camps for high school students.

Person sitting at drawing tablet drawing

About IU Indianapolis's STEM Camps

Our one-week camps provide learning opportunities that improve students' computer skills. Faculty from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering in Indianapolis teach the sessions and help students to explore in-demand career options.

These are day-camps, held on the IU Indianapolis campus, that run from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday of each week.

The camps are open to students entering grades 9-12.

2D Illustration and Animation

In this camp, we'll dive right into the foundations of 2D Animation both narratively and visually–-a crash course in storytelling!

We’ll start with The Hero's Journey, giving you an understanding of how stories are structured and why they're structured that way. Then, we'll break down the 12 Principles of Animation and the Animation Pipeline to explore how those stories are built up visually. You’ll do all this by creating your own animated series concept. You’ll build it up from scratch and receive feedback, and you’ll leave this workshop with a fully realized property of your own, ready to present through comics, TV, or film.

Instructor: David Perry

Student using an AI software on a computer

Artificial Intelligence and Bot Development

This workshop will guide you through the exploration of the symbiotic relationship between AI and humans, fostering your imagination and creativity. You will explore the intersection of AI and Human Intelligence (HI) in the co-creation of technology and relationships, analyzing scenarios of self-learning AI systems while assessing potential risks in human-AI interactions.

As a participant, you will learn how to adopt a Conversation-Driven Development (CDD) model and leverage Natural Language Processing (NLP), Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and dialogue management to build effective AI assistants. Going beyond theory, you will be creating your own Digital Twin—a virtual representation of yourself—by designing personalized AI agents. This hands-on experience will include crafting conversation paths, training data, and integrating AI applications to build, connect, and train your own digital assistant.

By the end of this workshop, you will have not only gained insights into the foundations of AI bot development but also created a personal AI assistant, paving the way for a deeper understanding of AI’s role in shaping your digital future.

Instructor: Fawzi Ben Messaoud, Ph.D.

Digital Biology

On average, 99.9% of human DNA is common among all humans. What parts of the human genome are variable? How can 0.1% difference lead to different hair colors, eye colors, blood types, and all the other characteristics that make us all unique? How can we use computers to help answer these questions? In this summer camp, we'll examine these questions and more, as we harness the computing power of modern computers and dive into the world of human genetics. You won't need any previous programming or biology experience.

Instructor: Xander Krohannon, M.S.

Game Design & Development

Are you enthralled by PlayStation 4 or Xbox One games? Do you have an idea for a gaming world that you want to bring to life? Take advantage of this unique opportunity to become a beginning game developer! Using Unreal 4—the world's leading game engine that was used to create "Batman: Arkham Asylum," "Gears of War," and the "Final Fantasy 7" remake—you'll learn to create a fully playable, original 3-D world complete with lands, buildings, and all kinds of objects from the world of gaming. You won't need previous experience.

Note: Due to prior behavior issues, this camp topic will have a grade restriction. Only students entering grade 10 and above may register.

Instructor: Mathew Powers, M.F.A.

Creature & Character Design

Do you love creatures and aliens? Do you have a sketchbook full of original creations?

You'll learn to draw, animate, and create a creature, alien or other characters to share with your friends and family—and how to use the Spore Creature Creator Engine. To help bring your creations to life, We will study myths, legends, biology, and evolution—and how your creatures fit into video games, comic books, movies, and more. You'll also explore the creation of Pokémon and its worldwide success.

Instructor: Mathew Powers, M.F.A.