Outreach
The Department of Computer Science at UNC-Chapel Hill hosts approximately 1,500 visitors each year for various outreach activities. Our main areas of outreach include demonstrations for group visits, enabling technology demonstrations, collaborative outreach, conferences & competitions.
Department Visits
Fall: Middle School and High School Open House
The next Middle School and High School Open House will be held on a Saturday in the fall of 2020.
Please view this PDF for more information.
As a part of the department’s outreach program, we invite high school and middle school students from across the state to visit and experience the exciting world of computer science. During our Open House event, school and extracurricular groups can participate in hands-on demonstrations, visit research labs to find out what computing is all about and talk with current students about why they chose computer science at Carolina.
High school students and their parents can register to attend information sessions about computer science at UNC. These sessions are typically led by either the department chair or the director of undergraduate studies and feature a panel of student ambassadors.
The event will take place in Sitterson Hall and Brooks Building. Our address is 201 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. We welcome both groups and individuals to this event.
While you’re here, we hope you will enjoy your time on campus and check out Franklin Street for a local lunch!
Spring: UNC Science Expo
The next UNC Science Expo will be Saturday, April 4, 2019.
In collaboration with the UNC Science Expo and the NC Science Festival, visitors will have the chance to tour labs, speak to scientists, and participate in many hands-on science activities. Most of the Science Expo takes place along Cameron Avenue, but the Sitterson Hall lobby is just a short walk from Cameron, down the alley between Peabody Hall and Phillips Hall. During the Science Expo, Sitterson Hall and Brooks Building will be open for research and hardware demonstrations from department personnel. Come in from the heat for a while, and get a taste of computer science at UNC.
The event will take place in Sitterson Hall and Brooks Building. Our address is 201 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. We welcome both groups and individuals to this event.
Women in Computer Science
The Department’s outreach places special emphasis on increasing the number of women in Computer Science. We partner with the Women and Mathematics (WAM) mentoring program which has brought more than 400 eighth-grade girls and their mentors to the Department to watch demos and also to discuss computer science with female faculty members and graduate students.
Enabling Technology
Maze Day
Maze Day invites blind and visually impaired students in kindergarten through 12th grade and their parent/guardians/teachers to the Department to experience a wide variety of educational games and tools created just for them.
Tar Heel Reader
Tar Heel Reader is a website designed to help teachers make easy-to-read books for children with disabilities, using the publishing platform WordPress and Creative Commons images from Flickr.
Hark the Sound
Hark the Sound is a collection of free audio games for the web. Games have speech, sound, and graphics for players of all ages and abilities.
Collaborations
The UNC Science Expo
Visitors have the chance to tour labs, speak to scientists, and participate in many hands-on science activities.