The 2024 Summer School officially runs from 8:30am Monday, June 10th through 5:00 pm Friday, June 14th. For students arriving on Sunday, June 9th, there will be an optional social/networking activity in the afternoon. Below provides the anticipated schedule, though the exact ordering is potentially subject to change as we get closer to the summer school dates. While some of the topics may sound unfamiliar and potentially intimidating for those working primarily in Engineering Design areas, keep in mind that this Summer School is designed to be a first introduction, particularly for those without prior experience in these topics. The pace and scope will be adjusted accordingly.

Sunday, June 9th – Check-In

While not an “official” day of the Summer School, we will have an optional afternoon social and networking activity should you arrive earlier on Sunday. Specifically, you can see the Social Events page for more information about times and where to go.

Monday, June 10th – Basics of Topology and Differential Topology

The specific schedule of this day will be announced closer to the summer school date, but will have the general format of starting with an overview of a key mathematical field in the keynote, followed a practical tutorial session in the morning to apply one technique. After lunch, we will move toward applying that technique to Engineering Design problems, and finish with a Design Plenary covering challenges in design representation. This evening we will have the graduate poster session and ice cream Social hosted by Maryland Diary.

Tuesday, June 11th – Algebraic Topology

The specific schedule of this day will be announced closer to the summer school date, but will have the general format of starting with an overview of a key mathematical field in the keynote, followed a practical tutorial session in the morning to apply one technique. After lunch, we will move toward applying that technique to Engineering Design problems, and finish with a Design Plenary covering challenges in design representation. The evening will have time for local social outings in the area.

Wednesday, June 12th – Topological Data Analysis and Topology in Machine Learning

The specific schedule of this day will be announced closer to the summer school date, but will have the general format of starting with an overview of a key mathematical field in the keynote, followed a practical tutorial session in the morning to apply one technique. After lunch, we will move toward applying that technique to Engineering Design problems, and finish with a Design Plenary covering challenges in design representation. The evening will have time for local social outings in the area.

Thursday, June 13th – Working on Challenge Problems & Technical Office Hours

This day will be focused primarily on individual and group time to continue work on the provided challenge problems, and for Technical Office Hours to help individual students with topics from the prior days or when attempting the challenge problems. There is also time set aside in the afternoon for longer outings in the surrounding DC area.

Friday, June 14th – Synthesis and Dissemination

This day will be focused on contributing to collaborative presentation and writing projects within the group that summarize our progress on the challenge problem results and preparing brief presentations to the group and invited external guests on promising approaches and lessons learned along with a closing networking event.

Beyond the Summer School

At the conclusion of the Summer School, participants can Opt-In to an alumni listserv to coordinate future explorations and follow-on papers, be informed of subsequent topics and openings for future summers, and be invited to a mini-reunion networking event at the 2024 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference in mid-August in Washington, DC.