Pioneering ARTY workshop concludes with robot parade, powered by AT&T and University of Buffalo

1. For Release: July 16, 2015
Contact: Bert Gambini, gambini@buffalo.edu
University at Buffalo
716-645-5334
Media Advisory: Pioneering ARTY workshop concludes with robot parade
Summer program attracts underrepresented groups to STEM fields
BUFFALO, N.Y. – An innovative week-long robotics workshop for middle school
students ages 9-12 will culminate with a robot parade on Friday, July 17, at 10:30 a.m. in
the Canisius College Science Hall, 2001 Main St. in Buffalo.
The 2015 Art, Robotics and Technology for Youth (ARTY) Summer Workshop is a
collaboration among the University at Buffalo’s Techne Institute, Canisius College and
AT&T.
Media are invited on July 17 to see how the students have designed and built their
multiple configurations for the capstone robot parade, a performance at the intersection
of art and technology that incorporates elements of robotics, computer science and
media art and design.
New York State Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy will address the students as part of the
workshop’s finale and present each of the participants with congratulatory certificates.
 WHAT: The Art, Robotics and Technology for Youth (ARTY) robot parade
 WHERE: Canisius College Science Hall, 2001 Main St. in Buffalo
 WHEN: The parade begins at 10:30 a.m. Students are available to discuss their
work at 11 a.m.
The ARTY summer workshop, administered by Sarah Bay-Cheng, director of UB’s
Techne Institute, and led by Debbie Burhans, associate professor of computer science at
Canisius, is a contemporary alternative to the traditional practice of teaching robotics
through programming camps built around competition, robot battles and simulated
warfare.
The ARTY workshop is free and designed to be accessible to the broadest possible
audience, though predominantly attracting groups currently underrepresented in the
academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
“We wanted to create a collaborative and creative engagement for the students that
moves in the direction of creativity, problem solving, aesthetics and beauty,” says Bay-

2. Cheng. "We're working to expand the way kids think about themselves and technology,
to view themselves not just as consumers but as creators. This is important to attract not
only girls and young women to STEM fields, but also to allow all students – boys and
girls of diverse backgrounds – to think of themselves as creative and competent in
contemporary digital culture."
Students work with UB and Canisius artists and engineers to integrate their lessons in
computer science, sensors, circuits, electronic music and design into the final program.
In addition to the workshop’s inventive art and technology curriculum, the entire ARTY
experience is couched in a unique architecture of multi-tiered mentoring, an expansion
to the program made possible by a contribution of more than $16,000 from AT&T.
High school students who have been specifically trained for the weeklong workshop
mentor ARTY participants. Those high school students in turn are mentored by college
and graduate students who are led by faculty.
“Diversifying STEM disciplines is not just a matter of attracting a more diverse
population,” says Bay-Cheng. “It’s also important to establish networks and
mentorships in those fields. It's about being able to imagine yourself in different
environments and seeing successful people who look like you from middle school
though high school and college, to professionals in higher education and beyond.”
The contribution from AT&T is part of the company’s legacy of supporting educational
programs focused on STEM disciplines in New York through AT&T Aspire, the
company’s $350 million commitment to education. With more than 1 million students
impacted since its launch in 2008, Aspire is one of the nation’s largest corporate
commitments focused on school success and workforce readiness by creating new
learning environments and educational delivery systems tohelp students succeed and
prepare them to take on 21st century careers.