AI Summer School: Pitt HexAI Research Laboratory

Our AI Summer School organized by the Pitt HexAI Research Laboratory and Computational Pathology and AI Center of Excellence (CPACE) aims to provide a stimulating and unique opportunity for high school students (grades 11 and 12) to dive into the fascinating world of artificial intelligence (AI) and its application in medical imaging informatics. This is a program designed for advanced high school students (grades 11–12). We launched the AI Summer School in the summer of 2023, and it has been conducted annually since its inception. This year, our AI Summer School will be held between Monday, June 8 to Friday, June 12, 2026; 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM EDT, at the University of Pittsburgh, in collaboration with the Computational Pathology & AI Center of Excellence (CPACE), the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and IEEE Computer Society in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Medical imaging informatics leverages AI-driven computer vision to analyze and interpret medical images for better diagnosis and treatment. A key area of focus is object detection and localization, where AI systems identify and locate relevant features within medical images. This summer school will dive into these techniques, teaching participants how to apply them using Python programming. Through lectures, hands-on exercises, and collaborative projects, attendees will gain practical skills in AI-powered medical image analysis, preparing them to tackle real-world challenges in the field.

Program

The AI Summer School offers a comprehensive one week program designed to introduce high school and community college students to artificial intelligence and its applications in medical imaging. The program begins with foundational concepts, including an introduction to AI, computer vision, and digital image operations, followed by hands-on practice with Python and Google Colab. As the week progresses, students explore advanced topics such as deep learning, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and object detection techniques like YOLO and SSD. Each day includes lectures from esteemed faculty, hands-on coding exercises, and guest talks from AI researchers in academia and industry. Students will gain practical experience in medical image annotation, image filtering, and object localization, utilizing tools like PyTorch, ITK-SNAP, and Liner.ai. The program culminates in a collaborative team project, where participants apply their knowledge to real-world challenges, followed by team presentations. The summer school concludes with a certificate ceremony, recognizing students' achievements and their participation in this immersive AI learning experience. Further information is available here!

Prerequisite: Basic Python programming! If not familiar with this prerequisite, follow the link here!

Registration (Free)

We invite high school students in grades 11 and 12, who have a strong interest in advanced technology, healthcare informatics, and artificial intelligence (AI) to apply. Students from all backgrounds and levels of experience are encouraged to apply. Upon successful completion of the summer program, students will receive a certificate of participation, acknowledging their commitment and accomplishments in AI-powered medical imaging informatics.

Year 2026 (Open): Register here! Registration closes on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT.
Year 2025: [Closed]
Year 2024: [Closed]
Year 2023: [Closed]

Students' Testimonials

Read what past participants have to say about their experience at the AI Summer School.

Everything was just so interesting and I feel like I have found something new that I might want pursue in the future, and I think Dr. Tafti and all the other instructors were very helpfuland really just facilitated like the entire learning process. And I found that AI and all these really hard things that I always thought were really complicated were actually quite easy to understand. - Katherine
After coming here I learnd a lot as I didn't know a huge lot about AI before coming here, but after coming here know I have learned about like machine learning and like deep learning, the differences between that and I just feel like AI is such a big like broad topic that can really be implemented into anything. - Sophia
I was so glad that I signed up because there is so many opportunities and so much to learn from this program, and you can meet a lot of guest speakers and we have a great teacher Dr. Tafti and he will teach you so much about AI and medical imaging. - Zoe
It was such a pleasure being part of the AI in Medical Imaging camp this past week. Thank you for leading such a fun and insightful experience! I really appreciated your engaging teaching style and the way you broke down complex concepts in a way that was easy to understand. The camp has sparked my interest in learning more about bioinformatics and the intersection between AI and medicine. - Hrshikesh
Thank you very much for conducting this AI Summer school, I feel like I learned a lot and I am now interested in maybe pursuing a career in health informatics. - Pragnya