Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems & Technology (CISST)

University Introduces High School Students to Computer-Assisted Surgery

The ERC for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology (CISST) offers a precollege outreach course in Computer-Integrated Surgery (CIS) in the Johns Hopkins Summer Program. The course is designed to spark the enthusiasm of high school students and undergraduates, with a particular emphasis on attracting female students and underrepresented minorities. The course strikes a balance between traditional engineering classwork and captivating footage and stories about CIS systems to offset the subject's complexity and the depth of math and computer programming toolsets needed in the hands-on projects.

The course is designed to introduce the students to the most important issues and concepts of CIS. They learn to ask questions and look for answers the way CIS engineers study and build systems. The Center emphasizes multidisciplinary concepts and systems through a series of novel clinical applications that are currently in use or under development at the ERC and various other institutions. The homework assignments involve math problems that pertain to medical image processing and surgical navigation.

So that a wide spectrum of students can participate, the homework does not require computer programming, and the course has no prerequisites. The students compete to take part in an actual clinical experiment. Both the academic quality of the course and diversity of participants have improved steadily over the years. Female students comprised 25 percent of the class in 1999 and 46 percent in 2003. Students are offered recommendations for college application, enabling us to keep a record of students who apply to engineering programs. The Washington Post Magazine featured the program in its November 9, 2003 edition.

To learn more about this topic:
Visit the Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems & Technology web site at http://cisstweb.cs.jhu.edu/about/CenterOverview/.

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Poonam Desai, a student in the 2003 "Introduction
to Computer Integrated Surgery" class, performs
image guided surgery on a human cadaver with the
help of class instructor Gabor Fichtinger.

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Last modified: February 17, 2005