AI/Machine Learning
Research Bootcamp

Description

We live in a world where AI can play games, create ‘art’ and talk to you. But what is AI, really? And how can we harness its power for good?

This virtual 6-week university-level camp taught by MIT and Stanford engineers for 8th – 12th graders starts from the basics. Students are first introduced to the mathematics behind various AI, machine learning and deep learning models and then taught various data preprocessing techniques and how to train their own complex AI models from scratch. By the end of the camp, students will have acquired the basic skills needed for an entry-level data scientist and machine learning engineer position.
 
For their midterm and final project, students work in teams of 3-4 and engage in cutting edge interdisciplinary machine learning research either in conjunction with a university or independently, in fields such as medicine, digital humanities, economics and linguistics. Upon conclusion of the project, students write and publish their research papers online and present their research posters to university professors in the annual MehtA+ Machine Learning conference and have the potential to publish in research journals and present in other conferences as well. Students who successfully complete the camp will receive a certificate.

No prior experience is required. See past projects of this camp here.

 

 

Deadline: June 11, 2025 (Applications accepted on a rolling basis.)

View MehtA+ student pictures from IFoRE and IYRC conferences! 

Is learning AI really no different from eating a Ferrero Rocher chocolate? See the answer here.

FAQS

Application Details

Please fill out the application form.

Interested 8th-12th graders (ages 13-18) located anywhere in the world are eligible to apply.

If you are a student interested in learning university-level computer science concepts (programming, AI/machine learning and data visualization) and its application to the sciences and the digital humanities and would like to complete a cool project with like-minded individuals independently or under the guidance of faculty members of universities, this camp will be a great fit for you.

We select students based on the passion for learning demonstrated in their essays for applications. We are looking for students who have a willingness to work hard and learn new things. 

You will hear back from us within a month of submitting your application.

Bootcamp

This 6-week summer project-based bootcamp will take place virtually (through Zoom) on weekdays from June 23rd, 2025 to August 1st, 2025.

From June 23 – July 11 (Weeks 1-3), classes will be held every day on the weekdays from 10 am – 11 am CDT.

From July 14 – August 1 (Weeks 4-6),  classes will be held every day on the weekdays from 8 am CDT – 12 pm CDT

There will be a holiday on July 4th.

Instructors will hold optional office hours almost every evening during Weeks 1-6 and will be available on Slack 24/7 to answer questions that students have.

The camp will conclude with a conference the evening of July 31st at 8pm CDT, where students will be presenting their project to parents and distinguished faculty members.

Classes will consist of a combination of lectures that will emphasize the theory and application of AI/machine learning in the sciences and digital humanities as well as group activities. 

During Weeks 4-6, lectures will take place live during the class.

During Weeks 1-3, some lectures will take place while some will be assigned for at-home watching.

Students will be assigned mini assignments almost every day, which they are expected to complete in order to participate in a machine learning research project with our partner universities.

In addition to the assignments, students are expected to spend the rest of the day working on their midterm and final project, thus making the expected commitment full-time. We do not recommend students partaking in any other major extracurricular activities during the summer.

For several of our students, school is still in session and exams are taking place during the first few weeks of our camp. We wanted to give our students additional flexibility to watch the lectures at whatever time during the day they wish, or in advance, if needed. We tried this format last year, and students really loved it!

Additionally, the class hours can be very early for our students in PST time zone and very late for our students in Asia. Our students’ wellbeing is of utmost importance to us, and we wanted to make sure our students received enough sleep during Weeks 1-3, so that they feel ready to come to class from 8 am CST – 12 pm CST during Weeks 4-6.  

For students who are available during the morning hours, our virtual classroom will still be open so that students who are interested and available can watch the lectures together, if they wish. Instructors will also be available on Slack so that students can ask questions in real-time. Besides the one hour class each day during Weeks 1-3, there will also be office hours so students can receive additional help on homework and in understanding the lectures.

We will be covering common AI and machine learning techniques.

Students will learn AI/machine learning topics such as k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines, perceptron, classification vs regression, neural networks, convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks/long short-term memory networks, reinforcement learning and natural language processing.

Students will learn Python and its various machine learning and data science libraries including, but not limited to Numpy, Pandas, Scikit-learn, Tensorflow, Keras, PyTorch, Matplotlib and NLTK.

Students will learn about good coding practices, different text editors (Nano, Vim, VS Code), learn commands on Terminal/Command Line, learn how to make a virtual environment and learn how to code in a team using Github. They will also be introduced to different computing platforms such as AWS and GCP.

Students will be trained in writing a conference-style research paper in Latex and machine learning research methods. They will also be creating a technical poster.

Students will learn about ethical implications in research (bias and imbalance, etc.) and ChatGPT prompt engineering.

We will also have guest lectures from scholars from relevant fields.

Syllabus is subject to change, based on the needs of students.

Students will be working in teams of 3-4 on an interdisciplinary mid project and final project, in which they will apply machine learning to a specific field. All students will work on the same mid-project and each group will be approaching the problem statement in a unique way. The final project will be unique to each group, and students will work on the project independently or in collaboration with a university.

In a rapidly changing world, it is very important to us at MehtA+ that our students work on interdisciplinary research since it demonstrates to universities and companies that our students have the potential to keep an open-mind, adapt and apply unique solutions to new challenges.

 

We do! Check out all the past years’ projects underneath Student Projects here

If you’re not sure which project to check out first since they all look very interesting, maybe check out Deep Learning Techniques for Melanoma Classification which uses some machine learning techniques covered in graduate school!

We work with top universities all across the world! In the past, we have worked with universities in the US such as Williams College, Haverford College and University of Buffalo SUNY as well as international universities such as University of Bologna, Italy University of Groningen, Netherlands and Singapore Institute of Technology.

Within the universities, we have worked with a multitude of labs including language, digital humanities and operations research labs, as well as university art museums and conservation-related non-profits created out of university labs. You can view the universities we have worked with in the past here.

The universities we work with are always excited to see how MehtA+ students apply machine learning to their research.

Our instructors are all experienced machine learning research researchers who are graduates of prestigious universities such as MIT and Stanford. Besides teaching at MehtA+, they are currently pursuing their PhD studies in computer science and industry professionals at top software companies, where they are working with large language models (GPT) and other cutting-edge machine learning models. 

Our TAs are alumni of this bootcamp, who are currently pursuing computer science at top-tier universities.

We think they are, but you be the judge! Check out the article the head instructor wrote on the AI/Machine Learning Research Bootcamp. Ferrero Rocher, anyone?

Our student-to-MehtA+ staff ratio is around 5:1. In addition to working with MehtA+ staff, students will be working closely with PhD students and professors from various universities. 

Cost

The cost of attending the bootcamp is $1,990 USD. This cost also covers the computational resources used in the camp.

In order to make our educational programs as accessible as possible, we will be offering limited scholarships of up to $1,000 USD on a first-come, first-served basis for students whose family’s income is under $80,000 for 2023 and 2024. Our admission is need-blind, so applying for financial aid will not affect the student’s admission chances. 

This year, we are also offering an internship-study program for students whose family’s income is under $30,000 USD for 2023 and 2024. In addition to receiving a $1,000 USD scholarship, students will be offered a paid STEM + social media internship position in our organization.  (This application is separate from the bootcamp application.)

All qualifying students must send an email to finaid@mehtaplustutoring.com with the subject,

“FULL NAME OF STUDENT – MehtA+ AI/ML Financial Aid” in a week of submitting this application with

1) an explanation on why your family particularly requires financial assistance, 

2) Gross yearly income for family across all sources and 

3) Most recently filed tax returns of both guardians of the student or other relevant income statements (does not include bank statements) with Taxpayer Identification and Social Security Numbers redacted

4 – optional) A statement expressing interest in the paid STEM + social media internship position (only needed if family’s income is under $30,000 USD and student is interested in exploring this opportunity)

Students who are interested in and qualify for the STEM+Social Media internship should express interest in their financial aid application. Once the financial aid application is submitted and approved, the application form for the internship-study program will be made available to the student. 

The application form will consist of a short essay question, unofficial transcript and a recommendation letter from a teacher. 

MehtA+

When you attend a MehtA+ camp, mentorship does not end only after camp. Our staff offers college and career advice and company referrals well after the bootcamp. Post the bootcamp, you will be invited to be a part of the international MehtA+ alumni network composed of students from our previous bootcamps. Many of our alumni have attended some of the world’s best universities, including MIT, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon and University of Toronto

MehtA+ alumni are invited for teaching and mentorship opportunities with us. These opportunities give students another chance to engage with the material that they have learned through our bootcamps and create their own curriculum under the guidance of MehtA+ instructors. We also invite our alumni to be MehtA+ teaching assistants and tutors.

Testimonials

“MehtA+ provided me with the ideal scaffolding that I needed to grow. At the time, when all other doors were closed, segregated because of either my demographics or financial situation, MehtA+ provided me an opportunity that opened so many new doors. Surely, teachers affect eternity, and they can never tell where their influence stops!
The program was well-structured and organized, with a perfect blend of learning and fun. I appreciated the attention to detail, from coffee talks to office hours, and the support from instructors like Miss Haripriya. The opportunity to work on projects, network, and receive career counseling was invaluable. I’m grateful for the welcoming environment and the chance to learn from experienced professors and guest speakers and I’m eager to give back in the future. Thank you for an incredible experience!”

“I have to say this boot camp has taught me more than I ever thought I could in six weeks. The virtual setting didn’t deter us from our understanding at all. Honestly, I felt like it helped us understand everything more thoroughly, as we could always revisit the material whenever we wanted. The teachers were remarkably patient and understanding – receptive to our questions and ideas and often taking time outside of the class hours to help us. Additionally, the teachers gave us insights into their experiences, in addition to inviting several guest speakers, so we would have an idea of what the field would be like. Even after the camp ended, the teachers still reach out to let us know about further opportunities. When looking back to those six weeks, I’m still shocked at how much we accomplished in such a short period. Taking this boot camp was definitively the best decision I ever made during this pandemic.”

“I absolutely enjoyed being a part of MehtA+ camp last summer. The knowledge I gained during the six weeks from the instructors is not easy to get in other places. The teachers are great and truly enjoy teaching and sharing their knowledge about Artificial Intelligence. The camp allowed me for the first time to really dive into the world of AI and ML. In addition to the understanding theory, I also enjoyed the opportunity to apply the concepts in real world.
Even in an online format, the camp was very hands-on and project-based. It was fantastic that we were able to use our learnings while working on an excellent project, and we were able to publish a research paper too. The online coaching is amazing, and there are enough technological resources and support (e.g. office hours), so the level of coaching and guidance is as good sitting in a regular class. The teachers are very approachable and provided excellent feedback about the project, and also addressed any questions I had about the future education.
Overall, this camp was a great experience. It was an immersive educational experience using cutting-edge approaches to using AI and ML in practical situations, and provided excellent support for students like me who want to pursue further studies in Artificial Intelligence in future.”

“I joined a Machine Learning boot camp with MehtA+. Ms. Haripriya made every day enjoyable and filled with new things for us to learn. All the classes were well planned out, and Ms. Haripriya was always open to questions if we were stuck on a question. Also, we had homework that solidified what we had learned, and if we had questions with the homework, the Bootcamp provided office hours run by wonderful TAs that were always open to questions. If you couldn’t attend office hours, all the TAs were also available on slack, and since the teaching team was international, you could expect a quick answer no matter when you ask. The Bootcamp ended with a project, and every group was assigned with a TA that would help the group set tasks and realistic goals, and my group’s TA was always willing to start a zoom meeting to help my group out outside of class and office hours. So I would totally recommend this Bootcamp for anyone who wants to learn about machine learning and is willing to work hard to learn.”

“The MehtA+ Machine Learning boot camp was an amazing experience for me. I came in knowing absolutely nothing about Machine Learning, but learned so much more than I ever could have imagined. This course was very well structured and Haripriya and the other TAs were always available to help outside of the normal class hours. I also really enjoyed how this boot camp had many speakers and we were able to learn about the current relevant research going on in the field. Haripriya always taught with so much enthusiasm which made the class more enjoyable. I also really enjoyed working on our group research project which focused on the detection of skin cancer using Machine Learning. I was able to work with and make friends with a like-minded group of 4 people even through a virtual platform. I really appreciated how we were given the freedom to choose the direction we wanted to go with our research project, but we were also able to get great guidance from our Haripriya and the other staff. I can truly say that the Machine Learning research project was one of the proudest works in my life so far. I would definitely recommend this boot camp to anyone who has a passion for computer science and is willing to dive into the world of Artificial Intelligence.”

“Congratulations and thank you for teaching this awesome course on ML/AI for high school students. The camp was very well organized, structured and the content and instruction was engaging and informative at the same time. Greatly appreciate all of your hard work in making this happen. I realize how hard it is to teach high school students something complex like ML/AI. I watched the recording of the final project presentations, all the students did such an awesome job and I could tell that they learnt so much. I’d be more than happy to recommend this bootcamp to others.”