This semester, I’ve had the chance to help out again with Dr. Wang’s AI & Big Data in Cancer Research course — this time in its new Honors Forum version. It’s one of the many specialty courses offered through the University of Memphis Helen Hardin Honors College, giving students a chance to explore unique topics in a smaller, hands-on setting.

It’s been really cool to see how far this program has come in just a few months. Last summer, we ran it as a small pilot for four high school students, and now we’ve scaled up to fifteen freshman honors students. The course this semester is more academically structured, with deeper discussions and graded projects, but the spirit is still the same — getting students excited about research and data-driven science.

My main role this semester has been more behind the scenes, handling technical support and helping students troubleshoot code, software setup, and the occasional data hiccup. It’s been fun seeing everyone’s confidence grow as they pick up new programming skills and start connecting them to biological questions.

We’ve learned a lot already about what works (and what doesn’t) when scaling a hands-on course like this. Every week brings new ideas for how to make the class smoother and more engaging. There’s definitely a learning curve for us as well as the students, but it’s been a great experience watching everything evolve in real time.

And the best part? We’re not stopping here. The plan is to continue offering the high school version of the program this summer, building on what we’ve learned so far. I’m really looking forward to seeing both programs grow side by side — each one helping train the next generation of curious, data-minded researchers.