ROAR Academy

Applications for Summer 2024 are closed.

Program Overview

ROAR Academy is a rigorous and intensive two-week program for high school students who have demonstrated an aptitude for academic and professional careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Talented and motivated high school students who are entering 10th-12th grade in the Fall have the opportunity to work with UC Berkeley faculty, researchers, and scientists while focusing on learning about Python programming and introductory autonomous driving algorithms.

Throughout this intensive 10-day program, participants will acquire the knowledge necessary to engage in the ROAR competition, exclusively conducted in a software simulation environment known as the Simulation Racing Series.

Summer 2024 sessions will all be taught in person on UC Berkeley campus. To learn more about the program goals and schedule, please see here. The Academy is not an overnight program and students will be released at 3pm each day.

2024 Sessions (Choose one session)

Classes will begin at 9am and conclude at 3pm each day.

	Week 1	Week 2
Session 1	July 8 - July 12	July 15 - July 19
Session 2	July 22 - July 26	July 29 - Aug 2

ROAR Summer Competition: Saturday, August 24

Curriculum and Schedule

Students are expected to have sufficient background on basic computer programming in the Python language. The curriculum has built in a quick refresher of Python programming at the beginning with additional exercises and debugging practice, but the course is NOT suitable for students who have never learned about Python in the past.

Class hours will be in person from 9AM – 3PM (PST)
Students will be expected to be signed out by a parent

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
9 - 10:30 AM	Introduction to Python Programming	Iterable Variables	Functions	Hashing	Numpy II
10:30-11AM	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A
11-12:30PM	Basic Python Variables	Conditions and Loops	Classes and OOP	Numpy I	Scientific Visualization
12:30-1:30PM	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break
1:30-3PM	Python Setup and Exercises	Debugging and Exercises	Coding Exercises	Coding Exercises	Coding Exercises

	Day 6	Day 7	Day 8	Day 9	Day 10
9-10:30 AM	Gradient Descent	Deep Neural Networks	Introduction to Autonomous Driving	Reinforcement Learning	Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) I
10:30-11AM	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A
11-12:30PM	Introduction to Machine Learning	Convolutional Neural Networks	PID Control for Lane following	Reinforcement Learning II	GPT II
12:30-1:30PM	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break	Lunch Break
1:30-3PM	Coding Exercises	Coding Exercises	Simulation: Racing Practice	Simulation: Racing Practice	Making GPT your co-pilot

Application

Eligibility:

Advanced High School students (entering 10th-12th grade in the Fall) who are considering a STEM career path and would like to apply to AI, Robotics, and Data Science as their intended college majors.

For 2024, ROAR Academy and the fees below are only for California residents. For prospective out-of-state and international students, please contact us and we will accommodate additional applications when space is available.

Application Fee: $50 (non-refundable)
Tuition: $1,200

A complete application consists of:
1. Application – If you would like to preview the this year’s application, please click here .
2. Unofficial Transcript

Dates and Deadlines:

Late January — ROAR Academy application opens
March 22, 2024 — Early application deadline.
April 1st, 2024 —Early application and financial aid admissions
Late Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
May 3, 2024 — Tuition due.

What to expect:

Please note that applications are reviewed as they are received, so you are encouraged to submit your completed application as soon as possible. Admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis.