Curriculum & Courses
Curriculum Overview
The HIRES curriculum gives New York City high school students a genuine research experience in Earth Systems Engineering and Sciences. Over a seven-week summer program, participants complete a three-credit, college-level course integrating scientific computing, remote sensing, and geographic information systems. All coursework is taught by CUNY faculty and research scientists and is directly connected to each student’s hands-on research project.
The curriculum emphasizes active, inquiry-based learning. Students collect real satellite data, write functional code, produce professional maps, and present their findings at a public symposium. The five courses below represent the full technical training offered through HIRES.
Credit & Program Structure
Credit: 3 pre-college credits (college-level), awarded upon successful completion
Duration: Seven weeks, July through August — full-time summer program
Format: Lecture, laboratory, and independent research project — fully integrated
Stipend: $1,000 awarded to students who complete the full program
Courses Offered
HIRES students receive instruction in five interconnected technical areas. Each course is taught by a CUNY faculty member or research scientist and builds progressively on prior knowledge.
Remote Sensing | Active Course
Course Overview
Students explore how satellite observations of visible light and thermal infrared radiation can be mathematically processed to reveal information about Earth’s surface. Working with real Landsat data, students produce scientific imagery and develop an understanding of how remote sensing underpins modern environmental science.
Key Topics
- Satellite orbits and collimation
- Transmission, absorption, and scattering of radiation
- Color image construction using Octave
- Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
- Thermal radiation and brightness temperature calculation
- Histograms, scatter plots, and cloud detection algorithms
- Final integrative Landsat data analysis project
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) | Active Course
Course Overview
Students learn the principles and real-world applications of GIS using industry-standard tools including QGIS and ArcGIS. The course covers spatial data management, map design, and data visualization. Students complete a collaborative group project and produce a professional ArcGIS StoryMap using real datasets from government and scientific agencies.
Key Topics
- Applications of GIS in Earth and environmental science
- Vector vs. raster data formats
- Introduction to QGIS, ArcMap, and Arc Toolbox
- Processing and importing tabular data (Excel / CSV)
- Spatial analysis and map layout creation
- Data sourcing: Census Bureau, NOAA, NASA, USGS, World Bank, UN
- ArcGIS StoryMap creation and public group presentation
Programming in Octave | Active Course
Course Overview
This intensive introductory course builds a working foundation in scientific programming using Octave — a free, open-source environment broadly compatible with MATLAB. Students progress from core syntax to real data analysis and graphical visualization, applying their skills directly to environmental and engineering datasets from ground-based and satellite sources.
Key Topics
- Octave basics: syntax, scripts, and functions
- Plotting and graphical output techniques
- Boolean logic, decision structures, and cell arrays
- Loops and multi-dimensional array (matrix) operations
- Reading and writing text and CSV files
- Basic statistical analysis using Octave
- Raster data visualization and geospatial mapping
Programming in Python | Active Course
Course Overview
Building directly on the Remote Sensing module, this course applies Python to develop automated classification algorithms for satellite imagery. Students learn to identify vegetation, clouds, water, and other surface types using real Landsat data — introducing core data science and machine learning concepts in the context of environmental research.
Key Topics
- Introduction to Python for Earth science applications
- Reading and processing satellite data files
- Building and evaluating surface classifiers
- Detection of vegetation, clouds, and water bodies
- Visualization and output of land-cover classification maps
- River delta and precipitation variable analysis
- Final project: automated, reproducible land-cover classification system
Mathematica for Earth Science | Active Course
Instructor
Andrii Golovin
Email: cunyhires@ccny.cuny.edu
Learn More Here
Course Overview
This course introduces students to Mathematica (Wolfram Language), a computational platform used across science, engineering, and mathematics. Students apply Mathematica’s symbolic and numerical capabilities to Earth system problems, producing interactive visualizations and data analyses that support their HIRES research projects. Mathematica is available free to all CUNY students through the university site license.
Key Topics
- Introduction to the Wolfram Language and Mathematica environment
- Symbolic mathematics: algebra, calculus, and equation solving
- Numerical computation and matrix operations
- Visualization: 2D/3D plots and geographic mapping tools
- Data import, processing, and analysis workflows
- Modeling Earth system variables (temperature, precipitation, atmospheric data)
- Creating interactive notebooks for scientific research presentation
Program-Wide Learning Outcomes
Upon completing the HIRES curriculum, students will be able to:
- Collect, process, and interpret real satellite and environmental datasets
- Apply at least one scientific programming language (Octave,
- Python, or Mathematica) to solve research problems
- Produce and present GIS maps drawn from government and scientific data sources
- Design and execute an independent research project under faculty and graduate student mentorship
- Communicate scientific findings through a public symposium poster presentation
- Articulate how Earth science, engineering, and computational tools connect to real-world environmental challenges
Curriculum Archive
HIRES has maintained a record of its course syllabi since the program’s founding. Past syllabi reflect the evolution of the curriculum and are available for reference.
- Previous Course in Python
- Previous Course in Matlab
- The Course Curriculum for Summer 2017 is available “HIRES_syllabus“
- The Course Curriculum for Summer 2016 is available “HIRES_syllabus“
- The Course Curriculum for Summer 2015 is available “HIRES_syllabus“
- The Course Curriculum for Summer 2014 is available “HIRES_syllabus“
Learning Modules
In addition to the five core courses, HIRES students participate in structured Learning Modules throughout the program. These focused, workshop-style sessions are led by research scientists and guest experts and cover topics across Earth Sciences and Engineering — including atmospheric science, oceanography, environmental engineering, and climate systems.
