PROMISE - Programs for Minorities in Technology and the Sciences
The CiDrep SickKids Foundation PREP Program target individual aged 18+ with STEM and Digital Education Certificates to enable them to enter today's digital economy workforce.
Our Partner
About the PROMISE Program
PROMISE (A PREP Program for Minorities in Technology and the Sciences) is an outreach program designed to educate, inspire and empower under-represented youth by providing access to technology, science experience, and STEM education including internships, mentorship, virtual and on-site tech labs, talks, school visits, and demonstrations.
Our PROMISE program focus on reaching youth across the Greater Metro Atlanta (ATL), and the State of Georgia, with an emphasis on those who are at-risk or have a lack of access to technology and science experiences.
Our PROMISE program is a critical part of CiDrep SickKids' Foundation community outreach efforts. It was created in 2019 to reach under-represented youth, students in middle school, high school, college, and adults. Our goals are to address the needs of under-represented youth, students, and adults through internships, mentorships, virtual and on-site tech labs, talks, school visits, and demonstrations with scientists and technology professionals skilled in computational biology, computer programming, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data sciences/analytics, and other emerging technologies that create an avenue to learn more about Science (Data), Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Biomedical Sciences (STEM-BS) related fields.
PROMISE Focus
Mathematics
Engineering
Science (Data)
Artificial intelligence
Technology
Biomedical Sciences
PROMISE Curriculum
Once accepted into the program, every scholar (students and adults) will be matched with potential mentors and will participate in the program for 6 months. A need assessment interview with the program director to ascertain academic strengths and weaknesses and develop a curriculum that will strengthen the scholar's area of interest.
To determine the effectiveness of our program, both mentor and scholar will submit progress reports every 4 weeks to ensure that adequate progress is being made in their selected areas of interest - Science (Data), Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Biomedical Sciences (STEM-BS) related fields. Ideally, at the end of 6 months in the program, we would like all scholars (students and adults) and their school's teacher and/or guidance counselors to complete a final assessment of progress.
Our Partner:
We are pleased to partner with top companies to help support people across our community to grow their technology and digital skills.
Program Directors and Mentors
Our goal of engaging, educating, inspire and empowering under-represented youth will be made possible due to distinct collaborations with a variety of corporate funding sources. In addition, thanks to our donors our program will reach youth across the Greater Metro Atlanta (ATL), and the State of Georgia.
Dr. Michael W. Craige, PhD
Director, CiDrep SickKids Foundation
Dr. Michael W. Craige is a Biomedical Informatician, entrepreneur, educator, and research scientist who studies the mechanisms of microarray gene expression datasets in epilepsy. He is also a research fellow at Rutgers University focusing on developing computation approaches to predict optimal drug combinations in prostate cancer for patients that failed standard-of-care treatments. Michael earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Informatics from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and his MBA from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Mr. Calvin Terry, MS
Director, CiDrep SickKids Foundation
Mr. Calvin Terry is an Information Technology professional and currently, works as a Sr. Epic Security Analyst. Calvin worked as a Systems Engineer, Technical Support Analyst, and in Application Security and Support positions, and several years in software implementations, and application builds. He earned a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University’s G. W. C. Whiting School of Engineering, a Bachelor of Science degree in Technology and Health Informatics. He is a military veteran of the United States Air Force.
Dr. Hassan Kingravi, PhD
Program Mentor and Educator
Dr. Hassan Kingravi is a research scientist with experience as a software developer, engineer, and educator and currently, work as a Staff Data Scientist at Mailchimp. Dr. Kingravi's work mostly revolved around developing fundamental theory in machine learning and artificial intelligence and applying it to areas in control theory and computer vision. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Master in Computer Science (specialization in Machine Learning) from Georgia Institute of Technology.