The perfect snack and lessons in AI: Teaching tech at UTSA camp

JULY 14, 2025 -Artificial intelligence (AI) has raised thorny issues across industries, from questions about copyrights to jobs of the future. At UTSA's School of Data Science, a new challenge recently emerged: Could AI recommend the perfect snack?

The question came from a recent four-day summer camp called AI For Everyone! created and overseen by Fred Martin, the interim dean for the College of AI, Cyber and Computing and a professor in the Department of Computer Science.

The camp Martin leads introduces middle school students to foundational AI concepts through hands-on activities designed to spark curiosity and creativity.

"My whole career has been about creating innovative technologies that let kids be creators and authors in technology-rich environments," Martin said.

The dean's interest in the work traces back to his graduate student days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. That's where he was part of a team that developed Lego Mindstorms, a series of programmable robotic construction kits.

He's also no stranger to youth education. "I've been doing summer camps for kids since I was a doctoral student - I love it," he said, "The middle school kids are the group that I enjoy working with the most. They're super smart, creative, fun and have great ideas."