POTSDAM -- Clarkson University's Project Challenge, an academic program for North Country high-school students, returns this winter with a choice of 10 five-week courses.

The program is designed to offer regional students in grades 9-12 an opportunity to participate in classes that are not commonly offered in their high-school curriculum.

Clarkson faculty and administrators teach the courses on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon for five weeks beginning Jan. 16.

This year the program offers four new courses: That’s a Load of WBS! with Instructor of Engineering & Management Marshall Issen and Society for Project Management mentors will teach students how to become project managers. Smart City, Smart You! with Assistant Professors of Electrical and Computer Engineering Melike Erol-Kantarci and Burak Kantarci will show students how technology connects and communicates with other devices. Hack Life! The Role of Occupation in Living Your Life to its Fullest with Associate Professor and Chair of Occupational Therapy Rondalyn Whitney and graduate students will teach students about the day-to-day life and the therapy that engineers ways to convert disability into ability through play and fun. Intro to Entrepreneurship with Ashley Sweeney, program coordinator for the Reh Center for Entrepreneurship, will expose students to leadership principles, team building, ethical decision making, financial statements and marketing principles.

Other courses include:

• Engineering for Life with Clarkson Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. Student Melissa Richards will provide students with an opportunity to learn how engineers are able to design the devices we see everywhere around us. Students will even have the opportunity to design and build their own “Rec-Rube-y.”

• Strength and Conditioning -- It’s a Science, Not an Art with Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies Ali Boolani will explore what goes into designing a strength and conditioning program. This class will explore the physiology of exercise and how science can be used to design strength and conditioning programs that can help improve performance and reduce risks for injuries.

• Psychology: More than Reading Minds and Lying on Couches! with Assistant Professor of Psychology Jennifer Knack invites students to discover how the field of psychology explores human behavior, thoughts and emotions from many perspectives.

• Writing Software and Changing the World with Associate Professor of Computer Science Jeanna Matthews will give students a solid introduction to the fundamentals of writing software. They will write some fun software like a personality quiz they can use on friends and a text-based game, and discuss careers in computing and the ways in which citizens with knowledge of computing can make a difference in the world.

• Real Medicine with Clinical Assistant Professor Dawn White, Clinical Assistant Professor and Chair of Physician Assistant Studies Keith Young, and Assistant Professor and Director of Anatomy Lab Mario Ciani will teach students about careers in healthcare.

• The First Amendment in American Democracy with Associate Professor of Political Science Christopher Robinson invites students to read a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases and, through discussion and mock trials, consider the relation of the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment to the quality of democracy we know in America today in. The course will focus on cases on freedom of speech, religious freedom and freedom of the press.

Interested students should first contact their guidance counselor to see if their school is participating. Participating high schools may sponsor all or part of the students' tuition.

If the school is not participating, the out-of-pocket expense for the program is $140 per student. Enrollment in all courses is now available, but space is limited.

For more information, go to http://www.clarkson.edu/projectchallenge, contact Brenda Kozsan or Annette Green at 315-268-4425, or email kozsanbd@clarkson.edu.