INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

IUPUI/VIFI TO RECRUIT BEST AND BRIGHTEST TEENS FOR NEW INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

INDIANAPOLIS - Just as college coaches scout for skilled athletes, IUPUI professors will recruit the sharpest kids from local high schools to participate in a new internship program called CyberTeens.

High school students will get to work in the IUPUI CyberLab at one of the nation's top technology firms, Virtual Financial Services (VIFI). In return, they will receive college credit and corporate-sponsored scholarships.

The IUPUI CyberLab is a technology research and development facility inside VIFI that provides internship opportunities for IUPUI students.

"Our organization counts heavily on Indiana's high schools and universities to develop our future workforce," said Mike Winter, president of VIFI. "We are proud to support initiatives like CyberTeens that help create ways for top-notch students to begin a career in technology right here."

"The CyberTeens program will enable these students to get quality work experience before they've even graduated from high school," said Ali Jafari, computer technology professor and head of the IUPUI CyberLab. "We know that a good number of computer viruses are written by high school students, so they are definitely sharp kids."

In the past, the CyberLab has developed such products as Oncourse, a program used by all eight IU campuses that allows the university to put courses online; and Angel, an upgrade of Oncourse, for which IU created a separate company. The CyberLab's next projects are an electronic portfolio for students and an educational portal.

The CyberTeens program hopes to enroll its first six students by the spring semester. VIFI and Member Data Services, another local technology firm, will sponsor the first two students. CyberTeens is part of the Special Programs for Academic Nurturing (SPAN) program at IUPUI, which allows high school students to earn college credit. For information about sponsoring a CyberTeen, please call Ali Jafari at (317) 274-4565. Students interested in applying for the program, should call the SPAN program at (317) 274-2660.

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