Boston, Massachusetts: hosted by Northeastern University

Organized by Prof. Viera Proulx (Northeastern), Prof. Kathi Fisler (WPI) and Prof. Shriram Krishnamurthi (Brown)

Northeastern University is a private research university, offering a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate. A world leader in practice-oriented education, Northeastern emphasizes educational programs that link classroom learning with workplace experience and integrate professional preparation with study in the liberal arts and sciences.

WPI, located in Worcester, MA, is the third oldest college of science and engineering in the United States. Recent U.S. News & World Report rankings have placed WPI in the top 50 national universities. WPI's innovative project-based curriculum, which requires all students to complete three original projects (one in each of the humanities, the interplay of society and technology, and the student's major discipline), reflects WPI's hallmark emphasis on combining theory and practice in education. WPI also emphasizes a global perspective in engineering education; roughly half of the students design solutions to local problems in worldwide locations (such as Venice, Bangkok, and Costa Rica) to fulfill their project requirements.

Brown University, the seventh oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, precedes the American Revolution and is a member of the Ivy League. Brown has a distinguished faculty, an exceptional student body, a long history of tolerance and diversity, and a unique academic curriculum. Brown is especially well known for its innovative uses of technology to enhance the classroom. Both the undergraduate computer science program and the graduate computer science department have long been among the nation's best.

Boston, center of the American Revolution, is one of the nation's oldest cities. Boston is a cultural center renowned for its numerous educational institutions. The city has many historical reminders of America's birth and growth. Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, is a beloved summer-time destination. Other notables include its famous parks, libraries, museums, bookstores, and aquarium. Nearby tourist destinations include Cape Cod and the many other attractions of New England.

Garden City, Long Island, New York: hosted by Adelphi University

Organized by Prof. Stephen Bloch

Adelphi University was the first co-educational college in New York State. It combines a commitment to liberal-arts education with highly-regarded professional programs in education, nursing, psychology, and social work; it boasts small class sizes, a friendly, informal approach to students, and a faculty deeply committed to teaching. The campus is situated in the safe, attractive, suburban village of Garden City, in Long Island, NY, and is a few blocks from a commuter rail station, providing easy access (c. 45 minutes) to New York City, the financial and cultural capital of the United States.

Salt Lake City, Utah: hosted by the University of Utah

Organized by Prof. Matthew Flatt

The University of Utah, founded in 1850, is one of the preeminent research universities of the American West. Its computer science program is one of the oldest in the country (in 1970, Utah became the fourth node on the Internet), and it has long made significant contributions in many areas of the discipline. Utah is especially known for its work in computer graphics, with companies such as Silicon Graphics, Evans and Sutherland, Pixar, and Adobe all founded by Utah faculty and graduates.

Salt Lake City is the hub of a large metropolitan area that is home to most of Utah's 2 million residents. The city was recently rated by Money Magazine as “the best in the West”. Perched on the western edge of the Rockies, Salt Lake offers unparalleled outdoor recreation mere minutes from the city, including first-rate hiking, biking, rock climbing, camping, and fishing. Numerous national parks and mounments are within a day's drive: Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Arches, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Escalante, and many more. During the summer, southern Utah's Cedar City hosts the renowned Utah Shakespearean Festival, winner of 2000 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. In 2002, Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics.

San Luis Obispo, California: hosted by Cal Poly

Organized by Prof. John Clements

Home to some 18,000 students, Cal Poly (1901) is a four-year, comprehensive public university located in San Luis Obispo, California. It has been continually recognized for more than a decade by peer institutions and U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation's finest primarily undergraduate public institutions. Cal Poly's hallmark “learn-by-doing” educational approach has prepared more than 100,000 graduates to become leaders in their fields, including engineering, agriculture, architecture, business, the sciences, education, and the arts.

San Luis Obispo, nestled in the foothills of California's Central Coast, faces both hills and sea. It is located at the southern end of the Big Sur stretch of Highway 1, and was recently ranked third among U.S. cities and metropolitan areas in Bert Sperling and Peter Sander's Cities Ranked & Rated. It offers biking, hiking, surfing, wine-tasting, and a surfeit of sight-seeing opportunities, including historic Mission San Luis Obipso de Tolosa.