Sci-Tech Clubs: Choose What Suits You the Best
Last month the IE Robotics Club took center stage at the inauguration of the new Robotics and AI Lab at IE University, demonstrating nifty tricks the robots can perform. In fact, IE boasts more than 100 clubs. IE School of Science and Technology students are most active in the Robotics Club, Coding Club, Google Developer Students Club, and Tech & Innovation Club. In collaboration with Campus Life, each one offers a different avenue for students to explore and learn.
Here’s a quick primer on some of IE’s most inspiring sci-tech clubs:
Google Developer Students Club- The club was founded and held its first event in October 2022. Despite a recent opening, GDSC has already gained the attention of many sci-tech enthusiasts. The club’s founder and second-year Computer Science & AI, Keti Sulamanidze chalks up the success to students’ passion to create.
“Despite their bachelor's degree, the majority of the students here chose IE because they wanted to have the chance to become innovative creators themselves. Thus, they are more than eager to learn how to achieve that,” said Sulamanidze.
According to Sulamanidze, the club’s mission is to connect students interested in developer technologies, give students an opportunity to learn about a range of technical topics and gain new skills through hands-on workshops, events, talks, and project-building activities, as well as simply provide students with an environment for them to apply new learnings to build great solutions for local problems. Exactly its wide and unique opportunities make the club stand out: it has access to Google Developer Experts Society, in other words, access to fascinating speakers and technology specific workshops. Moreover, GDSC members are encouraged to take part in an annual Solution Challenge, which consists of building a solution to a local problem using Google technologies, in accordance with one or more of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Despite having a specific niche of Google technologies, GDSC is open to anyone interested in technologies, coding, and developing interesting ideas. It is the niche that makes the membership in the club so fascinating: taking advantage of Google technologies and the expertise of Google Developers.
Sulamanidze and other officers hope to organize a hackathon solving the issue of finding available workspaces at the IE Tower and gain more support from IE School of Science and Technology.
“This collaboration would greatly contribute to further developing our students’ skillset,” said Sulamanidze.
Coding Club- Such a fundamental skill as coding is getting the peak of popularity nowadays, and the Coding club aims to help students learn how to code.
“Our club serves a purpose to help everyone regardless of the background to acquire this skill,” said Tamar Alphaidze, president of the club and third-year Computer Science & AI student.
The hands-on approach is what distinguishes the Coding Club from other ways of learning. The club provides training and master classes like a series of “Tech interview prep series” or “Intro to data science with Python” where officers teach our members different coding concepts.
“This is not common among other technological clubs and I believe is something that makes us stand out,” shared Alphaidze.
These beginner-level events encourage professionals, as well as amateurs to join the Coding Club. Everyone who is passionate about coding and technology or wants to learn more about it is welcome at the club.
“It is not at all necessary to have knowledge in the field before,” Alphaidze emphasized.
Among other continuous events, next semester, the club plans to organize a hackathon.
Robotics Club- It was founded by three students who wanted to build “a community of like-minded people who share passion and knowledge in robotics and AI.” The Robotics Club serves the mission of deepening students' knowledge and enthusiasm for robotics & AI through workshops, paper discussions, and real research projects.
What makes the Robotics Club stand out is an opportunity for doing research and working on real projects. Recently, this opportunity was enhanced by the inauguration of the Robotics Lab at the IE Tower, a place equipped with the latest technology like 3D printers, humanoids, robots, and computers.
“We like to set a high bar for the future of the club. Our ultimate goal is to host international competitions in robotics and be doing research for top robotics companies in the world,” said Diego Sanmartín, one of the presidents of the club and third-year Computer Science & AI student.
Tech & Innovation Club- Founded by masters students years ago, the club has developed into an expansive group of people, offering a rich network of contacts.
“The connections we have built with companies and ex-officers allow us to bring to the table the highest quality material possible. These relationships were built with successful events and the best treatment to the speakers offering their time to the club,” said Marta García del Valle, president of the club and a third-year Computer science & AI student.
The Tech & Innovation Club expects self-motivated and eager students from different bachelors to join and share their interests in technology and its use with others. In turn, the club will help members by bringing as much variety of companies opportunities as possible and explore all the possibilities technology gives career-wise.
“We want to be inclusive and cover all industries so all students can find their niche,” said García del Valle.
The Tech & Innovation club officers said they plan to increase the visits to companies and exclusive recruiting events for students, as well as launch a flagship event, a debate series with interesting speakers and outside-of-IE experts to discuss trendy topics.
“We will always move toward the best reward for the students,” said García del Valle.