Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

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Tours

  1. Research and Innovation Tour

    Stops

    1. Robotics Lab

      The Robotics lab is where innovation and imagination come to life. IMSA’s Robotics Lab is always full of fun and excitement. Stop by to see for yourself.

    2. Steve and Jamie Chen Center for Innovation & Inquiry

      The Steve and Jamie Chen Center for Innovation and Inquiry is a leading center for innovative and entrepreneurial thinking and applied STEM learning for youth and adult development.

      The Center provides award-winning programs, experiences, and mentoring for student and adult projects in applied STEM fields. Programs are offered in the areas of design thinking, business and entrepreneurship, maker and makerspace design, STEM pathways, film studies, robotics, and software engineering amongst others.

      Connect to the IMSA Innovation Community today, and join a vibrant network of innovators, designers, and entrepreneurs who are sharing ideas, testing inventions, taking risks, launching businesses and along the way are turning their ideas into impact.

    3. Makerspace

      Invention and creation are cornerstones of innovation and entrepreneurship. The IMSA Maker and Makerspace program area is an applied learning experience with the purpose of inspiring innovative and entrepreneurial thinking through maker experiences that nurture the innate maker and inventor potential in youth and adult alike. Using challenge-based learning, the program provides participants with innovative maker workshops and experiences that develop and inspire you to explore and extend your maker creativity and skills. The program prepares IMSA youth to be future STEM innovators, inventors and designers, with opportunities for maker mentoring, maker project management and learning the maker culture.

      The IMSA Maker and Markerspace program inspires innovative and entrepreneurial thinking through maker experiences that nurture the innate maker and inventor potential of individuals and their communities.

    4. A Wing Science Labs

      The science labs were newly renovated in 2016 and offer students the opportunity to engage in hands on, problem based learning using advanced laboratory techniques. This area features four science labs for the four science classes sophomores are required to take (Methods of Scientific Inquiry, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics). The science lab area is designed to promote collaboration among students including the removable “garage” doors to allow interdisciplinary learning between lab subjects.

    5. Michael J. Birck Science Wing

      IMSA is proud to have opened the Michael J. Birck Science Wing in 2019. The space was completely renovated with new labs, associated classrooms and offices. The new science wing capabilities include:
      • The ability to do tissue culture and virus work
      • The ability to do advanced optics work
      • The ability to work with (low level) radioactivity
      • Geiger counters, alpha, beta and gamma sources
      • The ability to do computational physics
      • The ability to synthesize and detect organics

    6. Instructional Technology & Media Center

      The Instructional Technology and Media Center (ITMC), located in B127, provides the IMSA community with instructional technology and media resources designed to encourage innovative teaching and learning practices and provide an outlet for creativity.


      The ITMC team provides classroom technology support and training, media production support and training, audio-visual event support, audio-visual systems design and integration, teleconferencing support, poster printing, as well as other ITMC functions.

    7. Student Inquiry & Research

      Student Inquiry and Research (SIR) supports student investigations conducted on and off-campus. Formalized in and evolving since 1989, the SIR department provides a framework for students to conduct original investigations on compelling questions of interest, collaborate with other students and professional researchers, and to share their investigation results through public presentations and publications.Student participation varies slightly each year, but recent trends suggest that about 75% of all IMSA students will conduct at least one investigation during their enrollment at the Academy.

      IMSAloquium is a student showcase of investigations which provides a forum where all students conducting Student Inquiry and Research investigations will share their work with the IMSA community for peer review and discussion. IMSAloquium is held during the spring semester every year.

    8. Grainger Center

      The Grainger Center for Imagination and Inquiry (GCII) at IMSA was made possible through the generous donation of the Grainger Foundation of Lake Forest, IL. The Grainger Center, room B131, expands IMSA’s physical space for “electronic and scientific tinkering” through the Student Inquiry and Research Program. Generously equipped for modern scientific investigations, the space is flexible to meet the essential requirements for biological, chemical, electrical, mechanical and information access.