Fifty economically disadvantaged high school freshmen from throughout Chicagoland have begun a five-month seminar that will introduce them to the fundamentals of energy, smart city technologies, and sustainability and help put them on the path toward science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.   Sponsored by ComEd and the HFS Chicago Scholars, the program includes five workshops and an immersive project-based experience with professional engineer mentors. Students will learn and apply the fundamentals of microprocessor-based technology and participate in a team project presentation on June 2, 2019, that will award $4,000 in scholarships among the top three finishers. The program is being offered exclusively to students in the HFS Scholars program, which helps economically disadvantaged students attend top Chicago private high schools. The program will be offered to HFS Scholars in each of their four years of high school.