WASHINGTON D.C., – April 24, 2010 – After a tension-filled morning of high stakes presentations and media interviews, students competing in the U.S. Imagine Cup Finals took Saturday afternoon off to hit Washington, D.C, Microsoft-style.
“Alright, the Bill Gates gang,” a trolley driver quipped after finding out the folks on his afternoon tour of the nation’s capital were on a Microsoft-sponsored trip. One student taking in the sights, University of Arkansas-Little Rock’s Mohammed Akheel, was enjoying the downtime after presenting his project to judges in the software design competition.
"The whole idea of the Imagine Cup is to use technology to make the world a better place," said Mohammed Akheel, from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, as he is interviewed on a trolley tour of Washington D.C. "I can’t do everything, but I can help people doing what I do best. For me, that’s the greatest thing."
“For me, this is the Olympics,” says Akheel, who is competing as a member of team MedRx, which took advantage of cloud-based computing offered by Microsoft Azure. “You have to perform, and it’s intense. I love it, but I wanted to take this tour and relax after a high-energy day.”
The U.S. version of the Imagine Cup officially kicked into gear Saturday. Starting at 8 a.m., each of the 20 student teams presented their project to a panel of judges. Culled from the ranks of educators and technical leaders, the judges will select one grand prize winner in both the software design and games categories to represent the United States at the World Finals in Poland in July. The winners will be announced Monday.
U.S. Imagine Cup Finals Get Underway
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Team LifeCode Demonstration
Kun Wang of team LifeCode from Wayne State University demonstrates his team’s project to film director James Cameron, his wife Suzy Amis Cameron and Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, at U.S. Imagine Cup Finals held in the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on Monday. April 26, 2010
Craig Mundie Congratulates Students
Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Office bumps fist with U.S. Imagine Cup competitor Cal Coopmans of Utah State University on Monday at the Newseum in Washington D.C. April 26, 2010
Nanobots! from Tufts
Members of Tufts University’s team AwesomeSauce give Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, a quick tutorial of their game Nanobots! before he tries it out. April 26, 2010
Mobilife Wins Software Design Category
Team Mobilife walks to the podium after being announced the grand prize winners in the software design category at the U.S. Imagine Cup Finals. The team from the University of California, Davis will represent the United States this summer at the Imagine Cup world finals in Poland. April 26, 2010
Students Inspire James Cameron
Christina Fries, Tianlu Zhang, Christina Chang and Cameron Solomon of Team Fortran C from UCLA demonstrate their game to director James Cameron at the 2010 Imagine Cup competition at the Newseum in Washington, DC on Monday. April 26, 2010
Team To Be Announced, Team Mobilife Win Grand Prizes
(L to R): Will Isenhour, Danny Helms, Jonathan Mead and Nic Colley, of Team To Be Announced, winners in the game design category; Anthony Salcito and Mark Hindsbro, Microsoft; and Helena Xu, Kavon Gaffari, Wilson To, and Audrey Lee of Team Mobilife, winner of the software design category.
Ifrit Salsa Demonstration
Alaa Gharandoq of the University of Houston’s team Ifrit Salsa demonstrates their game, RoboRecycler at the 2010 Imagine Cup competition at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on Monday. April 26, 2010
Team Extraplaid Demonstration
Josh Light of Utah State University’s Team Extraplaid holds up a dollar bill while demoing his team’s project, a Facebook application that connects donors with entrepreneurs. April 26, 2010
Team Blog Finalists
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology’s Team Blob hugs on hearing they will be competing in U.S. Imagine Cup Finals on Monday in the software design category. Left to right are mentor Antonette Logar, Robyn Krage, Lori Rebenitsch, and Jaelle Scheuerman. April 25, 2010
Team Extraplaid Finalists
Utah State University’s team Extraplaid reacts after finding out that their team advanced to the U.S. Imagine Cup’s final round on Monday in the software design category. From left to right, team members Susanna Beck (filming her teammates), Yiding Han, Josh Light, and Cal Coopmans. April 25, 2010
Coders Inc.
The members of Coders Inc. hope their project gives donors, volunteers, and nonprofit organizations an easier way to connect. Standing from left are Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Yamini Girey and Krishna Rao. April 25, 2010
U.S. Imagine Cup judge Jackie Shuler
“When you get to college, there’s a set group of women in computer science and technology,” she said. “At a lot of schools, you can usually count them on one hand.” Jackie Shuler, senior manager for university relations at Electronic Arts (EA) and U.S. Imagine Cup Finals judge. April 25, 2010
Mohammed Akheel
"The whole idea of the Imagine Cup is to use technology to make the world a better place," said Mohammed Akheel, from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. "I can’t do everything, but I can help people doing what I do best. For me, that’s the greatest thing." April 24, 2010
Touring D.C. Via Segway
U.S. Imagine Cup participants in front of the White House on an afternoon tour of the Washington D.C. mall area on Segways. Pictured from left to right are Krishna Vijayanagar, Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Yamini Girey, Farhad Javidt, Will Isenhour, Nic Colley, Danny Helms, and Jonathan Mead. April 24, 2010
Team Blob Demo
Team Blob members (L to R) Lori Rebenitsch, Robyn Krage, and Jaelle Scheuerman demo their application that aims to bring emerging multitouch technology into K-12 classrooms. The all-woman team is from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. April 24, 2010
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
The University of Houston’s Alaa Gharandoq checks out the Thomas Jefferson Memorial during a trolley-based tour of Washington D.C. Saturday. Her team, Ifrit Salsa, is competing in the game design category. April 24, 2010
LeveL13 in D.C.
U.S. Imagine Cup competitors Reggie Tye, Paul Diaz, Syung Whan You and Yu-Chao Chen of team LeveL13 from the University of Houston outside Microsoft's Washington D.C. headquarters building. April 23, 2010
Drawing for Position
University of Arkansas at Little Rock student Jenish Parhari, a member of team MedRX, draws a presentation time slot for her team at the U.S. Imagine Cup competition held at Microsoft's Washington D.C. headquarters. April 23, 2010
Mango Bunnies
Malisa Vongskul, mentor Erin ‘Ed’ Donahue, and Ashley Myers of team Mango Bunnies at the U.S. Imagine Cup competition held at Microsoft’s Washington D.C. Headquarters. April 23, 2010
Smile for the Camera
Impromptu photo session at the start of the U.S. Imagine Cup competition held at Microsoft's Washington D.C. Headquarters. April 23, 2010
Hanging out at the Imagine Cup
Participants exchange multicolored carabiners as part of a get to know each other exercise at the U.S. Imagine Cup competition held at Microsoft's Washington D.C. Headquarters. University of Houston’s Syung Whan You of team LeveL13 is at right. April 23, 2010
In the afternoon, the students traded in their professional garb and went out to explore various sites around town. Students split up into three groups – one went to the Spy Museum, and two took tours of D.C.- one by trolley, and another by Segway.
Well, most of the students made it out. Kun Wang said two of his teammates on Wayne State University’s LifeCode team were catching up on sleep. “This competition taught us the importance of presenting our ideas,” Wang says. “We were up pretty late polishing.”
Anthony Salcito, Microsoft’s vice president of Worldwide Education, said he expected nothing less from some of the brightest students in the country. “What’s exciting for me is that no matter how much I expect of the students, I’m always surprised at how professional and thoughtful they are,” he says. “I love this event and always get inspired by them.”
The goal of the Imagine Cup is to inspire students by the power of technology, said Alfred Thompson, K-12 academic developer evangelist for Microsoft. “When students are aware of the difference they can make with technology, they’re all over it,” he says.
Thompson, who used to teach high before joining Microsoft, works with educators to bring technology into classrooms so students can be inspired by what they can do.
The projects that come out of the Imagine Cup are prime examples of what students can do when they get help from people like Thompson. “The students at the Imagine Cup are the cream of the crop,” he says. “We hold them up as inspiration for the kind of impact that technology can make.”
Wayne State University’s Kun Wang from team LifeCode tours Washington, D.C., after a long night of cramming for their U.S. Imagine Cup presentation. "We were up pretty late polishing," said Wang, shown here at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
Out on the road, students saw some inspiration in stone. Passing the Lincoln Memorial, the trolley driver recited part of the Gettysburg Address, saying: “Abraham Lincoln – great man, great speechwriter.”
Akheel said he was motivated by the Imagine Cup’s call to use technology to make a difference in the lives of people in their local communities and around the world. He’s looking forward to showing off his team’s project on Monday, when hundreds of business, technical, and education leaders check out the students’ work at the Newseum, a D.C.-based museum of news and journalism.
“The whole experience has been amazing,” he says. “The whole idea of the Imagine Cup is to use technology to make the world a better place. I can’t do everything, but I I can help people doing what I do best. For me, that’s the greatest thing.”