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Engineering Field Notes

Illinois Engineers Around the World

Social Fuse: Technology Entrepreneur Center brings interdisciplinary students together

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Students Helping Students

In a large University like ours, it’s easy to find access to some of the best resources. Home to top-rankings in engineering, business, agriculture, and the social sciences, the possibilities for finding skills outside of your major are infinite.

Last Thursday, the Micro and Nanotechnology Atrium held a forum for connections.  Start-ups, led  by students, talked about their groups and their needs for specific tech or business skills in order to  push their business forward.  Some of  the start-ups already have their digital skills but need someone to help with the marketing. Others have a great idea for a product and audience but don’t have the tools to make it. The Technology Entrepreneur Center  (TEC) strives to connect these students

Super Girl is a start-up led by Supriya Hobbs and Janna Eaves. Supriya and Janna want to empower girls to find inspiration in pursuing science careers through their toys. That’s why they want to make dolls modeled after women who are leaders in science.  Each doll would be a younger version of the particular leader, making it easy for children to see that, “she was once a girl just like you.”

Supriya and Janna

Supriya and Janna developed the idea through their involvement in the Women in Engineering organization on campus. They would organize learning activities with young girls to get them interested in STEM careers. But they also saw a path of empowerment for young girls through science. Supriya said that her time at the University of Illinois is instrumental to their start- up’s success. “lllinois has a rich entrepreneurial spirit.  Without Innovation LLC , I wouldn’t have even considered a venture,” said Supriya. Innovation LLC is a Living-Learning Community that offers highly specialized workshops, courses, and competitions to entrepreneurial students.

Super Girl is looking for students to join with skills in coding, web-developing, and marketing skills and you can contact them at supergirl.illinois@gmail.com

Kirthi Banothu, a computer engineering major, is also leading a student start-up called Backpack Hack. Backpack Hack centers around a feedback device that helps the visually  impaired navigate their surroundings. The feedback can be through ultrasound, heat detection, sonar sensors, and arduinos.

“I like the breadth of opportunities at the University of Illinois, and especially our proximity to Chicago’s tech scene,” he said.

Kirthi Banothu

“I think one of the biggest misconceptions with entrepenuership is that you have to be a software developer. There have been wonderful ideas that just fail because of problems in marketing. Apple is a wonderful example of how that [marketing] side of it makes a difference. The coalition of people coming together with different ideas is what makes a successful product,” Kirthi said

Backpack Hack is looking for students with programming, coding, and industrial design skills. They can be reached at banothu2@illinois.edu

Social Fuse event coordinator, Danyelle Michelini, said she wants these events to create a casual atmosphere wherein to share ideas. It’s easy to participate, as Danyelle said they allow for 15 groups to sign up and present their ideas on first-come first-serve basis.  Danyelle said TEC hopes to host at least two events each semester. Danyelle said there may even be a third event to look forward to this fall to keep up with the demand for the entrepreneurship outlet, noting that over 30 groups signed up for the 15 time slots. The next event will take place November 14th so keep a lookout for a location on the TEC website.

Danyelle Michelini

Danyelle and TEC understand that a successful company is built on individuals with varied skills and backgrounds, and hiring outside help late in development is no match for having a driven group of interdisciplinary founders. She says “A lot of people would say that you can learn as you go but I think it really gives you a leg up if you  have people from all different disciplines on your team. You have those people who bring the exact skills that you need plus they’re passionate about what you’re working on, so they’ll push your team forward.” Together she and TEC are working to ensure that out of the many great ideas like Super Girl come lasting and sustainable companies.

Students making entrepreneurship connections at the event:

 

 

A “Thermal” Summer: Research in Emitters Develops Student’s Interest in Academia

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Travis Hamilton, a senior in electrical engineering, stayed on campus over the summer working with a research team. It wasn’t just busy work for him. “I learned a lot, and was given independent study. I worked on series of programs that simulate thermal emission,” he said

Professor Daniel Wasserman, Travis’ research leader and assistant professor, concentrates his work on lasers, microelectronics, and photonics. Basically, the research team is working on accommodating increasingly  nanoscale systems with large-scale systems. An example would be creating a nano laser that can emit light at a wavelength larger than the actual nano laser.

Travis’ chosen focus has been in micro and nanotechnology. “They are broad fields within themselves, so I’m still getting my feet wet,” he said.

During his research, Travis had a post-doctorate or graduate student to bounce ideas off when there were challenges in his work. Prof. Wasserman would sit down every week with his team to talk and troubleshoot, and “it was a collaborative effort, but in the end you were responsible for your own project,” said Travis.

His favorite part of the internship was being exposed to the research process as an undergraduate. It was his first time to get to work with a professor one-on-one. “You can get that in a smaller class, but in research, the leader is really devoted to seeing your project fulfilled,” said Travis.

A “Micro” World

Travis actually met Prof. Wasserman through the electrical engineering program. He advised Travis on his academic schedule.  “I told Dr. Wasserman upon transferring to Illinois that I wanted to do research in electromagnetics and optics. He suggested I come back to him once I had done a course on these topics,”  said Travis.

But he was able to apply his skills sooner than he thought. “After talking with him a little later, he offered me a position in his lab over the summer,” said Travis

Classroom to the Real-World

Travis’ favorite part about his research was when he discovered the utility of Fourier Optics, a topic he had already learned in ECE 210 and MATH 286.  “Without learning the concepts beforehand, I would’ve never been able to apply those ideas to optics,” he said.

A great deal of his research was done on Matlab, a program for numerical computation, visualization, and programming. On Matlab, he would perform simulations of distinctly patterned thermal emitters but it took hours for them to run on the computer. A Ph.D student shared his thesis paper with Travis and it described a better process. With information from the thesis and books from the library, Travis implemented the model in his code which cut down on the overall run time and provided more accurate results.

Above all Travis sees that his research experience has paid-off in the classroom. He appreciates the need for theoretical and experimental results and their complementary attributes in research.“I also feel motivated to pick classes with more purpose than I had in the past,” he said.

Ideally he’d love to work in academia and the more he talks to graduate students and professors, he feels, “it’s like being a football star,” in the world of science.

Advice on Summer Activities for Future Engineering Students

Travis advises to make sure you enjoy what you study.

“Don’t be shy of venturing off into your own interests. Don’t be shy of asking a professor a question. Pick up a book from the library, because not all of your interests will be fulfilled from what you learn in class.”

Travis also said to study in Everitt Lab. “You can get these classrooms all to yourself, if you go there around 6-7:30 p.m. There are these huge chalkboards, and who doesn’t love writing calculations on a chalkboard all to yourself. It’s in all the movies. It’s really handy if you have long homework assignments and it’s nice and quiet,” he said.

 

 

Crossing Continents: Electricity and UV Light Enhances Student’s Summer Experience

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Amanda Lietz, a senior in nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering, spent four weeks of her summer in Botswana, Africa. Amanda worked on designing a hybrid power supply that would help bring electricity to a rural village.  The six American students on the trip were each partnered with an engineering student from the University of Botswana. Together they traveled to Tsetseng, a tiny town of only 350 people that lies 40 kilometers from the nearest connection to the power grid.  The electrical grid wasn’t extended to Tsetseng because of the small number of people there.

“But people had a need for electricity. There were refrigerators in town, which could be used for vaccines. Even some of the schools had devices, like donated computers and printers, but no electricity,” Amanda said.

Bringing Electricity

Amanda engineered a system with solar panels and a generator backup. She and her partner were able to scope out costs of the design they made. The main idea was for the design to be a “proof of concept” so that researchers could apply for funding.

Amanda found out about the international program through Professor David Ruzic, who collaborates with the professor leading the research program in Botswana. Amanda got a recommendation from Professor Ruzic and soon was able to apply the skills she learned at Illinois on her project. Though there were math and science skills involved, managerial skills were vital.

“I definitely applied what I’ve learned about presenting our ideas, and the practice of project management.”

The Cultural Exchange

Madikwe Safari

The coolest thing for Amanda was the everyday interaction with Botswana students. They worked, ate, and lived together, and the activities of daily life were a great learning experience. “I learned about the processes in a developing country. Though parts of Botswana are well-off with access to clean water, there are still many rural villages without electricity. Culturally, I learned that everything is more personal. You really have a conversation with people, even over the small things,” she said.

“People are so much more patient. That took some getting used to, because we as Americans are go-go-go. But the people from Botswana just go with it and get much less upset. It was bittersweet to leave. Botswana was so much fun,” Amanda said.

Research at Home

After Botswana, Amanda returned to Champaign for the rest of the summer. Since May, she has been researching extreme ultra-violet (UV) lithography. “Basically extreme UV lithography is an improved method to make features on computer chips smaller,” she said. In order to make patterns on computer chips, lasers are used.

“But they’re approaching a limit with the patterns they can make with laser lights, because of the wavelength. Sometimes they’ll do double patterning to get it smaller, but there is a physical limit with these chips. Extreme UV light has a shorter wavelength. We want to use extreme UV light to make these chips in the future,” Amanda said. She will be presenting her work at a conference this November. Amanda’s research is sponsored by Sematech, and she said it’s an opportunity to get hands-on experience while working on an industrial project.

Advice on Summer Activities for Future Engineering Students

Amanda emphasizes you should be clear on what you want to do and go find it.

“There are so many opportunities out there and you just need to apply. It’s that easy.”

Amanda advises students looking for experience in school to get involved early on, and to keep your options open, because you never know what’s in the future. “You may think you know what you want to do, but you may come across something that is even better,” she said.

Gaborne, capital city of Botswana

Research in a Medical World: Student Spends Summer at Mayo Clinic

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Molly Imgruet, a junior in bioengineering, experienced both sides of her major this summer. At her internship with the Mayo Clinic, she was doing lab work on lupus patients and shadowing doctors. “I was at the hospital with the doctors on days I wasn’t doing research. It was helpful to see the medical side of the work I was doing,” she said.

Molly worked in the immunology department lab and helped test 1,500 patients for genes that are associated with lupus. She then presented her work at an immunology symposium.

Above all, she liked how the experience related to her future goal of getting an MD and a PhD. She enjoyed getting the full-time experience, and according to Molly, “you really need to like it,” when considering a research career seriously.

“Being able to go work in the lab every morning, having my own project, and setting my schedule provided a good perspective on what I might be doing in the future.”

From Classroom to the Real-World

Molly noticed that what she learned in school was present in her work.

“We attended weekly conferences where professors would present their research. I saw topics we covered in BIOE 202 and in circuit applications. It was cool to see these happening in the real world,” she said.

Even now, she is finding that lab techniques she learned over the summer are applicable in her biochemistry classes and her current on-campus research. She is part of Prof. Sua Myong’s lab working with DNA telomere sequences. “It’s nice to see the common thread going from Mayo to my classes,” she said.

Through the Illinois Scholars Undergraduate Research Program (ISUR), she has been working in the lab since last year. ISUR helps a select group of students with structured research opportunities and includes a monetary award.

Molly found out about the summer internship before she was even officially a student at Illinois. She met Prof. Jennifer Amos, her adviser, on a tour for students interested in bioengineering and learned about the partnership. Illinois collaborates with the Mayo Clinic by sending selected students every summer to work there. For the Illinois’ application to the Mayo program, Molly cultivated her recommendations and wrote an essay. Once she was selected by Illinois, she also applied with Mayo, because she had to be selected by both institutions.

Advice on summer activities for future engineering students

Molly has worked with Prof. Amos closely, and she said an adviser can help you filter opportunities related to your interests. “Definitely pay attention to emails from your department. They make you aware of the range of opportunities. Also keep in contact with your advisor, because they’ll have connections with many professors, companies, and contacts.”

She says to never let age deter you. “You’re never too young to start working in research. Start working the summer after your freshman year, and make connections soon.”

From Champaign to China: Student Balances Engineering and Business

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Nicholas Rivera, a senior in nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering, spent two weeks of his summer on the annual trip to China for the Hoeft Technology and Management minor, a program that integrates engineering and business to solve real-world problems. He traveled to Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, and Nanjing and visited 16 companies. Some were American companies with operations in China, others were based in China.

“It was my first international experience, and it was amazing, especially since I didn’t have a passport before this past year.”

The trip inspired him to look for future international opportunities and also gave him an outlook on life in the U.S. “We’re so used to seeing many different people here in the U.S, and I think we take it for granted. But in China, the diversity isn’t as great. I appreciated that experience,” he said.

Nicholas and his classmates

Exelon Experience

After his trip to China, Nicholas began his internship at Exelon Nuclear where he was a reactor engineering intern. He dealt with software that helped model reactor power and predict the amount of chemicals to maintain a desired power level. “I was able to put classroom knowledge to use, participating in weekly surveillances and performing calculations that I had learned in class,” he said.

Nicholas said that it was a great industry experience where he had the opportunity to do almost everything a full-time reactor engineer would, except sign off on any decisions.

He was able to work at Exelon by consistently visiting corporate representatives when they were on campus. Though he wasn’t offered a position right away, a spot opened up later, and the representatives remembered him.

To round out his summer, Nicholas returned to campus to help with freshman orientation for the Morrill Engineering Program, which supports minority engineers, like himself, with their academics and career planning.

Nicholas is the first student to combine a Nuclear Engineering major with a Technology and Management minor. He believes his professional versatility will be worth it in his job search.

After graduation this May, he hopes to find a career in which he can flex his business muscles.

Advice on Summer Activities for Future Engineering Students

Nicholas finds that freshman engineering students have opportunities to work on research, especially during the summer, where they can collaborate with a professor.

“These are opportunities where you can get experience and skills in the lab as a freshman and then have something to talk about with a company when you’re a sophomore.”

He recommends going to the Engineering Career Fair as a freshman to learn about internships and to remain realistic about the experiences needed in order to obtain one as an upperclassmen. He said to keep research in mind as it helps you to be identified as a leader in your department and you’ll learn more skills in your major. “It’s also an opportunity to make some money over the summer, and who can complain about that?” said Nicholas.

Explore Engineering

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Choosing your college is a big decision. So is choosing your major. We want to help you future engineers find your fit. Recently, we hosted Explore Engineering- a day devoted to giving prospective students a taste of specific majors at Engineering at Illinois.

Professor Toussaint kicked off the event with an inspiring speech about finding your career path, because even he didn’t know where his road led when he was an undergrad.

 

To help answer common questions about Engineering at Illinois, we asked some students to share what it’s really like. Hadiya Harris, Melanie Daugherty and Val Laguna led the student Q&A panel. Check out below for some of their standout responses.

 

Q&A

Q: How do you decide which major to pick in engineering?

A: “For me it was a matter of  deciding where I saw myself in the long run and from there picking what major actually fit that.” –Val

Q:How many hours a week do you study?

A: “Well it depends on the week; how much you do the first week versus before a test changes and it’s a fluctuating schedule. I was told that you should treat engineering like a job and put in 40 hours a week of studying, which sounds crazy but when you realize you have weekends, classes and a few hours every weekday, it’s not hard to knock out 40 hours a week.” –Melanie

” If you think about it you’re not working a 9-5 structured schedule, you can organize your time however you want. Also, one of the things that I’ve found is that all of my study groups are with friends at this point, so for me studying isn’t a miserable time, it’s more of a discussion than a struggle.” –Val

Q: How flexible are the engineering course loads in terms of taking electives outside of your major?

A: “There’s a lot of flexibility. I know that in Materials Science and Engineering  we have a set of concentrations-a choice of different materials to focus on- and within your concentration different options on classes you can take.  You have other requirements too, like the technical elective for example, which motivate you to take classes in a whole different engineering major.” –Melanie

” For industrial engineering we have something called track options, and mine is in economics and finance, but you can also create your own track options so within that you can take other classes that you wouldn’t ordinarily take.” –Hadiya

 

Q: What research opportunities are there on campus?

A: ” Getting involved with research on campus is pretty easy, professors are really flexible, they love having undergrads in their labs. If you have a class with a certain professor or know of one in your department doing really cool research, you can email them and say ‘hey I want to be a part of your lab, I see that you do x,y, and z, and I’m interested in doing that as a concentration or going to grad school for that.’ Usually you’re working on a real project, so you’re not just standing there cleaning test tubes the whole time. You do actual hands on research and can end up getting credit in research papers, which is great for a resume.”-Melanie

Q: What social activities are there for engineers?

A: “All the professional societies for engineering as well as others on campus have social events. I was the social coordinator for my society for a year (SWE) and it was my job to get members involved in fun things outside of engineering. Plus, both the University and College of Engineering hosts events open to everyone, like last night was salsa dancing night at the Illini Union. It’s an advantage of going to a big school that there’s always something to do. Also, I lived in a Living-Learning Community my freshman year, one specifically for math, science, and engineering, and we would have events like watching a movie, painting nails, etc. Also Krannert and State Farm Center (formerly the Assembly Hall) have a bunch of shows and events always going on, like Jim Gaffigan’s this month, and we have a Broadway series come every year.” – Val

” Also we’re a D1 school home of the Fighting Illini, so there’s always a game to go to, and you only need to pay for basketball and football.  Our women’s volleyball team is free and really good so a lot of people go to those games and other sports. Sometimes engineering can stress you out but there are tons of ways to have fun outside the classroom.” –Melanie

MARS – The Augmented Reality App That Will Change How You Use Your Smart Phone

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In today’s age where grandmothers are on Facebook and toddlers are playing with IPads it seems that everyone is linked into the web. People everywhere are hooked to their smart phones, and they rely on them to get information as fast as possible – what was deemed fast last year is now considered slow. Speed and connectivity are of growing importance to our culture, and Professor Mani Golparvar-Fard’s new product utilizes both.

Golparvar-Fard developed technology that allows you to get instant information to your smart device just by taking a picture. The customizable system, MARS (Mobile Augmented Reality System), gives users access to additional information and content that appears as an overlay to their picture. Better yet, the app can detect your location and  display relevant information without GPS or Wifi.

The technology is based on HD4AR (Hybrid Four Dimensional Augmented Reality), which is an extension of the work Golparvar-Fard did as a PhD student here at Illinois. To find out more about the app and the technology behind it check out the video and links below.

For More Information:

http://www.parworks.com/

http://engineering.illinois.edu/news/2013/07/02/mani-golparvar-fard-earns-second-best-paper-award-mars-system

http://vimeo.com/parworks/review/67845957/c05c28a7c8

GEMS: A Camp That Gets Girls Excited About CS

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Girls Exploring Math and Science

The gender balance in the science fields has been evolving progressively- 57% of all undergraduate degrees are obtained by women as are 52% of all math and science undergraduate degrees according to the National Center for Women & Information Technology. However the individual fields don’t all see such equal distribution. Computer science turns out the fewest female undergrads with 18% of degrees going to women.

Its these statistics that motivate young women like Briana Chapman. A sophomore from Mahomet, Illinois, she’s been involved with the Girls Engaged in Math and Science camp since she attended herself in 6th grade. The camp is an outreach program through the Siebel Center for Computer Science that has been encouraging middle school girls to get excited about computer science since 1994. It operates at no cost to the campers, and draws a waiting list as high as 100 girls this year.

Briana Chapman

Chapman serves as the camp coordinator-she is on the forefront of curriculum planning, booking guest speakers and applying for funding to ensure that the program remains free and worthwhile. This year the camp was awarded money from The National Center for Women & Information Technology thanks to Chapman’s effort. She allotted the money to Nexus 7 tablets so the girls could create Android Apps. It was also her influence that shaped this year’s program around sustainability in the food industry- a theme that compelled the girls to be more socially aware and got them thinking logically about problem solving with real world issues.

Chapman and her fellow counselors did an exemplary job this year of getting girls to relate creativity and social activism to computer science. Take a look inside Chapman’s camp below.

We’ve seen girls go from uninterested/their parents made them come, to enthusiastically planning the next great startup with a friend, and shooting their hand up for every discussion question. In our lab, nervous silence from the first day of camp is a huge contrast to the laughing, chatting, and proud smiles at the app open house at the end of the week. We got many survey responses like, ‘Before I came to GEMS, I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. Now I want to become a software developer.’ or ‘GEMS is what made me want to go into CS and it made me want to use my skills to help other people.'” – Chapman

“When the camp is all girls, the participants feel free to be goofy. It gives our camp a more fun ‘sleepover party’ feel and I really love the bonding we witness.” – Chapman

“I designed the GEMS 2013 program to have a theme which linked computing with sustainability in the food industry. Using social activism as “bait” acquainted the girls with new social issues while simultaneously introducing them to possible solutions through computing.” – Chapman

Parent Testimonials

“My daughter’s putting herself to bed early every night to be sure to be at GEMS on time!”

“GEMS sparked an interest in CS and made her think about using technology to solve world problems.”

“My daughter and I have been talking for hours every evening– I can’t tell you how long it’s been since we’ve talked for hours! She’s just so excited about what she’s doing.”

“GEMS helped remove some of the magic and mystery of computing for my daughter, making the use of computing seem attainable, useful and something she was capable of.”

For More Information

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-06-27/camp-takes-students-beyond-computer-science.html

http://gems.cs.illinois.edu/index.php

Illinois Freshman Organizes HS Hackathon, Supported by Facebook & Palantir

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The entire hackathon team L-R Hannah Rudin, Amy Kim, Alex Sands, Sebastian Lerner, Mayank Jain, Ani Chandra, Peter Andringa and Jeevan Karamsetty

©Hannah Rudin

 

A Hackathon

Computer Science freshman Mayank Jain made a legacy for himself at his alma mater high school this year. He organized a hackathon competition at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, or TJHSST, a public institution that offers an extensive science and mathematics curriculum. Having seen a few college hackathons upon coming to the University of Illinois he thought about how the event could be applied to high school students who would benefit from the application of computer science skills alongside the creativity encouraged by the open ended competitions.

“It’s been in the news a lot lately that every student should learn how to code. People were talking about it but I didn’t see anyone doing anything about it.” Jain took it upon himself to do something, and through his contribution to the event’s existence and success he directly encouraged learning and excitement amongst the students. The hackathon, Hack TJ, began Friday April 26th at 5:00PM and ran 24 hours until the judging and award ceremony on Saturday April 27th.

Inspiration and Planning

The first hackathon that Jain attended was hosted by Illinois early his freshman year, and while he was enticed by the free food, he stuck around to tinker on a project and watch the award ceremony. It was the award ceremonies of that and subsequent competitions that captivated Jain. “Seeing what other people have built can really expand what you think is possible to make in 24 hours.” He enjoyed participating as well, and while he didn’t go with hopes of winning, he set personal goals for himself every time.

“I like to go in with the intention of teaching myself something new.” It’s that optimism and interest in gaining new skills that Jain hoped to bring out in high school students through his hackathon, which he structured around learning and innovation rather than competition and recruiting.

To implement the hackathon, Jain teamed up with friend Alex Sands. Sands was on the Future Business Leaders of America exec board with Jain when he was a high school student and succeeded Jain as president after Jain graduated. The two spent months planning the hackathon, Jain working from campus to enlist mentors and sponsors while Sands dealt with ground support such as applying for approval from the school and leading fundraising.

They were successful on all fronts. Jain earned support from companies like Facebook and Palantir and Sands, with other students’ help, was able to raise $8,000 for the event. When the big weekend arrived, 137 students participated and Jain was blown away by how well the event unfolded.

“I was really impressed by how much the high school students were capable of and how well it went. Sometimes you have this picture in your head of how something can go under perfectly, and most of time reality falls short of your expectations. This time the students learned so much more from the mentors and were so much more excited than I anticipated. It beat my expectations. ”

A participant being helped by a mentor during the hackathon.

©Hannah Rudin

Rules and Prizes

While the event was orchestrated to focus on learning rather than competition, there were still rules to follow and prizes distributed. Students could work alone or in groups of up to five members. They had to work within the 24 hour time constraint on absolutely any project that came to mind as long as it was a new idea- original and something they hadn’t started prior to the event.

Unlike coding competitions wherein participants are working under strict parameters without help, in hackathons outside input is allowed. To facilitate learning, the aid of developers and mentors was encouraged and the students leaned on their advice. While networking was not a primary focus, the mentors and students got along famously and students were encouraged to contact the developers after the competition.

There were three major prizes as well as merchandise with tech brand names available to all participants. The grand prize was a Samsung Galaxy Tablet and a trip to the University of Pennsylvania to participate in the PennApps hackathon, all sponsored by Palantir.

MapifyTJ was the winning idea, and is roughly similar to the Marauders Map in Harry Potter. It’s a social networking app that allows you to locate friends and teachers within the high school, as well as send messages and publish class schedules.

Jain was most impressed by the second place winning idea WebVirt, which created a virtual machine on the web. For their efforts the team received urBeats by Dre.

Coming in third was Plydraw, a game wherein friends compete against one another by drawing crude pictures based on a concept from the game’s random topic generator. One friend judges the game, and the winner judges the next round. They were awarded a Roku Player XD.

What Lies Ahead?

One aspect of the hackathon that Jain wished he could have changed was the diversity of students involved in the competition. Originally He and Sands both wanted to organize a hackathon that included all local high schools in the D.C. area, but they could not get the necessary approval.

As TJHSST is a magnet school pulling students from the entire northern Virginia area the high school is on its own diverse. Still, the opportunity is novel and something that Jain doesn’t want to limit just to one school of students. He aspires to see more and more students benefiting from the learning atmosphere of a hackathon early in their lives.

To open up the event he may look into renting a different venue for next year so that there are fewer limitations to contend with as there were in the public school setting. Also, Jain is in the beginning stages of working with an undergrad from the University of Pennsylvania who wants to organize a similar hackathon for Philadelphia area high school students.

For More Information

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2013/apr/03/hackathon-promote-invention/

http://www.tjhsst.edu/studentlife/publications/tjtoday/wordpress/?p=4807

What You Might Have Missed at EOH 2013

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This year the College of Engineering held its 93rd annual Engineering Open House, and it did not disappoint. Since the modest first shows in the 1920s the crowds and demonstrations have grown every year. Today it attracts over 20,000 visitors a year and it one of the largest exhibitions of its kind in the nation.

In the weeks leading up to the largest student run event on campus students stayed up countless late nights to get their presentations working in time for the much anticipated showcase. The success of the weekend was dependent on their efforts, and thanks to them the next generation of engineers went home inspired by the innovative and sensational displays. They hosted over 250 exhibits this year, and for anyone who couldn’t get around to all of them here’s what you may have missed.

 

A compilation of the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering’s EOH 2013 exhibits.

 

The 3D printing exhibit.

The SeaPerch Exhibit- University of Illinois students and faculty use educational tool kits provided by the Illinois Indiana Sea Grant to teach students from grades 6-12 how to build underwater robots.