{"49698":{"#nid":"49698","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Student on Finalist Team for Microsoft\u0027s Imagine Cup","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA PhD student from the Georgia Institute of Technology is\npart of a team that has been selected to compete in the 2010 U.S. finals for\nMicrosoft\u2019s Imagine Cup. Shayok Mukhopadhyay, an electrical engineering student\nat Georgia Tech Savannah, and fellow members of team Coders Inc. will take part\nin the finals in Washington\n D.C., April 23 - 26. The team is\none of five software design teams selected from a large pool of contestants\nlast fall.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;The Imagine Cup competition is designed to empower students\nto use technology, innovation and creativity to help solve some of the world\u2019s\nmost challenging social issues outlined in the United Nations\u2019 Millennium\nDevelopment Goals. From designing mobile healthcare applications to enabling\naccess to quality education for all children and creating games that teach\ndisease prevention, young social innovators are using technology to make a\ndifference in the life of people around the world and in their own communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;Mukhopadhyay is working with two team members from the\nIllinois Institute of Technology, Yamini Girey and Krishna Rao, to create a Web\nsite known as AwareNet. The site is designed to create an online forum where\nnon-governmental organizations (NGO), volunteers, donors and vendors can\ninteract and share resources.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;According to Mukhopadhyay, the underlying idea of AwareNet is to create a social\nmedia enterprise\/network for people who want to help or those who are in need\nof assistance. \u201cFinding all these distributed resources is a herculean task,\u201d\nhe noted. \u0026nbsp;\u201cIt would be simpler to have\nit all under a single roof, and that is where AwareNet steps in.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;AwareNet\ncould create a scenario where, for example, a pharmaceutical company in Australia could easily locate and donate\nmedicines to NGOs in far-flung regions such as the Sahara.\nA key feature of the program is a system where users can rate a particular\nwelfare effort or provider allowing people to evaluate how effectively their\ndonations are being utilized.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cPutting such a platform on the Internet will\nenable people from all over the world to collaborate,\u201d explained Mukhopadhyay. \u201cLook what Wikipedia has become. Everyone\ncontributed to it and now it is an indispensable resource. Why not do that for\nwelfare?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EMukhopadhyay\nsaid that AwareNet could play a vital role in emergency response, such as\nongoing efforts in Haiti.\n\u201cIf this project becomes a central repository that people readily refer to, it\ncan become invaluable,\u201d he noted. \u201cPeople do not need computers to access the Internet\n-- phones do the job now. If there were common people in the midst of a crisis\nlike Haiti,\nthe information coming in would be first hand and accurate and almost\ninstantaneous. That would enable organizations to better coordinate and plan\nrescue operations.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile\nthe Coders Inc. team is optimistic about making it to the World Finals\nscheduled in Poland\nthis summer, Mukophadhyay values the experience whatever the outcome. \u201cEven if\nour project does not become anything huge in the future, I am happy that this\ncompetition is bringing people together to think about such things. Maybe some\nof the ideas will succeed and make a better future for all,\u201d he concluded.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Team Coders Inc. Set to Compete in Washington D.C. Finals in April"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"A PhD student from the Georgia Institute of Technology is part of a team that has been selected to compete in the 2010 U.S. finals for Microsoft\u2019s Imagine Cup. Shayok Mukhopadhyay, an electrical engineering student at Georgia Tech Savannah, and fellow members of team Coders Inc. will take part in the finals in Washington D.C., April 23 - 26. The team is one of five software design teams selected from a large pool of contestants last fall.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ph.D. student competes in the 2010 U.S. finals for Microsoft\u2019s Imagine Cup"}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2010-01-25 09:11:25","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:08","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-01-25T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-01-25T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"49697":{"id":"49697","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech Student Part of Finalist Team for Microsoft\u0027s Imagine Cup","body":null,"created":"1449175428","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:43:48","changed":"1475894468","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:08","alt":"Georgia Tech Student Part of Finalist Team for Microsoft\u0027s Imagine Cup","file":{"fid":"190148","name":"ImagineCup_Team_2010.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ImagineCup_Team_2010_0.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ImagineCup_Team_2010_0.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":151479,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ImagineCup_Team_2010_0.JPG?itok=rdVVei9f"}}},"media_ids":["49697"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/imaginecup.com\/Im","title":"Imagine Cut"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtsav.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Savannah"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1317","name":"Georgia Tech Savannah"},{"id":"3420","name":"Imagine Cup"},{"id":"335","name":"Microsoft"},{"id":"169271","name":"Shayok Mukhopadhyay"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELisa Grovenstein, 404-894-8835\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}