{"56997":{"#nid":"56997","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Student on Finalist Team for Microsoft\u0027s Imagine Cup","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA Ph.D. 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\u0027s 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.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Imagine Cup competition is designed to empower students to use technology, innovation and creativity to help solve some of the world\u0027s most challenging social issues outlined in the United Nations\u0027 Millennium Development Goals. From designing mobile healthcare applications to enabling access to quality education for all children and creating games that teach disease prevention, young social innovators are using technology to make a difference in the life of people around the world and in their own communities.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMukhopadhyay is working with two team members from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Yamini Girey and Krishna Rao, to create a Web site known as AwareNet. The site is designed to create an online forum where non-governmental organizations (NGO), volunteers, donors and vendors can interact and share resources.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Mukhopadhyay, the underlying idea of AwareNet is to create a social media enterprise\/network for people who want to help or those who are in need of assistance. \u0022Finding all these distributed resources is a herculean task,\u0022 he noted.  \u0022It would be simpler to have it all under a single roof, and that is where AwareNet steps in.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAwareNet could create a scenario where, for example, a pharmaceutical company in Australia could easily locate and donate medicines to NGOs in far-flung regions such as the Sahara. A key feature of the program is a system where users can rate a particular welfare effort or provider allowing people to evaluate how effectively their donations are being utilized.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Putting such a platform on the Internet will enable people from all over the world to collaborate,\u0022 explained Mukhopadhyay. \u0022Look what Wikipedia has become. Everyone contributed to it and now it is an indispensable resource. Why not do that for welfare?\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMukhopadhyay said that AwareNet could play a vital role in emergency response, such as ongoing efforts in Haiti. \u0022If this project becomes a central repository that people readily refer to, it can become invaluable,\u0022 he noted. \u0022People do not need computers to access the Internet -- phones do the job now. If there were common people in the midst of a crisis like Haiti, the information coming in would be first hand and accurate and almost instantaneous. That would enable organizations to better coordinate and plan rescue operations.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile the Coders Inc. team is optimistic about making it to the World Finals scheduled in Poland this summer, Mukophadhyay values the experience whatever the outcome. \u0022Even if our project does not become anything huge in the future, I am happy that this competition is bringing people together to think about such things. Maybe some of the ideas will succeed and make a better future for all,\u0022 he concluded.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA Ph.D. 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.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech student is on a finalist team for Microsoft\u0027s Imagine Cup"}],"uid":"27241","created_gmt":"2010-02-01 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:04","author":"Jackie Nemeth","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtsav.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Savannah"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/imaginecup.com\/Im","title":"Imagine Cut"}],"groups":[{"id":"1255","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"246","name":"Georgia Institute of Technology"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"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\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Tech Communications and Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8853\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}