2 UNL Teams Reach Final Round of Microsoft Competition

Two University of Nebraska-Lincoln design teams were among nine teams from across the nation that reached the final round of the Microsoft ChallengE competition in Redmond, Wash., March 20-21.

One team included Dan Shoop (Papillion), John Thiltges (Falls City) and Prashanth Veeranna and the other included Justin Chen (Lincoln), Chad Erickson (Lincoln), Carl Steffen (Lincoln) and Jesse Temple (Omaha). A third team of Shiu Beng Kooi, Nipun Mathur, Sandeep Pisharody and Chendhore Veerappan also competed in the 29-team event.

On the first morning of the competition, each team demonstrated its projects to the judges for 15 minutes at a science-fair like booth. This was followed by 20-minute individual oral presentations before the judges in the afternoon. From each of four groups (three of eight and one of nine teams), two were selected to advance to the final round on Sunday. Additionally, a "wildcard" team was selected based on team mentors' evaluation of the displays at the science-fair booths.

ChallengE is related to the IEEE Computer Society's International Design Contest that started in 1999-2000. Each year, the contest establishes a broad theme for team design projects carried out by computer engineering/science students over a period of one semester. The theme for this year is "Making the World a Safer Place."

CONTACT: LaRita Lang, Computer Science & Engineering, (402) 472-3826 (llang1@unl.edu)