July 7, 2005

NC State Student Team Takes First Place in IEEE CSIDC World Finals

Students from the Senior Design Center in the Department of Computer Science at NC State University proudly display plaques commemorating their first-place team win in the sixth annual IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition World (CSIDC). Pictured (l to r) in the front row are team members Dakota Hawkins and David Coblentz and team mentors Ms. Margaret Heil and Dr. Robert Fornaro. In the back row (l to r) are Dr. Alan Clements, chair of the CSIDC, and team members Ben Noffsinger and Jonathan Lewis. (Photo: IEEE Computer Society)

A multidisciplinary student team from the Senior Design Center in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University won the $20,000 first-place prize in the sixth annual IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition (CSIDC) World Finals held in Washington, D.C., June 27 through 28, 2005. Team members are David Coblentz (BSCSC ’05), Dakota Hawkins (BSCSC ’05), Jonathan Lewis (BSCSC ’05), and Ben Noffsinger (junior, Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences). This is the first team from the United States to win this competition since it began six years ago.

Their project, “NEAT: Networks for Endangered Animal Tracking,” combines GPS technology and wireless sensor networks to track animal movements in the wild. Mentored by Dr. Robert J. Fornaro, professor of computer science and director of the Senior Design Center (SDC), and Margaret Heil, associate director of the SDC, the NC State team was one of 10 teams out of nearly 400 selected to participate in the World Finals. Judged on technical merits, a written final report, a formal demonstration, an oral technical presentation, and teamwork, the NC State team met the 2005 challenge of “Going Beyond the Boundaries” to devise “computer-based solutions for real-world problems.”

This is the second time that an SDC team has placed in the top 10 at the competition. In the CSIDC 2003, the NC State Team won third place for an invention called Diet Download (www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/awards/DietDownload.html).

For more information about this year’s competition, visit www.computer.org/CSIDC.

— mcblief —

Media contact:
Kathi McBlief, (919) 515-2283, mcblief@eos.ncsu.edu

Technical contact:
Dr. Robert J. Fornaro, (919) 515-7848, csidc2005@csc.ncsu.edu
Ms. Margaret Heil, (919) 515-6020, csidc2005@csc.ncsu.edu

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