School of Information Technology (IT) graduate student Surekha Methuku (pictured (center) with Kentrica Coleman of State Farm (L) and Dr. Joaquin Vila-Ruiz, IT (R)), candidate for the M.S. Degree in Information Systems with a concentration in Internet Application Development, was named the winner of the 2012 Mobile Application Development (MAD) Contest, sponsored by State Farm. State Farm representative Kentrica Coleman presented Surekha with the First Place prize, an ASUS Eee Slate tablet on behalf of contest sponsor State Farm during the spring IT Awards Reception on April 27.
Eighteen IT students entered the MAD Contest on February 3, 2012. Contestants were invited to develop a mobile application on the mobile platform of their choice that would promote and develop good behavioral habits and would appeal to college students and young adults.
On March 1, 2012, students presented the Analysis & Desgin for their proposed mobile application to a panel of IT faculty, including: Dave Rathke, Dr. Winn Mahatanankoon, Dr. Bryan Hosack, Dr. Billy Lim, Dr. Amit Shesh and Binoy Edathiparambil. The judging panel selected the finalists who would continue on in the contest and develop a working mobile application for final presentations.
On April 20, 2012, MAD Contest finalists Andrew Erickson, Chris Magee, Shreeti Banerjee, Brian Jesse, Andrew Sampson and Surekha Methuku made the final presentations of their working applications to a panel of State Farm IT professionals. The judging panel included: Eric Cook, Project Manager; Kentrica Coleman, Analytic Data Designer; Tim Zadoks, Service Manager in the Digital Development Center and Jeff Thomas, Lead android Developer/Web Developer. Surekha’s application “NFC Coupon”, which employs the emerging technology of Near Field Communication to create, manage and securely transfer retail coupons via a mobile device, was selected as the winner by the judging panel.
Andrew Erickson’s personal fitness application “GymTrak” was selected as runner-up. Andrew was awarded the 2nd place prize, a Samsung Galaxy Tablet. The 3rd place prize, a SONY tablet was awarded to Chris Magee for his application “Drinking Buddy” which promotes responsible drinking and DUI prevention.
