On February 8, twenty one Illinois State students entered the 2013 Mobile Application Development (MAD) Contest, sponsored by State Farm. This year’s contest is the second sponsored by State Farm. Eric Cook, an online program manager for State Farm, spoke to contestants on behalf of the sponsor, explaining that the goals of the program are to stimulate student interest in the increasingly important area of mobile application development, as well as provide students an opportunity to develop a project they can use to demonstrate their skills to prospective employers as they prepare to launch their professional careers.
Contestents are invited to develop a working application for the mobile device of their choice, using the operating system of their choice. The application should be designed to promote and develop good behavioral habits, such as driving, financial education, time management, health, or other related topics. The target audience for applications is young adult/college age.
New for this year, students may compete either individually or as a 2-person team. Contestants will present the analysis & design phase of their project to a panel of School of Information Technology faculty on March 7. The faculty panel will select finalists who will continue on to the final presentations on April 18. At that time finalists will present their working application to a panel of State Farm IT professionals who will choose the contest winners. Winners will recieve mobile devices, provided by State Farm, as prizes.
