United States Teams Advance to Finals Round of Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011 World Finals

Randy Guthrie – Microsoft Academic Developer Evangelist
https://blogs.msdn.com/MIS_Laboratory

Last night in an emotionally-charged event the teams that were advancing to the final rounds of the Imagine Cup World finals.  The Note-taker team from Arizona State University (Software Design) and Team Dragon from Rice University (Mobile Game Design) both advanced to the final round.  Note-taker has emerged from a field of over 67 teams to the final six, and Team Dragon is one of nine remaining teams in a field of fifteen that were invited to the finals.  The teams that were eliminated in a very close race were ICsquared (Silverlight – Game) and Syntax Errors (Embedded Development). In a slightly different competition scheme, the Windows Phone 7 team (The Life Lens Project) is still in contention but will not know the results until the final award announcements at the closing ceremony.

Students from the US teams dance in front of the stage waiting for the announcements to begin

US student celebrate teams’ advancement to the final round on the stage

Syntax Errors show off their F.R.E.D unit to media in the showcase

The Life Lens Project (Univ of California – Davis, Univ of Central Florida, UCLA, and Harvard Business School) uses a tiny microscope lens attachment to a Windows Phone 7 camera to magnify blood cells so their special software can detect malaria-infected cells

Tomorrow the final presentations will be given and the judges will select the winners of this year’s Imagine Cup.  The winners will be a announced at the “World Festival” awards ceremony at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Tonight, all of the contestants will be treated to a ride on the Hudson River ferry past the Statue of Liberty, followed by a private party on Ellis Island.

Cheers,

Randy