A team of five �������� students was conferred an in the recently-concluded (IBCOL).

“Subay,” a mobile app developed by Jeneville Ven Abayon, Earl John Conag, RB Angelou Cobosa, Alexis dela Rosa, Justin Raz, and Cris Lawrence Adrian Militante, was the only entry from the Philippines among 36 that were given Awards of Merit. All five students belong to the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.

, Cebuano for “trace” is a contact-tracing app they designed that integrates blockchain technology to a mobile phone in order to help curb the rising number of positive COVID-19 cases in the country. It allows users to ensure the safety of their cohorts, constituents or, in the case of businesspersons, their employees and customers through the use of a real-time updated map. With the security and data integrity in blockchain technology, users are assured of location history that cannot be altered, manipulated, or updated.

A simple updating of a person’s status using Subay on a smartphone will immediately result in the transmission of a notification to all users who were in contact with that person, thus providing real-time information and enabling users to help trace possible contamination.

The International Blockchain Olympiad, according to the its website, began in 2017. It is designed like a “business case competition, an academic whitepaper conference and a ‘hackathon’,” where contestants comprising up to six students or recent graduates first write a whitepaper to describe a complete solution. Finalists are then asked to create a poster board and pitch the project through a presentation. The Olympiad awards students who think deeply about a problem and its solution and are then able to explain it to others in a coherent manner.

The five �������� students shared the limelight with entries from Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among others. A second �������� team with the project composed of Bryl Lim, Michale Aniñon, and Robert Lim also made the final cut; the two �������� teams were among only four teams from the Philippines that were named as finalists.

Congratulations!!!

by Jose Eleazar R. Bersales

Tags: Computer Science

From left: J. P. Palpallatoc (Accenture Managing Director and Digital Lead), Jeremiah Valero Jr., Rannzel Dwayne Tongco, Danielle Ann Piamonte, Erl Joshua Arcenal, Clyde Go, Heinrich Von Wogue (faculty mentor), Menard Baquiano (Accenture mentor).

Team Aid 2.0 of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences won the Tech Vision Award 2018 for their project called Tactus in Accenture’s Program the Future competition last August 18, 2018 when they flew to Manila to present their final pitch and prototypes. The final presentation and awarding was done on the same day. They received PhP20,000 for being the top 10 finalist and PhP50,000 for the Tech Vision 2018 Award.

See related story here.

Tags: Computer Science

From left: Menard Baquiano (Accenture mentor), Clyde Go, Rannzel Dwayne Tongco, Danielle Ann Piamonte, Erl Joshua Arcenal, Jeremiah Valero Jr.

Team AID 2.0 of the �������� Department of Computer Science and Information Science made it to the finals of Accenture’s “Program the Future Challenge 2018.” This was announced last July 28, 2018 at the Cebu Grand Convention Center.

The program started with a Design Thinking Workshop on May 12, where the participants underwent the ideation process. They were made to submit their entries on June 22 and the kickoff event took place on June 30 where the accepted entries were proclaimed. Representatives from Accenture mentored the students for four weeks.

Team AID 2.0’s project is an innovation called “Tactus” which is a portable, wearable, and affordable device to help the blind experience and expand the world they live in by providing them with the ability to “read” by converting text to Braille and providing feedback to their fingers.

The group with compete with other entries from Luzon and Visayas on August 18, 2018 at the Accenture Liquid Laboratory in Taguig City.

Tags: Computer Science

Two teams from the University of San Carlos won at the 14th Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program Innovation and Excellence Awards last May 11, 2018 held at the Discovery Primea in Makati City.

Team Eryl was declared as the overall champion bagging Huawei Philippines‘ Prize for Excellence for their mobile platform that allows users to set up classes and tutorial sessions. The team is composed of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science seniors Cris Lawrence Adrian Militante, Patrick Dave Woogue, and Gabriel Andrew Pineda and is mentored by Patrick Wilbur Aldueso, a faculty member of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences (DCIS). One team member gets the chance to train in Shenzhen and Beijing, China at the Huawei R&D Center as part of the Huawei Seeds for the Future program.

Team Salvar, composed of B.S. Information Technology juniors Jeremiah Valero Jr., Ma. Louise Lumapas, and Danielle Ann Piamonte, also grabbed third place; they are mentored by Ken Gorro, also a faculty member of the DCIS. The team developed an application that addresses the lack of accessibility to mental health care by Filipinos. They received the Wuhan Fiberhome International Technologies Philippines, Inc. Prize for Transformation.

These two teams were named finalists in an earlier story reported here.

Tags: Events, Computer Science

Three entries from University of San Carlos were chosen as top 10 finalists of the 14th SMART SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards out of 312 entries from 78 schools nationwide. The three entries were from Teams Eryl and Salvar from the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and another team from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Team Eryl, composed of B.S. C.S. seniors Patrick Dave Woogue, Gabriel Andrew Pineda, Cris Lawrence Adrian Militante and adviser Patrick Aldues (below, all photos courtesy Smart SWEEP) submitted an entry that allows students to easily setup online classes for special lessons that they need help with.

Team Salvar (below) submitted an application that will allow users to search and set up appointments with a wide variety of mental health care professionals. The team is composed of B.S. I.T. juniors Jeremiah Valero Jr., Ma. Louise Lumapas, Danielle Ann Piamonte and adviser Ken Gorro.

Jeven Dale M. Marfil, Jan Roe D. Fuentes, Judylyn R. Solon, all B.S. E.C.E. fifth year students, and adviser Percival J. Forcadilla (below) submitted a monitoring system and mathematical modeling for cacao fermentation process.

A SWEEP Awards Boot Camp was held last March 7-8, 2018 followed by a validation event the following day at the Green Sun in Makati to allow the finalists to further fine-tune their entries and to inspire proponents to pursue their projects as startups.

Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) has been running for the past 13 years an annual innovations competition among partner schools through the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP), the only industry-academe linkage program of its kind that elevates engineering and information technology education by assisting schools in producing industry-ready graduates and technopreneurs.

by Mary Jane Sabellano

Tags: Events, Engineering, Computer Science

Thirteen students from different engineering departments as well as the Department of Computer and Information Science (School of Arts and Sciences) of the University of San Carlos participated in the Accenture Student Leadership Conference last March 2-3, 2018 at the Novotel, Cubao, Quezon City.

The �������� representatives are computer engineering students Rex Karlo V. Cabanilla, Robert B. Espina, Karlo Andre B. Lee, electronics and communications engineering student Norch Van P. Honoridez (E.C.E.), industrial engineering student Chiara Therese G. Sarchez, and computer science students Rayven Yor Z. Esplanada, Joshua L. Lee, Justin Paul C. I. Manalili, Cris Lawrence Adrian G. Militante, Royce Vincent A. Po, Jane Colleen T. Ventura, Patrick Dave P. Woogue, and Hussain D. Zuorba (see photo above).

Student leaders from all over the country gathered to participate in a series of activities and workshops that aimed to hone their leadership skills as well as provide an avenue for them to develop ideas for innovation. Divided into teams composed of students from premier universities and institutions, the delegates participated in design thinking, team cheers, and more.

At the end of the conference, the teams were recognized and given awards for Best Team Cheer (Marsala Red, with Zuorba), Best Design Thinking (Prism Violet, with Esplanada), and Ultimate SLC Team (Sapphire Blue, with Po and Manalili).

by Van Honoridez

Tags: Events, Engineering, Computer Science