UCA students’ skin-cancer software design places third in Microsoft Imagine Cup

CONWAY — An automated system designed by two University of Central Arkansas students that allows people to self-monitor their diagnosed skin cancer using cell phones placed third in software design in the U.S. finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011.

The Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft. This year, 74,000 students from 400 schools participated in the competition. The top 10 teams competed in the finals held April 9-11 in Redmond, Wash.

Team UCA Ursus — sophomore Brendan Lee and Muhyeddin Ercan, an international graduate student — competed against students from Harvard, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, Central Connecticut State University, Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University, the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Lee and Ercan received a $3,000 prize for their third-place finish.

“We had a great time competing at Microsoft and showing our ideas to the world. We had some tough competition, but ultimately it comes down to what changes the world the most,” Lee said. “With the research and guidance of Dr. [Sinan] Kockara, we were able to impress some of the greatest software developers in the world.”

Ercan and Lee were proud to represent the University of Central Arkansas on a national scale.

“We did a great job in favor of the people that suffer from skin cancer,” Ercan said. “The inspiration of our application comes from our mentor, who encouraged us and guided us to find this innovational idea.”

This is the first time the UCA Ursus Team has competed in Imagine Cup. The team’s success was not a surprise, said Sinan Kockara, assistant professor in the computer science department and team mentor.

“I had already started research with Brendan and Muhyeddin, and this work was published in the Oxford University’s Bioinformatics journal,” Kockara said. “Our project was based on published work.”

Kockara said the team’s top-three finish would not have been possible without the support of Computer Science Department Chair Chenyi Hu.

“He made this project possible for us by providing software, hardware and moral support,” Kockara said. “He never said ‘no’ for any request throughout this project.”

The teams competing in the Imagine Cup created real-world software applications using Microsoft technologies. The software applications addressed this year’s theme: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”

“It is inspiring to meet so many students who are on the forefront of new discoveries,” said Mark Hindsbo, vice president of Developer and Platform Evangelism at Microsoft, in a release. “Whether they go on to develop a breakthrough in health care, start a company or become better prepared to enter the work force, students who participate in the Imagine Cup are leading us into a bright future.”

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