06-02-04

ISU STUDENT COMPUTER TEAM SELECTED FOR WORLD DESIGN FINALS

AMES, Iowa -- A trio of Iowa State University students has been selected as one of the top 10 teams in the ComputerSociety's International Design Contest, sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

The team of Melanie Davis, a senior from Minneapolis, Minn.; Douglas Houghton, a graduate student from Ames andShahzaib Younis, a senior from Pakistan, will participate in the contest's World Finals in Washington, D.C., June25-28. This is Iowa State's first year to qualify for the finals, and only its second year in the competition.

Iowa State and the University of Virginia are the only two U.S. college and university teams participating in the WorldFinals. The other teams are from Germany, Nepal, Brazil, Pakistan, Taiwan, Romania, Poland and South Africa.

More than 250 teams from 144 schools participated in the contest's qualifying rounds this year. Participants designedand implemented computer-based solutions to real-world problems centered on the theme, "Making The World A SaferPlace." The top 10 teams were selected based on their final project reports.

Simanta Mitra, a lecturer in computer science, coaches the Iowa State University team. Other computer science facultymembers involved with the project include Carl Chang, professor and department chair; Johnny Wong, professor, and YingCai, assistant professor.

-30-