By: Maryam Mirza
Students in the second year of the computer engineering technology program pitched their creative ideas during a technology research fair held in the ACCE building on Nov. 26.
The fair was packed with students and faculty listening to their innovative ideas.
The research fair was part of a class project for their communications class.
Carolyn Cote, communications professor for the school of advanced technology said that it’s the first time they have asked students to do this for their final assignment.
“We felt it was a change from the usual boring final assignment given to second-year students,” said Cote.
“This was a great way to get the students out of the classroom and doing something that would make them feel excited about what they’re studying,” she said.
The students had a number of stalls set up with a group of two or three students on each table pitching their individual ideas.
Matt Springett and Steve Pekan were part of a group that showcased their design of a smartphone app called Smart Calendar.
“The app allows you to enter your appointments on the calendar and manages it for you,” said Springett. “For instance, if an appointment is recorded in there, the app notifies you how close the time is to your appointment, recognizes its location and tells you how much time you have to get there.”
“If you start getting late, it asks you if you want to reschedule or backs up the rest of your appointments for that day for you,” Pekan said.
Omar Doueidar, Chris Whitten and Stewart Scott were part of another group at the fair that proposed the idea of Cirrus.
“The program is meant to make backing up data on your computer easier than ever before,” said Doueidar. “All you do is drop your documents into the folder and the folder automatically uploads it on to a server and backs up all your information for you.”
“The purpose of the project was to help the students feel excited about their work, their abilities and talent,” said Leann Nicholson, professor with the computer science program.
Cote and Nicholson got together and thought this would inspire the students to nurture their creativity and ideas and be able to share them with students and faculty.
The end of year project was a success with many faculty members, including Algonquin president, Kent MacDonald and students from all programs coming out to see and hear what the technology students had to offer.
Cote and Nicholson agreed they would like to carry it on in the future.
“We know how smart our students are, we just wanted everybody else to know it,” said Nicholson.