More than 40 computer science and business students from CSU Monterey Bay, Monterey Peninsula College, Hartnell College and the Monterey Institute for International Studies were joined by local software professionals for the "Ideas of March," a marathon Android app development competition March 15-17 at CSUMB.

During the course of the 54-hour event, students worked in eight teams – seven of which were mentored by software professionals – to develop mobile apps for local small business and non-profit organizations, including Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Community Television of Santa Cruz County, Oldtown Salinas Association and Monterey Regional Airport.

The event was a collaboration among CSUMB's computer science and information technology program, the Monterey County Business Council and the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development. The overall winner – with highest marks for technical merit, impact on society, potential success of commercialization and presentation quality – was a team that developed an app for Community Hospital’s Peninsula Wellness Center. The app will allow members to access information on classes, events, personal trainer times and updated alerts that get pushed to the mobile device by the organization.

Awards were also presented for Best Technical Merit, to the team that developed an app for Community Television of Santa Cruz to select and display three streaming video channels and its complete schedule listings, which can be easily searched; and for Highest Community Impact, to the team that developed an app for Destination Salinas to help users find historic sites of Salinas, offering descriptions and trivia about the sites like a virtual tour guide. Several of the community partners attended the presentations and awards reception. Overall, the Ideas of March drew more than 50 participants including students, software professionals, community partners, judges, and other volunteers. "Community members, software engineers, judges and most of all, the students, learned and enjoyed the experience very much," said Professor Eric Tao, chair of the School of School of Computing and Design and director of the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development. "It was inspiring to have the students and software engineers working together with an intense deadline and to see the outcomes on the final day," said Kim Wadsworth, director of technology for the Monterey County Business Council, who served as one of the judges for the event. "One student said it best during his presentation: He and his team members had no java knowledge or app development experience, and yet they were able to find code on Google from the open-source community in order to pull together a finished prototype in only 2.5 days. He learned that you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it." View the KSBW news segment on the event (broadcast March 16), and see a slide show of the "Ideas of March" here.

Read the original story here. (Story courtesy of the Monterey County Business Council. It appeaed in the Friday Facts newsletter of March 23.)