Mobile Application Design Contest for the past two years for HKUST undergraduates, postgraduates and alumni. The most recent contest in March attracted over teams. The champion app, PlexVibe, was created by undergraduates Kenta Iwasaki, CSE, and Mahian Maksud, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and billed as a music discovery and music promotion platform. The duo also won the best business idea and best user interface design and poster prizes. Other winning ideas included an instant Q&A platform for social media and a platform for transportation sharing. We MAD guys have also been working closely with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in identifying suitable community projects that could bene t from mobile applications. Several student groups from MAD courses and undertaking nal year projects have been developing concepts ranging from a Tai O tourism app, sponsored by the YWCA, to a depression detection gaming app, with LULIO, and a Tung Chung community app, with Kerry Group Kuok Foundation. Further projects we are currently involved in include an attention de cit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) research platform with Hong Kong Polytechnic University Rehabilitation Sciences Department, a management information system for the Hong Kong UNICEF Club, and elderly outpatient escort services for the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong. All these MAD activities are based on the common goals of: equipping students with mobile development-related knowledge and skills; cultivating budding entrepreneurs to pursue their passion and realize their dreams; and motivating students to use their technical capabilities to serve society. hen the School of Engineering launched Hong Kong’s rst undergraduate course on Mobile Application Development in , it caught the beginning of a trend that has turned into a huge new area of academic, technology and business interest. The University has continued to set the pace, with the Mobile Application Development (MAD) team adopting a multi-pronged approach to highlight the exciting potential of this technology to students. The team is led by myself, together with teaching associate Mr Ka Wing Lo and instructional assistant Dr Subrota Mondal. There is now a set of three courses available: Introduction to Mobile Application Development using Android (COMP A); Mobile Application Development Projects (COMP ), an experiential learning course aimed at drawing together teams of students from various departments to conceptualize, design and implement a mobile app-based solution to a real-world problem; and Mobile Application Development (COMP ), providing in-depth coverage of mobile application development and concentrating on technical aspects. In addition, with the support of the Computer Science and Engineering Department (CSE), the MAD team has organized the W The MAD Guys postgraduate Civil and Environmental Engineering team won the championship at the Engineering Case Competition on Clean Water Treatment held at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. The team comprised Li Ling, Jiajian Liu, Yingying Xiang and Dapeng Zhang, supervised by Prof Chii Shang, Civil and Environmental Engineering. Members visited a Thai village, analysed the water quality, and created a device to provide safe drinking water at a much lower cost than many alternatives on the market. The device was inspired by student projects from a blended learning Common Core course at HKUST taught by Prof Shang. Team members served as teaching assistants on the course. Clean Water Triumph 22 IN FOCUS The MAD team: Prof Jogesh Muppala (center), Dr Subrota Mondal (le ), and Mr Ka Wing Lo (right). Prof Jogesh Muppala, Computer Science and Engineering, has been leading the Mobile Application Development instructional team at HKUST for the past ve years. Here, he explains the signi cance of such knowledge for students and Hong Kong A
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