On Wednesday December 4, 2013 the Department of Computer Science (CS) hosted its first ever Computer Science Fair. Excitement was in the air as over 160 students showcased 93 different projects to about 300 participants that included tech industry representatives, the University Provost David Rosowsky, and Dean Luis Garcia of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. Eighteen cash prizes were awarded to winning projects by the distinguished panel of 18 external judges and 7 CS faculty, and 48 pizzas (among other refreshments) were devoured. Sponsors included Google, State Street, Pega, Vermont HITEC, IEEE, C2, MyWebGrocer, Swarms Ventures, Dealer.com, and more.

“We saw an amazing range of innovation from first year Web site designers to complex mathematical optimization programs,” said John Cohn, IBM Fellow in IBM Corporate Technical Strategy and a CS Fair judge.

“This inaugural CS Fair did exactly what we had hoped it would do”, said Maggie Eppstein, who became Chair of the department in 2012. “It raised visibility of our thriving CS programs both on- and off-campus and created valuable connections between students and employers. But perhaps most importantly, it generated a real sense of accomplishment and pride in being part of the UVM CS Community. The quality of the projects presented was really fantastic, and both students and faculty are already looking forward to making next year’s CS Fair even better!”

Projects explored trauma recovery, energy efficiency, social media, app development, animation and more. For a full list of student projects, award winners and a complete list of sponsors visit the CS Fair Website.