Student Competition 2009: $30K in prizes

CITRIS is proud to announce the fourth annual CITRIS White Paper competition, which will give away $30K in cash prizes for the best ideas that demonstrate the ability of IT to address a major societal challenge. The IT for Society contest is open to students from all four CITRIS campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis.

 

More information: http://contest.berkeley.edu/contest_pages/129

 

Last year's winners: http://www.citris-uc.org/Big-idea-winners-2008

 

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About the contest:

CITRIS is interested in stimulating new thinking on a broad range of social benefits of information technology in areas such as: energy and the environment, health, education and life-long learning, democratic governance, response to natural and man-made disasters, transportation, delivery of government services, quality of life for people with disabilities, economic opportunity for low-income communities, arts and culture, and the effectiveness of non-profit organizations. Describe a multidisciplinary research project that would demonstrate the capacity of IT to help address a major societal challenge.

 

Deadline

All submissions are due 5:00 p.m. PST March 23, 2009. Late entries will not be accepted. All entries should be submitted electronically to: in HTML, Word, or PDF with the following file name format: "Last Name_IT" Finalists will be asked to make a short presentation on their proposal.

 

Length

White papers should be 5-10 pages in length, not including appendices.

 

Prize

A total of $30,000 in cash prizes is available, which will be allocated as follows:

• First place: $12,500
• Second place: $7,500
• 3 honorable mentions at $2500 each

Prizes will only be awarded if there are high-quality submissions.

 

The cash can be used a scholarships or to support the proposed project or idea (e.g. research, travel, workshops, miscellaneous expenses).

Winners will also be able to post their project on the Big Ideas marketplace, which allows people and organizations to make online donations to support specific student projects and initiatives.

 

Eligibility

At least one member of the team must be an undergraduate or graduate student from one of the four CITRIS campuses: UC Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz or Merced. Multidisciplinary teams are strongly encouraged.

 

Decisions of the Judges

Decisions of the judges are final and not subject to appeal.

 

Faculty Advisor

Winners who intend to use the money to support their proposed idea or project will be required to have a faculty advisor. This is not required at the time of submission.

 

Required Information

The following information must be required (which does not count against the 5-10 page limit):

• Names and brief bios of team members, including major and student status (e.g. undergrad, grad)
• Contact information for primary contact.
• Whether or not you consent to public, online dissemination of your white paper.
• 1-2 paragraphs on what your team would do with the money.