VANCOUVER, Wash. Washington State University Vancouver computer science graduate student Bo Wang and Assistant Professor of Computer Science David Chiu have been selected to participate in the 2013 Google Summer of Code program. Wang was one of 1,192 applicants accepted to the highly competitive program out of 5,999 proposals from 94 countries. Chiu was selected to be a Google Summer of Code mentor.
Google Summer of Code is a global program that offers students a $5,000 stipend to write computer code for open-source projects. Google Summer of Code works with open-source, free-software or technology-related groups to identify and fund several projects over a three-month period. This program is designed to inspire young developers to participate in open source development and to provide students with the opportunity to do work related to their academic pursuits.
As a mentor, Chiu meets online regularly with a student from the program for status updates. Mentors advise student on technical details, but ultimately the design and implementation decisions are up to them.
Being a mentor is very rewarding. You have the ability to work with extraordinary students building open-source tools to solve real-world computational problems. Such experience gives them an edge in the workforce, which is aligns with our goals as educators, said Chiu. Google Summer of Code also enables students and their mentors to form lasting relationships.
Wangs project, "A Mobile App for Enhancing Scientific Field Research, is a mobile application designed for planning a field research trip and analyzing collected data upon return. It is specially designed for real-time community and event tracking.
The user will be able to track other team members location and data collected status, and share information with team members in a customized map interface, Wang said.
Since 2011, four 91勛圖窪蹋厙 computer science students have participated in Google Summer of Code. One of the four participants has interned for Intel and two others are software engineers for Web Trends and ForgeRock.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
David Chiu, School of Engineering and Computer Science, 360-546-9631, david.chiu@wsu.edu
Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@vancouver.wsu.edu