#app jam

Chapman University has three student teams participating in the 2014 Autism App Jam. ThisSaturday, April 26, 2014, the competition will wrap up with judging, a public viewing and the awards reception from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. the Beckman Center in Irvine. You’re invited to come to the event and support our Chapman teams.

The Autism App Jam is a two-week competition for undergraduate and graduate students of all majors and skills at UC Irvine and Chapman University. During the two weeks, student teams of 4 to 5 design and create some kind of technology – be it a mobile app, website or even a kinect game – to support a real problem faced by people coping with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Then team present their design to a panel of judges from area schools, Google, Nokia, Blizzard and Quicksilver Software, among others.

Last year was the first year of the event, and after receiving such positive response, the organizers decided to do it again this year.

MEET THE CHAPMAN TEAMS

Team Whiteboard (Follow them on tumblr or like them on Facebook)

Danny Byrd

Tony Murphy

Aaron Gerston

Ryan Meisters

Team Smart Dresser (read more on their blog)

“There are four of us! Aneesha and Mirabel are both Computer Science majors and do most of the back-end Java coding. They came onto the project first and have done a lot of programming in terms of creating the activities, weighting different object based on user ‘Favorites’, and creating all of the major actions of the app. They deserve a round of applause whenever they walk into a room. One of Aneesha’s favorite things to do at meetings is make jokes out of things that may or may not be that funny and giggle uncontrollably while Mirabel stares at her in bemusement.

“The next two people who came onto the project are Jennifer Re and Justine Stewart (me!). We’re both Digital Arts majors. Jen has a Computer Science minor and I am a Game Development minor, so we know our way around code. Naturally, we do most of the front-end work: writing XMLs, making layouts for different screen sizes, creating custom spinners, and drawing icons and buttons. We do a little bit of back-end work like getting the crop action to work and designing a weather widget for the app, but we’d rather be playing with colors and messing around in Photoshop. We think we’re pretty cool until none of our code compiles.”

AMP (watch the team’s journey unfold on their blog)

Ryan Burns is a 4th year Computer Science major/Mathematics minor, concurrently pursuing a Master’s of Science in Computational Sciences with an emphasis in Computational Biology and Biotechnology. He currently works as a Software Engineer at devIO Inc. and was a key player in the development of the foundation of the original AMP Android app. In his spare time, he enjoys bike rides, golfing and playing music.

Kendall Holmes grew up in Newport, RI, and graduated from Middletown High School. He is currently attending Chapman University and pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and a M.S. in Computational Sciences for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. Kendall works as a supplemental instructor for Physics 101. During the initial stage of the Autism Management Platform project, he worked as process lead and is now a software developer.

Duy Nguyen is a 4th year Computer Information System major/Business Administration minor. He’s currently working for Absolute Exhibits as a Developer/IT & Marketing Assistant and is contributing his web development skills to the AMP project. Duy loves manual typewriters, Polaroid cameras and vinyl records and can also talk to you for hours about different subcultures.

David Tyler is concurrently completing a three-year B.S. program in Computer Science and a M.S. in Computational Sciences, both at Chapman University. Over the last eight years, he has been developing software across a variety of platforms, and currently works as a Software Engineer for a startup company. A key developer for AMP, David has been overseeing the central API and systems coordination, and also manages the behind-the-scenes technology that power the platform.