Carnegie Mellon University
December 08, 2011

Media Advisory: CMU's Information Systems Students To Present Software Solutions for Best of Batch Foundation, BusBurgh iPhone App, Free Ride Pittsburgh and More

Contact: Shilo Rea / 412-268-6094 / shilo@cmu.edu

Event: Software systems are typically very expensive, putting them out of reach for many nonprofit organizations. During their senior year, Carnegie Mellon University Information Systems (IS) students work with a select group of nonprofits to provide a solution — giving the students the opportunity to build real-world applications while learning teamwork, project management and other valuable skills.

This year, 11 student teams will showcase their final projects to their clients, professors and the campus community. The projects include:

  • Best of the Batch Foundation: Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Charlie Batch's foundation holds an annual fundraiser called In the Pocket that allows attendees to challenge Steelers players to a game of ping-pong, pool or poker. There also is a silent auction with hundreds of items available. For the third year, IS students ran the pre-registration, registration and game scoring systems for the event. The students also built a system to digitize the previously paper-based silent auction.
  • BusBurgh iPhone App: In partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, IS students developed an iPhone application that helps riders find nearby bus routes. Riders also can search for route schedules and report bus locations so that more accurate information on arrival times is available.
  • Body Mass Index Indicator: Obesity rates are rising at an alarming rate. IS students developed a system to show individuals where they stand in terms of weight and body mass index relative to others in the U.S. of the same height, age, gender and race.
  • Free Ride Pittsburgh: Free Ride is not a traditional bike repair shop; it's a bicycle education organization. One of its most popular programs is the Earn-A-Bike program that locates unused bicycles, repairs them and finds them a new owner. IS students created an inventory system that will track the inflow and outflow of donated bicycles, the status of repair projects and a membership database.

When:  3 - 4:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 9.
 
Where: Porter Hall 222, Carnegie Mellon University

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