Carnegie Mellon University
April 27, 2012

News Brief: CMU Student Team Takes First Place at Microsoft's US Imagine Cup Finals

Dr. FishbowlA Carnegie Mellon University student team named "Dr. Fishbowl" won first place in Microsoft's U.S. Imagine Cup in the Game Design: Windows/Xbox category.

Team members include senior computer science major Steven Blessing, junior electrical and computer engineering major Wilson Pei, senior decision science and human-computer interaction major Christopher Reid, and junior computer science major Yueran Yuan.

More than 113,000 students registered for the U.S. Imagine Cup, and 22 teams qualified for the final competition, held April 21-23 at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft awarded Dr. Fishbowl a $6,000 prize and will split a $10,000 donation among the School of Computer Science, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and College of Engineering.

The 2012 Imagine Cup theme is: "Imagine a world where technology helps to solve the world's toughest problems." The CMU team created Redux, a game that responds to the U.N. Millennium Development Goal regarding environmental sustainability. Redux challenges players to turn waste into profitable, usable products.

The Imagine Cup also offers a People's Choice Award. Fans can vote now through May 19 for Dr. Fishbowl one time per day via each of the following three methods:

Facebook
Visit http://apps.facebook.com/microsoftimaginecup/? and click "vote" on Dr. Fishbowl's icon

Text message
Text "Fishbowl" to 45444

Twitter
Send the following tweet: @mstechstudent I am voting for #Fishbowl in #ICPeoplesChoice

Visit the Microsoft News Center for the company's press release on the U.S. Imagine Cup winners.

Pictured above, from left to right: Steven Blessing; Christopher Reid; Mark Hindsbo, vice president of the Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism Group; Yueran Yuan; and Wilson Pei. Image courtesy of Microsoft.