University engineering group wins computer chip competition
A group of six University electrical engineering graduate students won first place in Phase One of the 2004-2006 SRC/SIA Design Challenge, a contest sponsored by the semiconductor industry to improve the design of integrated computer chips.
The purpose of the contest is to create low-power designs for highly integrated circuits. The University's team developed an entry called, "SRAD Image Processor as a Reconfigurable, Temperature-Aware SoC Designed for Low-Power Operation."
According to graduate student Garret Rose, a member of the team, U.Va.'s entry is based on an image processor for ultrasound, and it incorporates a mathematical algorithm developed by Engineering Prof. Scott Acton.
The University's entry won first place, finishing ahead of second-place winning Harvard and third-place winning Michigan State University. Thirty-nine teams from 27 universities entered the contest.
According to Electrical and Computing Engineering Prof. Mircea Stan, faculty leader of the group, the University's team has been working on this project since the spring of 2005. Having won the first stage, the team will compete in Phase II of the contest.
The $7,000 cash prize for Phase I will go to the University's Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In Phase II, the team will be competing for a $25,000 prize.
Phase I involved developing designs for an integrated circuit, Rose said. In Phase II, these designs will be sent to IBM, where the chip will be manufactured, and the team will test and report on its design. Results for Phase II of the competition will be announced in September 2006.
"We've entered in the past and received honorable mention, but this is the first time we've won," Stan said. "This is quite a great recognition for U.Va."
Moot Court team wins regional tournament
One of the University's Collegiate Moot Court teams won the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament as well as other awards this past weekend at Regent College of Law in Virginia Beach.
The University sent two teams to the competition: College students fourth-year Samantha Bateman and third-year Elena Coyle, and second-year student Amar Shah and first-year Sonia Patel. The teams debated at the appellate level, arguing a fictitious case that already had been decided at a lower court. To prepare, the teams were provided with the lower court's proceedings, the judges' comments and 22 Supreme Court proceedings that dealt with the same topic as the case.
Throughout five rounds of competition, the teams debated the question of freedom of speech and religion found in the First Amendment, arguing either for the government or for the church.
Bateman and Coyle competed against Patrick Henry teams in both the semi-final and final rounds.
"I checked, and Patrick Henry is indeed the defending national champion, meaning that we really did just walk into the tournament and beat last year's national titlists without ever having done Collegiate Moot Court before," said team member Bateman. "We just showed up and won."
Bateman and Coyle's team won both the Best Team award and Second Place Brief. Bateman individually won the Best Oralist award.
Bateman attributed the young team's success to the members' backgrounds in public speaking and to the guidance of their faculty advisor, politics Prof. Ned Moomaw, whose area of expertise lies in First Amendment jurisprudence.
"This is the first year that U.Va. has fielded a moot court team, but we're confident we can make a name for ourselves on the national circuit," Bateman said.
-- Complied by Jacqueline Minneman
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