The Annenberg Innovation Lab, a cross-disciplinary center designed to create and deliver new solutions that innovate the nexus of media, science and design, announces the winners of its 2011-2012 CRUNCH Student Design Challenge.
Now in its second year, CRUNCH is a competition and workshop series for interdisciplinary student-led teams to develop innovative prototype concepts. The winning teams are awarded cash prizes in addition to a research & development account to further develop their concept at the Innovation Lab. Each of this year's competing teams brought together students from diverse academic backgrounds to create a strong design concept with clear implications for the future of media, journalism and communication. However, the winners were set apart by clearly demonstrating the potential to transform society at large by addressing a pressing human need in a unique way. And the winners are: 1st Place Prize $1,500 cash and $13,500 in research & development funds Theia – a portable e-reader that delivers braille and audio output.
Team: Saranyaraj Rajendran, Master’s Candidate in Electrical Engineering Meryl Alper, Ph.D. Student in Communication 2nd Place Prize $1,000 and $9,000 in research & development funds FlashPac – a Kickstarter-inspired platform for independently produced crowd-funded political advertisements.
Team: Leonard Hyman, Master’s Candidate in Public Policy Kunwar Aditya Raghuwanshi, Master’s Candidate in Computer Engineering 3rd Place Prize $500 cash and $4,500 in research and development funds Tot – a mobile/web app for parents to store, view and share records of their children's development.
Team: Hao Wang, Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology Lixing Huang, Ph.D student in Computer Science at Viterbi School of Engineering Li Zhu, Master student in Communication Management at Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism Chengjie Zhang, Ph.D student in Computer Science at Information Sciences Institute and Viterbi School of Engineering Cai Li, Master student in Computer Science at Viterbi School of Engineering Lihang Zhao, Ph.D student in Electrical Engineering at Viterbi School of Engineering Honorable Mention Prize: $750 Recycle Belt - a low-cost "belt" with pockets that wraps around a trash can for people to precycle their cans and bottles. Team Leader: Joseph Voelbel, Master’s Candidate in Communication Management.
