CSIDC: Competing students design real-world systems

Over the years, the IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition (CSIDC) has been encouraging teams of undergraduates to work together on a substantial project over an extended period. By making students work as a group, CSIDC creates an active learning environment. In 2001, the winning team from Poznan University of Technology, Poland designed BlueEyes, a system that monitors a person's attentiveness or concentration by measuring eye movement. The CSIDC 2002 winners from Politechnica University of Bucharest, Romania designed to Be Secure system to help people escape from large buildings in an emergency. In CSIDC 2003, a team from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, designed Free XS, a system for simple, cost-effective connectivity in places where catastrophes had destroyed the communications infrastructure.