Its been a while since I posted on this blog, had been completely focused on completing the local Imagine Cup Software Design rounds. Finally the event came to a close with the awards ceremony happening last Friday. Very please to share with you that this year we have four teams in all representing Singapore at the world finals at Cairo. Some pictures of the awards ceremony can be found here - http://cid-7ba81038ca3db0e7.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/20090605%20Imagine%20Cup%2009%20Awards%20Ceremony
The journey of Imagine Cup that we started early this year saw many of you guys come forward with some of the coolest ideas, I know that many of you have also been disappointed on realising that you are not amongst the finalists. But honestly this has been a tougher journey for all of us here at Microsoft organizing this competition and for the judges in making those difficult decisions.
You all were great and we are totally in awe of your work, keep doing the good work and no amount of good work ever goes waste.
There were several stages of the local Imagine Cup competition which we tried to capture in this short video. I hope you guys like it and that this video inspires some of you to join us in the journey of Imagine Cup to Poland in 2010!
We have an exciting offer for all Singapore students above the age of 16 years, just sign up for Imagine Cup and be part of a lucky draw!
Lucky Draw Prizes includes the grand prize of XBOX 360 and the following up for grabs as well -
· Windows Vista Ultimate
· Windows Vista Home Premium
· Office 2007 Ultimate
· Halo 3 XBOX Game
· Microsoft Press Books worth of $100 each
Register Now to win these cool prizes!
Hi All,
Recently in our events on campuses where we have been trying to promote Imagine Cup awareness, one question that i often get asked is where do I get started ? I have no .NET knowledge? I have some questions specific to a category in Imagine Cup? Here is your opportunity to get the answers to these questions..
This is the first time that Microsoft(or in my knowledge any company on this planet) is taking this step to have live meeting sessions for the world wide student audience providing guidance and answering questions from competitors. I would strongly urge each one of you even if you are not competing in Imagine Cup, to leverage this learning opportunity from Microsoft. Guys, this is genuinely extremely useful. Below is the information on the live meeting sessions that have already happened and there are more to come as well.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you were unable to attend the previous sessions, you can access recordings of the sessions using the links below. The recordings can be viewed in Windows Media Player. In addition, the PowerPoint files for the Live Sessions are posted here. Each file name includes the competition title and the date of the Live Session.
Access Live Session recordings:
· Robotics & Algorithm, 11/13/08
· Software Design, 11/19/08
· Embedded Development, 11/20/08
· Game Development, 1/14/09
· IT Challenge:
o Infrastructure Technologies, 11/24/08
o Application Technologies, 12/1/08
o Management Technologies, 1/7/09
Stay tuned on the Imaginecup.com website for more such sessions to come on..
Good Luck,
Pratibha
Hello everyone,
Its that time of the year when students around the globe gear up for the largest software competition in the world. Its the time for you all to grab the opportunity of a lifetime. I cannot express in words how passionate I am about this competition, having started my very own career by competing in this coveted contest and representing my home country at an international stage:) So without wasting any more time, let me bring you all the info that you may need to take this next step towards greater success and greater glory! There are two key resources for Imagine Cup that you should look out for - one is the global website - www.imaginecup.com and another is our very own Singapore website for Imagine Cup - www.imaginecup.com.sg.
Below is a snapshot from the website of some of the important dates that you may want to take note of for the Software Design Competition which will be run locally in Singapore.
If you have any questions on Imagine cup or any of its categories or anything that may help you better prepare for this competition, write to us at sgacad@microsoft.com.
All the best to all of you! Let us try and bring the cup back to Singapore one more time:)
Wishing all the readers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Hope the world recovers from all the misery that we see around us today, I know things look tough at this point but lets not give up and always look for the brighter side of things.
As for the academic programs in Singapore, stay tuned for a lot more from our side. Microsoft is coming to your campus soon..
Hi there,
We did our Singapore Student Partner Aprecionite event on the 13th of December which was an occasion where we thank our Student Partners for all the good work they have done in the last year.
Its also an opportunity to welcome all the new students who recently joined our program. I personally think the event met its objective of giving the students their due recognition, bringing them closer to the Microsoft leadership community and also bring them recognition in the eyes of their teaching community.
We were honored to have our Managing Director, Ms Jessica Tan grace the occasion, who along with our director, Mr John Fernandes gave away the certificates and the prizes. What an honor for these young students to be able to not just receive their awards from the Singapore leadership team but also to be able to have a chat with them.
Lup Peng from Temasek Polytechnic walked away with the Student Partner Of the Year award for 07/08. Congrats Luppy!
It was good to have my predecessor Stanley Tan, a popular figure amongst the student community, also present at the event. A large part of mentoring this vibrant community is attributed to Stanley , so thank you Stanley!
I am honored to be amongst such as smart cohort of students:) its more learning for me than for these kids. It also keeps me feeling younger all the time:)
Kudos to the Singapore Student Partner community for all that they do!
It was an opportunity of a lifetime for me to be with Dr Tony Hoare in the same camera frame. One of the biggest advantages of working in a company like Microsoft - you are always amongst the smartest people in the industry and once in a while you also get to meet legendary personalities like Dr Tony Hoare who gave us quick sort:). Sharing with you a pic which I am sure to frame soon.
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| This has been a long overdue posting. Here is the video of our Popfly competition which we ran in Singapore on the 20th and 21st of September. The energy and enthusiasm shown by the students in this 24hours competition is infectious :) |
Last week on the 7th of November, Microsoft Research brought a great event to Singapore for the first time. A unique opportunity for us to be amongst legendary researchers like Tony Hoare, Raj Reddy, Butler Lampson and Rick Rashid. I felt truly lucky to be listening to these great people. I had the opportunity to be the first speaker on the same stage, but minus the VIPS:). Here are some pictures from the event from one of my colleague's flickr account. Enjoy!
NUS has included Silverlight and WPF to be taught as part of a course - CS 3216 - Software Development on Evolving Platforms. This would be open to all faculties at NUS. I am particularly excited about this course and I am waiting to see how well it is received in the student community. On our side, we are gearing up to ensure that the course is delivered smoothly and we provide all the support that is needed by the professor and his teaching assistants. Hope to see some of the NUS readers of this blog sign up for the course as well :) Check out the module home page here
We are holding our second Walk the Success lane student technology seminar on the 18th of Oct and on the same day we are holding Mash-it-up awards.
Below is the agenda - Hope to see you all there. - Pratibha
Hi All,
We created a Singapore academic alias, so if you have any questions around what we do in academia, feel free to write to us at - sgacad@microsoft.com
-Pratibha
Hello to all Singapore IHL students!
This is that time of the year when we start taking applications for becoming a Microsoft Student Partner Program. This is your chance to be part of a global community of the smartest students across the world. Currently this is a 1400+ community from across 104 countries.
What is the Microsoft Student Partner Program?
It is an annual reward program that recognizes the top young minds around the world who have made contributions in the student technical community. In Singapore, we have about 30+ students from the various polytechnics and universities. What brings this group togeher is -
- Passion for Technology - It is not just about coding, students can share their views and interest in technology be it software or hardware keeping each other updated on latest info and also have an undying willingness to try out new technologies.
- Sharing in Communities - Student Partners are driven by the desire to share what they know with the community at large
Who is a Microsoft Student Partner?
Any tertiary institute student who has a passion for technology and the willingness to share with others is eligible to be part of this program.
What do you get from this program?
This program gives you a set of exclusive benefits such as a chance to interact and work closely with Microsoft employees, invitations to all Microsoft events as attendees and also as presenters, MSDN software subscriptions to all student partners, training and hands-on-labs, updates on new technologies from Microsoft even before anyone else does, and what more get to network with your peers and have some fun as well! Student Partners also get opportunities for internships at Microsoft.
What do you need to do as a Student Partner?
Basically it revolves around two things - have a passion for technology and have the desire to share with others. In line with these two traits, all you need to do is organize some technical seminars or training sessions on campus with support from Microsoft. Be there to support Microsoft in their academic initiatives - Imagine Cup, DreamSpark,etc.
How do you become a Student Partner?
Write to your school's student partner lead letting him know that you want to be part of this program.
Hi All,
I prepared a slide deck which talks about all our academic initiatives in singapore.
You can find it here. If you have any questions with regard to any of our programs, feel free to reach out to us.
Pratibha
Hi All,
Yesterday, I along with Chris ( from my team) delivered a talk onpervasive computing in a classroom session at SMU.There were some interesting questions raised around some of the technologies that we showcased. Especially around live mesh. So for security concerns on using live mesh you could read up this link -
http://blogs.msdn.com/livemesh/archive/2008/05/29/behind-live-mesh-authorization-and-encryption.aspx.
It explains in detail what mechanism is used to make sure our transactions are secure.
For those of the lot who had questions on creating synths using photosynth, here is a great video that explains some tips and tricks to create a good synth -
http://on10.net/blogs/laura/PhotoSynth/
Hopefully you all who attended the talk enjoyed yourselves, feel free to comment here if you have any more questions...
take care
Pratibha
