BOOM student fair showcases explosion in digital creativity

Graduate student Jasjeet S. Thind, left, and senior Clint Kelly, both in computer science, show off their BOOM Exellence Award certificates for their posters during the fair in Upson Hall in February. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

By Mark Siegal '00

More than 100 students contributed a record 42 projects to BOOM '00, the fourth annual "Bits On Our Mind" fair showcasing student efforts and creativity in digital technology and applications.

The fair, held Feb. 23 at Upson Hall, was sponsored by Microsoft Corp. and Dell Computer Corp., in conjunction with Cornell's computer science and electrical engineering departments.

The posters on view -- on both theoretical and practical subjects -- were nearly double the number from last year, said Karla Consroe, administrative assistant for the computer science department and a founding member of the BOOM organizing committee. The projects were either extensions of previous coursework or from independent research.

"There was a wide selection of student projects from different departments and different categories. We felt it was very representative of the computer projects going on at Cornell," said Consroe.

Other organizers included Bart Selman, associate professor of computer science, and George Manning, computer science department administrative assistant.

Student presenters enjoyed the attention and varied feedback. "We've had some really good questions asked, very intelligent questions. A couple people asked me questions on things I hadn't thought about," said mechanical engineering student Felix Rodriguez, a co-presenter of research titled "Astrolabe Query Language and Processor."

Donated posters from BOOM are being shown in the Upson Hall third floor display cases on a rotating basis, and versions of the projects are available online at http://www.cs.cornell.edu/boom.