This spring a team of engineering students competed in the Microsoft's Imagine Cup Student Technology Competition. The University of Utah Safe Teen Driving team was one of 15 teams selected to compete in the semi-finals held in Boston. The team comprised of computer science and civil engineering students won the Microsoft's Imagine Cup's Windows Mobile Challenge. Their project entitled Key2SafeDriving is an application that evaluates how safely a teenager or adult is driving. The application uses a safe routing system to find the safest possible route, as well as using an accelerometer and call blocking, a safer road and environment can be created. The teams system starts with a location based service for calculating routes and takes it one step further by allowing them to encourage safe driving by tracking driving behavior as well as reducing driving distractions. Each student was awarded a Windows mobile phone and the opportunity to interview with Microsoft.
The Team
Mentor: Dr. Xuesong Zhou (Civil Engineering professor)

Kenneth Williams (BS/MS Computer Science)
Rohan Madtha (MS Computer Science)
Tao Xing (PHD Civil Engineering)
Chao Yang (PHD Computer Science)
Daniel Van Tassell (BS Computer Science)