The Cupertino Courier
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Photograph by Brian Connelly
Cupertino H.S. junior Jonathan Fotland (right), examines a high-tech device that can link a home's electronics, which can then be activated remotely, from a person's car, for example. Fotland and his teacher, Eric Ferrante, attended the Microsoft Research Silicon Valley Road Show.
Turned on by gadgets at 'Road Show'
By ANNE WARD ERNST
Cupertino High School senior Megan Miller now sees how she can incorporate computer sciences with her planned major--arts--when she goes to college. Miller recently attended the third annual Microsoft Silicon Valley Road Show. It was the first time Microsoft invited high school students to watch demonstrations of its latest gadgets. Students such as Miller came from Cupertino and several other high schools to the student-only event.
The show presented innovative technology concepts in search, mobility, gaming, machine learning and digital imagery research areas. This year, students were invited to see how computer science careers can be integrated into a variety of academic disciplines.
"We wanted to show a visual connection to people's daily lives," said Microsoft spokesman Doug Free.
Demonstrations included such things as the Crypto KeyTote, a low-cost device that will give users a simpler method of moving cryptographic keys from a new device to a home location. By using LED to both send and receive transmissions, a small device about the size of a 9-volt battery that can be carried on a keychain will transfer encrypted keys from one station to another. Demonstrator and Microsoft senior program manager Tom Blank said once he found scenarios that resonate with students, "they got it. You can't use Microsoft-speak," he said. "You have to relate it to something first that makes sense to them."
Connecting the computer science world to other academic interests will work its way into the classroom of Eric Ferrante. Ferrante teaches computer science at Cupertino High. He accompanied the students on the tour and demonstrations and said that after seeing the various applications, he plans to modify future lesson plans to interconnect computer science with other fields that now use technology on a daily basis.
Free noted about 30 percent of the students were female, a ratio that didn't surprise Megan. "I sort of expected it," she said. Senior Wendy Zinicola was a little surprised there were so few girls in attendance, but said she didn't know much about the event before she got there.
Like Megan, Wendy said the demonstrations changed her view of computer sciences. It gave her a broader look at the field and how working in the computer science field doesn't mean just programming, she said. John SanGiovanni, program manager of Microsoft Research External Research and Programs in Redmond, Wash., said he believes youth involvement in product development is vital to the advancement and progress of myriad applications. Young people often are less inhibited and are more openly creative than some adults, he said.
For students at Cupertino High and others, SanGiovanni's demonstration booth--Microsoft Research Academic Partner Projects in Gaming and Mobility--was among the standouts.
Wendy said SanGiovanni drew a square on the screen and, with a couple of clicks, turned it into a virtual 3-D cube. He took it one step further and showed how the application could be used to help engineer a wing for an airplane.
The process helped her understand how what Microsoft was doing could connect to a job source.
Other booth demonstrations included topics such as Interactive Gigapixel Prints and Ubiquitous Computing, which was presented by a Stanford University assistant professor and a doctoral student. One of the highlights was a pen that could take digital images of hand-written notes on paper and transfer the image to a computer screen. The notes could be sent to remote locations, printed or turned into other documents.
Schools attending the one-day event were selected randomly and came from across the Bay Area. Each school selected which students could attend. The only requirement was an interest in math or science.
After the demonstrations, researchers joined students for lunch, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and share ideas.
Cupertino High junior Jon Fotland said he was inspired by SanGiovanni's demonstration, too, but he was more interested in the part that dealt with gaming. Jon said he hopes to design and create computer games as a career.
