U. Md. Students Working on Next Big App

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Can’t find your parked car? Forgot to set your DVR at home? Wonder who sings that song on the radio?

No problem. As they say, there’s an app for that. More than 65,000 applications are offered in the Apple store alone.

And who hasn’t dreamed of that perfect app to make life easier.

Some students at the University of Maryland don’t have to dream anymore.
“We come up with ideas everyday here. Applications that don’t even exist,” explains Computer Science Professor Adam Porter.

He’s the guy in charge of “Programming the I-Phone”, a new Computer Science course where students use cutting-edge technology to create their owns apps for smart phones.

“We want to come to the students the way they live now. Their mobile, their social networking systems," says Porter.

He teaches the class along with an Apple employee.

Rayhan Hasan is a Computer Science major. He says, “The class is pretty rigorous and so it's a little more challenging than I expected."

Hasan is working on an application that would allow anyone to listen and communicate with the campus radio station. “You’ll be able to browse a schedule, listen to the latest show.”

Senior Michael Evans is working on a virtual postcard app. “When you take a picture, it'll keep track of where you took it with GPS. You put a little note of what you were doing. You can attach sounds and upload them to the internet and send them to your friends," says Evans.

Professor Porter says the goal is for some of the programs to be used around campus. “There’s a high level of excitement here. These are great kids, great students doing great things. We're very excited about it."

Other apps hope to provide updated shuttle arrivals around campus for students and a tour of the school’s arboretum for visitors.

But some students are going beyond campus.

Rob Kiefer is developing an app for firefighters. “It would be good if they had an app using maps on the cell phone that gave the locations of all the fire hydrants in the area."

The class is working with the school’s Office of Information Technology, which provides phones for some students to test the new apps. So far, the apps class has been a success. They actually had to turn students away.

“All it takes is one good idea," says Hasan.

For these creative kids, the future is definitely a mobile one. They hope to use what they’re learning now in their careers.

“I think it would be really cool to work at Apple. Or work at a place where I get to make apps that people use everyday,” says Evans.

The University started a mobility initiative to find out how mobile technology can enhance the learning process.

To find out more click here:
http://mobility.umd.edu/