Project
1: Web-Based Cab Ride Scheduling and Data Tracking
Client:
David
K Loving, Director of SMU Rides
Alpha
Phi Omega Service Fraternity
580-504-6363
About
the Client:
SMU Rides,
a program under APO and funded by Student Senate, provides free cab rides to
any residence for SMU students on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
Student volunteers, working out of the SAMSA office, take ride requests from
callers at our hotline (214-SMU-RIDE) and then forward the relevant information
to our partner, Executive Taxi, via email. Student volunteers then call
Executive Taxi to inform them that a ride has been sent. Executive Taxi places
the open request in their system and waits for an available driver to pick up
the job. Once the job has been picked up by a driver, Executive Taxi responds
to SMU Rides via email with ride pick-up and drop-off zones and associated fee.
Executive Taxi bills APO monthly.
The
Problem:
Communication
between SMU Rides volunteers and Executive Taxi through the email-call scheme
is inadequate. New volunteers are often not trained properly in the specific
information requirements by Executive Taxi, too often resulting in ride
requests not being accepted by Executive Taxi. Additionally, many times a ride
request will enter the Executive Taxi system but not picked up by a driver for
an extended period of time. Currently, we have only subjective ways of
measuring the frequency of these delays and no quantifiable data with which to
address Executive Taxi.
Gathering
information relating to Rides usage and cost currently requires manually
reading each email and entering the information into an Excel spreadsheet.
Measuring the success of marketing campaigns, identifying pick-up zones
frequently requested by students but not currently served, and estimating
future ride expenses are all subjective. A method of automatically generating
reports is becoming increasingly necessary as the program grows.
We
believe that a centralized database with web front-ends for both student
volunteers and Executive Taxi would both facilitate more reliable and timely
communication of ride requests and request status, and provide the means to
objectively analyze many of the factors critical to SMU Rides’ efficient
operation.
Project
2: Tranche Project - IO Framework Extension
Clients:
James "Augie" Hill Bryan Smith
(214)
562-3593 (734) 730-1847
augie@umich.edu bryanesmith@gmail.com
Departments of
Biological Chemistry and Bioinformatics
University of
Michigan
The Problem:
In proteomics, tandem
mass spectrometry output files store information used to identify the peptides
(and ultimately, the proteins) found in a biological sample. There are many
different vendor formats, each of which might have many incompatible versions.
In the past, two standard file formats were created to offer an alternative: mzXML and mzData. From these two
standards, a standards development group developed mzML,
which is currently on 1.1. More information about mzML,
including the specifications, can be found at [http://www.psidev.info/index.php?q=node/257].The
IO Framework was developed to handle as many possible formats as possible.
However, we have not had the time to develop this very important project recently.
We would like to add support for mzML 1.1, and if
possible, 1.0, as this format will play a significant role in proteomics in the
following years, assuming that there are sufficient tools to convert to and
from this format. The IO Framework uses intuitive design patterns, meaning that
the system is easy to extend; the bulk of the work will be implementing the
well-defined specification and testing. There are other formats that would be
useful, should there be interest (mzXML 3.0 is the
most frequently requested).
For More Information:
Project
3: Electro-Mechanical Device to Aid
Persons with Disabilities
Client:
TBD
The Problem:
TBD
Project
4: A project of your own choosing
Client:
TBD
The Problem:
TBD