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Design Day students create app to assist students and visitors at MSU

Posted at 12:33 PM, Dec 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-08 12:33:14-05

Friday marks the 24th year for Design Day at Michigan State University. 
On this day, four undergrad degree programs gather and show off their projects.

The programs participating this year are Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

Over 540 students make up 143 teams.

One of the projects of note was the Spartan Experience App (SEA). This app is intended for students and visitors to the campus to use. It was created by the Michigan State University Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Students Ryan Johnson, Nayana Kodur, Patrick Pale, Roy Perryman, and Scott Swarthout worked together on the app in their Senior Capstone Course to create the mobile app that they say they actually needed as MSU freshmen.

"SEA provides directions, events, class and sports schedules, building images, parking info - all the navigation details needed to enhance the MSU experience, including telling you where to eat," Kodur explained.

He added that user's are alerted to upcoming events and can set a countdown timer for their next class. SEA categorizes menus in each dining hall and can keep users connected with a live Twitter feed.

"We are impressed with the end product, but not surprised that Spartan computer science majors possess both the technical and creative skills to build such a great app," noted MSU's Chief Information Officer Rob McCurdy.

The project is being handed off to a development team for consideration of university-wide use.

The top design day teams are judged by faculty and corporate representatives and will receive awards for their projects at the end of the day.