Joint effort with Friends of the Earth Canada to support the Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count
Dinah Shi, John Salaveria and Luisa San Martin won first prize at the 2018 Software Engineering Capstone Design Symposium for their bumble bee tracking app.
In close collaboration with environmental non-profit Friends of the Earth Canada to support the Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count, the team of software engineering students developed an app to help Canadians track bumble bee populations.
The Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count aims to raise awareness about the importance and conservation of Canada’s species of bumble bees. Bumble bees are crucial pollinators that are particularly effective at pollinating wildflowers, fruits and vegetables, but their populations are unfortunately declining.
Using the app the team developed, citizen scientists can record bumble bee sightings and upload relevant information such as weather, habitat type, location of sighting and so on. The bumble bee sighting data is shared with scientists who analyze the submissions to learn about migration patterns and make informed decisions about preserving bee populations in local area. The mobile app also teaches users how to get involved through interactive educational tips on ways to create a sustainable environment for bees.
The Software Engineering Capstone Design Symposium was held on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Thirty-three teams of software engineering students presented the results from more than a year's worth of work.
Software Engineering is a program jointly offered by the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
From L to R: Dinah Shi, John Salaveria and Luisa San Martin
