UW iSchool PhD students Shaun Kane and Kristen Shinohara are participating in the Imagine Cup, being held this week in Warsaw, Poland. Sponsored by Microsoft, the Cup is the subject of a recent article in the Seattle Times.

Reporter Sharon Pian Chan calls the event a "World Cup for nerds." Each year the Cup showcases some of the most promising student designers and creators of technology from high schools, colleges and universities across the globe.

This year's competition has drawn 325,000 students from 100 countries. Microsoft uses the competition to spark software creativity and to encourage students to use Microsoft software.

"It's about getting the next generation of innovators doing exciting things not only for the world but doing great and amazing things on the Microsoft platform," Jon Perera, general manager with the Microsoft Education group, says in the article.

Both Kane and Shinohara are on a UW team that designed a touch-screen diagramming program for blind students that supports collaboration with other students. They also belong to dub, an alliance of faculty and students across the University of Washington exploring Human-Computer Interaction and Design. To learn more about the Imagine Cup, please visit the Cup website.