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Student Pitch Competition at IUS 2020 : Update

October 10, 2020 | Contributed By - Derek Chan & Madeleine Hertel, IEEE UFFC-S Student Representatives
4 years 5 months ago
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The Student Pitch Competition was held on Wednesday, September 9 during the 2020 International Ultrasonics Symposium. The purpose of this competition was to give students an opportunity to showcase their skills in preparing and delivering a concise summary of their research. During this live event, the participants presented their work in a one-minute rapid-fire format, visually supplemented with a single PowerPoint slide. Pitches were judged based on four primary criteria: clarity of speech, clarity of results, slide layout, and overall impression.

In total, nine students participated in the Student Pitch Competition. A hearty congratulations to Javier Cudeiro from Imperial College London for winning the Best Overall Pitch Award ($100 cash prize). In addition, Honorable Mention awards ($50 cash prize) were presented to Graham Collins from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Sophie Morse from Imperial College London. These awards were announced at the conclusion of the event, after the judges made their final determinations, and were further recognized during the Student Awards session on the final day of the IEEE IUS 2020 conference.

Best Overall Pitch: Javier Cudeiro, Imperial College London, “Seeing the Brain with Ultrasound”

Honorable Mention: Graham Collins, Georgia Institute of Technology, “Sub-mm robotically steerable guidewire with forward-viewing ultrasound imaging”

Honorable Mention: Sophie Morse, Imperial College London, “Short pulses to deliver drugs to the brain”

All participants received a certificate of participation from the IEEE IUS 2020 General Co-Chairs. We are extremely grateful to the judging committee members for taking the time to listen to and evaluate each of the pitches. The IUS 2020 Student Pitch Competition judges were:

  • Ausrine Bartasyte, University of Franche-Comté
  • Peter Dueppenbecker, Siemens Healthcare GmbH
  • Philip Feng, University of Florida
  • Giulia Matrone, University of Pavia

Overall, the event feedback was extremely positive from the competition participants as well as other spectators, with survey respondents indicating afterwards that they thought that this event should be organized in future conferences. One attendee wrote, “I thought it was a lot of fun for everyone and a great idea!”, and another remarked that the event was also “a good opportunity to meet other students.”

Thank you to everyone who attended or participated in the IUS 2020 Student Pitch Competition! Stay tuned for more information on new and exciting student events at IEEE IUS 2021.