Every year, Southwestern University students are able to apply for money from the King Creativity Fund, which allows students to pursue “innovative and visionary projects” that go beyond the requirements of any particular course. Funds for the projects come from an endowed fund established by alumnus W. Joseph “Joey” King ’93, who double majored in Computer Science and Experimental Psychology while a student at Southwestern University. 

The fund is open to projects from all disciplines, as well as interdisciplinary projects, but there have been many projects from Computer Science students over the years, and this year is no exception. Four of the ten King Creativity projects had heavy involvement from Computer Science or Computational Math majors, who used their technical knowledge to help them accomplish their goals.

The specific projects are:

• “Cryptocurrency Mining” by Computer Science majors Devon Fulcher, Alexander Hoffman, and Bobby Garza, along with Economics major Stan Kannegieter. Advisor: Chad Stolper
• “A Connected Medication Dispenser for Modern Healthcare” by Computer Science major Cameron Henkel. Advisor: Barbara Anthony
• “Automated Bacterial Counter Through Image Processing” by Computer Science and Math double-major Elyssa Sliheet, Physics major Alexis Dimanche, and Biochemistry major Sebastian Somolinos. Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Edwards and Dr. Steve Alexander
• “Dynamic Video and Facial Recognition Through a Raspberry Pi and Arduino” by Computational Math and Physics double-major Yash Gandhi. Advisor: Steve Alexander

Details on the King Creativity Fund and other projects are available here.