1st Place: Paul John – Over the past several years, school shootings have been on the rise. An interesting statistic that has been overlooked with regards to school shootings is the response time when such a tragedy occurs. School shootings last on average for 12.5 minutes but, sadly, average police response time is 18 minutes. This is were Safe Halo comes in. Safe Halo reduces response time by eliminating the time between the first gunshot and the 911 call. A machine learning model running on smartphones and audio devices inside the school can detect gunshots and immediately contact emergency services. Once a gunshot is detected on school premises, teachers and administrators are also notified using a loud alert on their smartphones. Schools can now invest in a cost-effective product that will save precious lives in the case of a school shooting. School shootings happen in a matter of minutes so every second is valuable.

2nd Place: Peter Locharernkul – Actors for past 400 years have been performing the plays of Shakespeare. And likely, for the next 400 years, actors will be challenged to learn the lines to these immortal works. The craft of acting isn’t just about learning the lines. A stage actors tools include physical movement, body language and performance. In conjunction with AR Bose sunglasses, we present the AR Prompt Box. Using 360 degree positional audio, virtual actors can be placed around an actor to help him rehearse on his or her own. Free to rehearse carrying props, try complex staging or simulate crowds. This will greatly benefit performers, like Tom Cruise and Keira Knightly, who are dyslexic and rely on learning a script by having it read to them. As some musicians play music by ear rather than read music notation. Nod and tap gesture control when the lines of the play are being read aloud and provide verbal cues to help reinforce line memorization. Actors can now rehearse acting heads up and hands free!

3rd Place: David Zhang – NeutrumScale is a Chrome Extensions that uses machine learning algorithms to display the political leaning on major media sites such as Wall street journal, new York times, fox, CNN, and others. It also displays the credibility of the source, and the time it would take for the average reader to go through the article. Overall, neutrumscale’s mission is to dethrone media bias and to provide a more politically accurate representation of the media.