Cornell seniors in the College of Engineering took the top two prizes in the 2003–04 Intel Student Research Contest last spring. Eugene Lee, majoring in computer science, received the first place award of $5,000, and Sara Parker, majoring in materials science, received the second prize of $3,000. The third place prize of $2,000 went to Ankur Kalra of Georgia Tech.

Lee, working under Kavita Bala, Cornell assistant professor of computer science, developed software that speeds the rendering of computer graphics on desktop computers. He also credits postdoctoral researcher Bruce Walter in the Cornell Program of Computer Graphics with assistance on the project. Lee developed an implementation of a graphics technique known as the "edge and point system" for simulating light and shadows that uses the graphics processor on a desktop computer, allowing the desktop machine to perform tasks that formerly required many hours on a supercomputer cluster. According to Bala, the work will help to make high-quality computer graphic images "available to the common man."

Parker worked in the research group of George Malliaras, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. The group has been developing new types of flat-panel displays using organic materials that give off light with very high efficiency and are not subject to the dark spots that appear on current displays. One problem has been that these materials require up to four hours to light up when first activated. Parker studied the effects of an additive that reduces the turn-on time to only one or two minutes. She found that too much of the additive made poor displays, but an appropriate level increased efficiency.

In the Intel competition, undergraduate students nation-wide submit research proposals to the company, which selects up to 20 projects for funding. Students work on their projects over the summer and fall in consultation with their faculty advisers and an Intel engineer, and in the spring they are flown to the Intel facility in Oregon to present their results. The three presentations judged best receive cash prizes.

—Bill Steele, Cornell News Service