Sleep Apnea Monitor (SAM), a project by four American University of Sharjah (AUS) students, won two awards at the UAE country finals of Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2012 held in Dubai recently.

Shamma Al Qassim, Mahdumeta Ganesh, Shaheen Khoja and Meher Zaidi, all computer science students at the AUS College of Engineering, designed a phone application that aims to diagnose and monitor sleep apnea patients, through utilizing some of the phone's built-in features, in a cost-effective and more comfortable manner.

Their project won second place for the software design development category, the main award of this premier technology competition, as well as best Mobile Development Award from du.

Five projects from the University of Wollongong in Dubai, American University of Sharjah, the Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani-Dubai Campus, and the International School of Choueifat, Dubai, were shortlisted to appear before the judges at the country finals under the theme "Imagine a World Where Technology Helps Solve the Toughest Problems."

"Through the development of this application and participating in this competition, we managed to apply our technical skills and use technology to solve a real-world challenge. We would like to extend our deep gratitude to our advisors, Dr. Fadi Aloul and Dr. Assim Sagahyroon, without whom this achievement would not have been possible," said Al Qassim.

The project was part of the team's senior design course done under Dr. Aloul and Dr. Sagahyroon as co-advisors for the team. Both are associate professors of computer engineering at AUS.

"It was nice to be awarded on such an amazing platform for all the effort we have put in over these two semesters. It would not have been possible without them support of Dr. Aloul and Dr. Sagahyroon, who played a great role in helping us reach this point," said Zaidi.

"This competition helped to expose us to different types of projects and ideas in the field of software development. Overall, it was a great learning experience," said Ganesh.

"This award means a lot to me. It showed me that life does not end with exams and studies; there is a lot we can do with our knowledge to help our society. I would like to thank Dr. Aloul and Dr. Sagahyroon for supporting us and giving us the opportunity to participate in such competitions," said Khoja.

"I am very happy with the team's performance. The team worked hard for months on changing a simple idea into an actual product. And they were successful. I hope to see this product make an impact around the world and solve a common health problem. They made all of us at AUS proud," said Dr. Aloul. "Smart phones are powerful devices that can efficiently solve some of the world's toughest problems today. They have plenty of sensors, fast processing power, and enough memory to run an application that could solve a health, environmental, financial or an educational problem."

The competition, now in its tenth year, is organized by Microsoft in partnership with du. It is open to students between the age of 16 and 26, and it encourages students to use their creative and technical abilities as well as their imagination to create innovative technology solutions that can help address some of the world's toughest issues.