The IES Coders from TIGP-ESS of NCU Won the Third Place in the 2018 NASA Space Apps Challenge-Taipei
IES Coders, teamed up mainly by TIGP-ESS students, won the third place, a grant of NT$ 40,000, and the IBM internship opportunity in the 2018 NASA Space Apps Challenge-Taipei. IES Coders team members (from left to right) are Jun Su, Nguyen Cong Nghia, Utpal Kumar, Chase Jhih-Huang Shyu, and Yu-Hsiang Chien.
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the National Space Organization (NSPO), and other organizations held “2018 NASA Space Apps Challenge-Taipei” from October 19 to 21, 2018. Members of IES Coders—Mr. Yu-Hsiang Chien and Chase Jhih-Huang Shyu from Taiwan International Graduate Program for Earth System Science (TIGP-ESS) of NCU, Mr. Jun Su, the alumnus of the Department of Earth Sciences of NCU, Mr. Utpal Kumar from India, and Mr. Nguyen Cong Nghia from Vietnam—outperformed other competitors, winning the third place in the contest and getting the IBM internship opportunity.
When it came to drafting the project, IES Coders decided to develop their project from the perspective of globalization. They thus proposed the project called “Ferryman,” utilizing NASA’s database to analyze the relationship between creatures and the environment. IES Coders mainly retrieved the data of mean monthly temperature and mean monthly rainfall collected by satellites with NASA EARTHDATA, calculated the Ecoclimatic Index (EI), and displayed in plots the distribution of the optimal living environment for a single species.
The research result of the “Ferryman” project showed a strong connection with human life. Such idea realization also successfully met what NASA has been expecting: to bring new meanings to the long-established database. As to the vision for future application, for instance, if the authority could better make use of these analyzed data in agriculture in Taiwan, there will be more effective budget control as well as more accurate preventive measures in agricultural pest prevention and research on alien species.
All the team members of IES Coders appreciated that there was such a platform for them to interact with talented people from various fields. In their process of data collection, they have reviewed lots of diverse approaches and ideas. Moreover, during their study at TIGP-ESS, they have rich opportunities to interact with international students. With the NASA Space Apps Challenge event, all participants brainstormed their ideas together, applying acquired knowledge to the reality and demonstrating Taiwan’s innovative capability to the whole world.
