  nothing comes from doing nothing all ug team from guyana wins prestigious webby award for 2022 not their first use of ai technology for good   nothing comes from doing nothing all ug team from guyana wins prestigious webby award for 2022 not their first use of ai technology for good andydindial mon 5232022 1010 we were happy to showcase what ug is capable of nurturing says team member shomari williams who was honoured to receive the award on behalf of the 4member team four young guyanese 3 current staff and a student at the university of guyana s computer sciences department in the faculty of natural sciences have put guyana centrestage in the world of artificial intelligence ai the team calling themselves frameperfect have outshone 149 of their counterparts from countries around the world to win this year s 5g for change hackathon earning them a webby award the guyanese team presented a pathbreaking proposal that integrates ai the use of drones and the internet to combat deforestation this is a potentially gamechanging application in the face of a planet striving to bring carbon emissions down preserving forests jungles and trees are a key part of that equation the 5g for change international hackathon which was hosted by verizon in new york last week saw 150 international teams participating in the competition frameperfect the guyanese quartet whose webby project was to combat illegal logging in guyana s forest included brothers shomari williams and malik williams andrew garnett and jun leung three recent graduates and a student still at ug while attending the university of guyana the group came together over their shared love for computer science together they founded unity gy a nonprofit organisation that leverages technology to solve problems and to narrow the education gap in guyana this was the same team that developed the ug cares application which was deployed to place donors with persons in need from inside or outside of guyana during the covid period and especially during the very devastating floods of the past 12 months ug cares was also a scaledup version of their winning application for a unicef guyana sponsored hackathon in 2019 the ug cares app is still available by clicking the link here  https ugcaresunitygycom  the team made up of andrew jun malik and shomari was invited to compete in the inaugural webby competition following a similar win in the recently launched gtt hackathon however their journey there was far from perfect since they had to raise funds to attend and lived and worked on a shoestring budget living together in a single hotel room in manhattan for the duration of the twoweek competition emerging as the finalist in the competition and winning the coveted prize of 50000 usd the webby trophy and plenty of bragging rights is a testament not only to their immense talent but to their grit resilience and determination according to the event organisers the hackathon challenged teams to tackle an important issue and solve it by using 5g and the internet out of 150 submissions only five teams were selected to pitch their ideas before a judging panel of industry leaders from verizon mit solve the black ambition opportunity fund and stagewell global at verizon s headquarters in new york city andrew jun malik and shomari are passionate about tackling the issue of illegal logging in guyana s forests we care about it because it is our planet shomari williams the data and av officer in the office of the vicechancellor pace unit at the university of guyana was quoted as saying in an online article published by the webby  https wwwwebbyawardscom 5gforchangefinalistteamframeperfect contentgrab  malik williams an ict engineer at ug reasoned that more people are becoming aware of the global ramifications of deforestation and its impact on climate change it s becoming a global responsibility to get involved malik said to tackle deforestation the team is proposing to create a comprehensive monitoring system that streams audio to dispatch drones to see what is happening in the forest according to the webby awards article team frameperfect wants to attach aipowered listening devices into trees throughout the forest and inform drone devices when logging activity is taking place they have a vision of using the drones to inform rangers of when illegal logging takes place in an interview with ug s public relations department the team said we are elated that we won we re happy because we got to showcase and defend our idea and in the process of doing that brought attention to the university of guyana and guyana as a whole commenting on the competition the team said the competition itself pushed us to bring our agame because we were up against people with great ideas and the skillset to represent their ideas well it was a wild ride every one of our opponents was immensely talented and had something unique to offer after the presentation of our idea it was nervewracking anticipating who would win and we had doubts because we did not know what the judges were looking for specifically expressing deep appreciation to all those who supported the team s participation in the event the team expressed firstly we have to acknowledge that our team would not be able to participate in this competition if it wasn t for the support of the university of guyana s faculty of natural sciences the philanthropy alumni and civic engagement pace office and tactical online service tos departments at ug and gtt the vicechancellor of the university of guyana has expressed the university s absolute delight at the team s success she said this is what ug is supposed to be about success for our students and staff in any arena we are getting there and this is one of those things that is testimony to this focus of studentcitizen success that we have my office supported them because we thought they deserved the exposure as young people they still had to do their ug work while travelling sometimes speaking to shomari who works in my office late at nights i could hear the others in the background definitely cramped in a single room but intellectually expansive awake and firing on all cylinders a specialspecial moment for all the young people of this country and region we are just happy and thank these young men and all those who also helped to support them and nurture them according to shomari who just graduated with a master s in global technology and development under ug s special faculty building programme with asu arizona state university the team members are excited that they won the competition as they were provided with an opportunity to compete and showcase what guyanese are capable of and what our university is capable of nurturing regarding the next steps the team is made up of young professionals 2122 years old and the guys want to continue pursuing their education malik and andrew are looking to pursue their master s in data science artificial intelligence jun is about to graduate from the university of guyana and is a parttime software developer at the university shomari has recently finished his masters and in his own words said it s time to work on personal and career development the team expressed we are all exhausted after a few long weeks of effort but are now fueling back up to continue putting in the work frameperfect invites anyone who is interested in the project to contact them on contact frameperfectgycom    vicechancellor of the university of guyana prof paloma mohamed with the webbywinning frameperfect team made up of ug staff and students last friday upon their return photo courtesy of pace photographer tara smith ma    the university of guyana programmes offered for a full list of ug s programme offerings kindly visit the following website  https turkeyenonlineuog edugy srms student prospective application login php prospective students can also find their programme of choice by exploring the following links 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online and facetoface on 8 campuses across guyana with a student population of now 10000 ug has provided education learning and research for over 50000 alumni the mission of the university is to discover generate disseminate and apply knowledge of the highest standard for the service of the community the nation and all mankind within an atmosphere of academic freedom that allows for free and critical inquiry ug s forwardthinking blueprint 2040 is currently setting the course for the university s future design and institutional response to the changing needs of guyana contact  ms krest cummings public relations officer department of events conferences and communications decc 5926235104 nothing comes from doing nothing all ug team from guyana wins prestigious webby award for 2022 not their first use of ai technology for good  