Indian American highschooler wins Cutler-Bell Prize in computing

Sirihaasa Nallamothu, an Indian American student from Illinois is among four high schoolers selected from across the US for the 2022_23 ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing.

A panel of judges selected the recipients based on the ingenuity, complexity, relevancy, and originality of their projects engaging modern technology and computer science, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) announced May 10.

The Cutler-Bell Prize promotes the field of computer science and empowers students to pursue computing challenges beyond the traditional classroom environment.

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In 2015, David Cutler and Gordon Bell established the award. Cutler is a software engineer, designer, and developer of several operating systems at Digital Equipment Corporation. Bell, an electrical engineer, is Researcher Emeritus at Microsoft Research.

Each Cutler-Bell Prize winner receives a $10,000 cash prize. The prize amount is sent to the financial aid office of the institution the student will be attending next year and is then put toward each student’s tuition or disbursed.

This year’s Cutler-Bell Prize recipients will be formally recognized at the Computer Science Teachers Association’s 2023 Virtual Conference, July 11-13.

Her project, Predicting and Identifying Relevant Features of Vasovagal Syncope in Patients with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) using machine learning methods and physiological data, was inspired by a TikTok that led Nallamothu down a rabbit hole about POTS.

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To her surprise, there were no research studies or consumer solutions to predict syncope on real-world data, and she was determined to use her machine learning skills to predict syncopal episodes.

Nallamothu is the first person to conduct an IRB research study and collect human subject field data on POTS patients in the real world using non-invasive technologies.

She wrote a Python script to extract the 15-minute window signal data of heart rate, blood volumetric pressure, EDA, temperature, and accelerometer data. Nallamothu also uses the concept called “late fusion” in temporal multimodal machine learning.

This research is providing a starting point for future research into real-time prediction and integration into a smartwatch, which will help millions who experience vasovagal syncope research a safe and comfortable position before fainting. After completing her research,

Nallamothu plans to work toward creating a consumer product and pairing her algorithm with a smart watch.

“ACM has long been a leader in working to foster quality computer science education in K-12 settings in both the US and Europe,” said ACM President Yannis Ioannidis.

“As computing technology becomes more and more integrated into all aspects of society, computer science education, strengthening algorithmic thinking, and cultivating computing-based creativity in high school are becoming essential.

“The Cutler-Bell Prize is a celebration of the imagination and hard work of this year’s winning students, as well as the dedication of their teachers. We are proud of our long-term partnership with the Computer Science Teachers Association, and we thank Gordon Bell and David Cutler for funding this prize,” Ioannidis said.

“Each year, these winning projects showcase the continuing advancements of computer science and the power of high-quality computer science education,” said Jake Baskin, Executive Director of CSTA.

“These students and their projects embody CSforGood, and it’s inspiring to see how they are leveraging their computer science skills to solve pressing problems. CSTA is proud to honor their work and thanks Gordon Bell and David Cutler for their continued support of the award.”

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society. CSTA’s mission is to empower, engage and advocate for K-12 computer science teachers worldwide.