Last month, senior Amy Jin was named one of five students nationwide to receive the Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing. Jin’s project provides surgeons with a way to assess their technique by analyzing their movements and providing feedback on a variety of criteria, such as economy of motion and bimanual dexterity (the term for dexterity demonstrated when performing tasks that require both hands). In developing the project, Jin used videos of surgical procedures, which were analyzed via “computer vision,” according to a press release by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA). She also sought the feedback of a team of surgeons, who validated the assessments.

The Cutler-Bell Prize is awarded each year by the CSTA and the Association for Computing Machinery to promote the study of computer science among high school students. The individual or team behind each winning project received a cash prize of $10,000 (toward tuition at the university each student will attend) and an invitation to the CSTA annual conference in July in Omaha, Neb., where the awardees will be formally recognized for their achievements.