Yes, you’ve probably all noticed that Scheedule, the popular Illinois class scheduling website, now has an option to use “schedule builder” – which is the way Illinexus Scheduler used to work.

We decided to ask Scheedule co-founder Suraj Samaranayake a few questions to get the full scoop on what they’re all about:

The Quad: How was Scheedule born?

Suraj: Mike Barker came up with the original idea for Scheedule. We were starting Sophmore year in college and we were all frustrated with how long and painful the process was for scheduling classes. Mike had the idea with presenting students with all the possible schedules, and then let them pick which one they like best. From there, he brought the idea to myself along with Matt Strick and Dave Alongi and we ended up doing the project as a part of SIGSoft (special interest group in software engineering). Scheedule debuted at EOH 2006 with about 10 of us working on it.

The Quad: How many people work on the project now?

Suraj: There are currently 6 people who work on the project now and all 6 were founders: Suraj Samaranayake, Mike Barker, Dave Alongi, Matt Strick, Greg Schechter, Will Duff

Myself along with Dave and Mike graduated in May 2008. After this May, all of us will have graduated thou we will still keep working on the project.

The Quad: What were some of your biggest challenges in creating Scheedule?

Suraj: Creating Scheedule and having it be successful had many hard challenges. First were the technical challenges. Collecting and sorting all the necessary class information was very challenging. The school does not publish the logic that pairs discussions and labs with lectures, so we had to create our own set of rules to create these combinations. Ensuring that every schedule we provide the user is valid is very hard with the number of classes that the University of Illinoisoffers.

Second was making the tool as simple to use as possible. We’re all big supporters of simplicity, and we tried to show that in the design. Some class combinations can have 10,000+ possible schedules, and no user wants to go through every one. We had to design smart to allow the user to find their perfect schedule with as little hassle as possible.

Lastly was marketing Scheedule to the students. None of us were marketing majors, so building up our user base has always been a challenge to use. Our first semester we had around 5,000 users and since then we’ve tripled in size.

The Quad: What is your ultimate vision for Scheedule?

Suraj: Our core goal has stayed the same: to provide students a tool to make their lives a little easier and to save them some time. Our original feature set allowed students to find their perfect schedule. Now with our new books feature, we also make the book buying process easier, providing students the list of books needed for their classes and a link to save money by buying them off amazon.com. Buying books online has always been a cheaper alternative for students, however it has always been a hassle to find out what books they need to buy, and find the correct version of the book online. With our new book buying feature, we hope to solve that problem.

The Quad: Do you hope to get Scheedule on every college campus?

Suraj: Thats always been a goal of ours, however we’ve concentrated on making the product as useful as it can be to UofI students first. Once we’re comfortable with the features we provide, we’ll consider expanding to other campuses.

The Quad: You recently added the “Scheduler Builder” (IlliNexus-style) functionality to Scheedule. Why did you decide to do this? Has it been popular in its first few weeks?

Suraj: It wasn’t until recently that someone on the team told us that IlliNexus had shut down. They’ve been a popular tool to students since before Scheedule. Both products helped students find the right schedule but solved the problem in two completely different ways. Some students liked the auto-generation of schedules, while others liked building the schedule themselves. When IlliNexus shut down, we decided to give their users a way to use “IlliniNexus style scheduling” on Scheedule. We looked into combining some of their functionality with our existing schedule generator, however adding it as a separate feature just ended up making more sense. It has been popular since we launched it, however we haven’t really advertised that we added their functionality to our site.

We recently sat down with Bryan Kapicka, President of iServe, a new organization on the Illinois campus dedicated to improving and fostering community service.

The Quad: What is your mission?

Bryan: To foster strong relationships between and provide resources to all student, university, and community groups to create a more cohesive service program, raise awareness about service opportunities, and increase student involvement in volunteer service.

TQ: What do you do?

Bryan: Our group works to improve collaboration between different groups/entities on campus. We also are working on various service initiatives to improve the campus service culture.

TQ: What drives your group members?

Bryan: It is difficult to pin down what exactly drives our members, but everyone has a real desire to give back and make a difference during their time at the University.

TQ: What is the most important thing your organization does?

Bryan: We improve the “service culture” on campus – this is done by increasing the service opportunities, service awareness, and service recognition.

By the Numbers:
Size: We have an executive group of around 20, but our outreach includes over 170 campus groups/organizations.
Member Structure: Our executive group meets weekly to discuss key initiatives and discuss the council’s direction. We hold general meetings monthly to get feedback from member groups/organizations.
How many hours a week does a typical member give? Anywhere from 1-20.
How to join? Contact us! – Bryan Kapicka (kapicka2)

If you’re interested in service or would like to hear more about iServe, be sure to send Bryan an email, or check out their website (will be located at http://iserve.illinois.edu in the future)

This past week we sat down with Matt Gornick, a member of Illini Entrepreneurship Network (IEN), a new organization on campus set out to promote entrepreneurship on campus and encourage students to create their own ventures.

What does IEN do? IEN provides a very open atmosphere of networking with other students, a Student Startup Incubator (SSI), and consulting opportunities for students interested in entrepreneurship.

What is the most interesting thing you do? We just recently launched our Student Startup Incubator (SSI) which gives any UIUC student startups access to resources such as office space, computers, server hosting, and potential stipends for the teams. Additionally, any startups that enroll in the program are exempted from the IP policies of the University. The application is very easy and only requires a dedicated team and a great idea.

What drives your group members? All of our members are dedicated students with common entrepreneurial drive. Many members want to change the world with the next big idea and others simply want to experience the startup culture and see if they like it. IEN welcomes any student with an entrepreneurial drive to take part in the various resources IEN has to offer.

What is the most important thing you do? IEN addresses the frequent problem of finding the most dedicated and inspirational students on campus to work on a startup. Many of our members are looking to start their own companies and they need the opportunity to network and find people that believe in their idea. IEN helps students turn an idea into a company!

How big is the group? We have ~50 active members with 400 people on our mailing list. We currently have ~10 student run startups registered to take part in the Spring 2009 Semester SSI Program.

We are very decentralized, structure-wise. Anyone with a passion for entrepreneurship can take part. We have executive members ranging from Freshmen to Seniors. Students choose the areas that they are best suited for and actively work in those areas.

How many hours a week does a typical member give? Anywhere from 0 to all of their time. We have members that attend several meetings to get a better understanding of entrepreneurship and we also have members that spend every waking hour working on their startups. Members can easily find people and teams that they can relate to within IEN.

How could one of our readers join? Visit our website and click on the Join IEN link. You’ll be added to our mailing list for all of our announcements and programs.

Now we have some questions that are “just for fun.”

If your group had to choose a favorite campus building, what would
they choose? Siebel Center because it has amazing chairs and is a perfect place to hatch out some startup ideas.

If you were bringing a snack to a group meeting, what would you bring? Coffee, we love coffee.

How was your organization created? IEN was formed as a merger between two on-campus groups: University Business Developers and CEO. IEN’s founders agreed that entrepreneurship at UIUC should be united and easily accessible to students. We are all united in the same mission so we naturally joined forces.

What do your group members do for fun outside of working for your organization? Work on startups and come up with the next big idea to change the world. Ask some of the SSI teams and they’ll agree.

This has been part of our Society Spotlight series, featuring student groups around the Illinois campus. If you’d like to take part, send us an email.

Irish Illini is the Irish student philanthropic group at the University of Illinois. They host many social events on campus, and are associated with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and the infamous Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

It is a common misconception, however,  that the Irish Illini are the organizers of the tradition of Unofficial. “The main thing we do is sell t-shirts,” said Charlie Knibbs, Irish Illini President. “We call them the official unofficial t-shirts. The money goes to our charity events like Relay for Life and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.” The local bars are actually the main source of Unofficial planning.

About two years ago Irish Illini was suspended as an RSO for “[advertising] the availability of alcohol for their members.” This left the group with a slightly tarnished reputation, but has been doing a lot of charity work recently to improve. “We do a blood drive every semester,” said Knibbs, “and for St. Baldrick’s our members are going to get donations to shave their heads.”

You can find the Irish Illini on their Facebook group and through their email listserv. Their Facebook group, with over 1000 members, is where members sign up to be on the listserv and plan future events.

This is the second in our series on Unofficial. Check back for more stories in the future.

This is the first edition of a new series on The Quad called Society Spotlight where we focus on a student group at UIUC.

Name: Student Alumni Ambassadors
Location: Alice Campbell Alumni Center
Point of contact: studentalumniambassadors@ad.uiuc.edu
Website: http://www.uiaa.org/urbana/saa/

Mission: The purpose of SAA is to establish, foster and promote the development of beneficial relationships among the University’s students, alumni, staff, faculty and the campus community. SAA also promotes the activities of the UI Alumni Association through its programs and services to create and instill the spirit of the Illini in University of Illinois students.

The following is an excerpt from an interview with SAA Membership Co-Chair Ashley Soriano:

What do you do?
We program events for current students and alumni. These include iHelp, Homecoming Kickoff, Pep Rally, GradFest, and more! We also host alumni and work service requests for President White. We help students make lasting memories while on campus and then make alumni feel welcome and comfortable when they come back.

What is the most interesting thing you do?
Some of our members love meeting alumni and getting the chance to get to know them. Others love instilling pride and Illini spirit in current students. No matter what, the friendships and bonds we form as a group as very unique.

What drives your group members?
Our group members are driven by their pride in their work, SAA as an organization, and in being an Illini. Many times, we just want to spread our love of the group and of our school to everyone. We have the most dedicated, inspirational, driven, and Illini spirited group of students on campus.

How many hours a week does a typical member give?
We usually have one weekly meeting on Tuesday nights, and then everyone puts in a little more time during our major events. However, the more a member puts into SAA, the more that member will get out of it and enjoy it.

What do your group members do for fun outside of working for your organization?
We have been know to play sand volleyball dressed in superhero costumes as well as play intramural volleyball together. We also get together for other social events like playing pool volleyball, going out to movies, and dancing.

How to join?
Visit http://www.uiaa.org/urbana/saa/howtojoin.html for information on how to join and to find an application.

The Student Alumni Ambassadors have a total of 62 members split between an executive board of 8 members, co-chairs for every event, and a very dedicated group of general members.

The Student Alumni Ambassadors are a great group to work with and I encourage everyone who is interested by this post to consider joining. There will be an Info Night for those interested in learning more about SAA, being a member, going through the application process and more tomorrow, on Tuesday, January 27th at 6 pm at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. Dress is casual and jeans are welcome.