WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – “Control the Show” is back.
B. J. Sintay, an engineering student in the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, has linked more than 35,000 Christmas lights on his Winston-Salem home to the World Wide Web and offers folks the opportunity to control blocks of those lights from their own computers while watching the action on camera.
The lights will be turned on at 5 p.m. today and the show will be even better than last year, thanks to a sponsorship by the School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (SBES).
Last year’s show attracted widespread attention – up to 2 million hits per day to controltheshow.com and dozens of stories by newspapers, radio and television. Members of the media are already showing an interest in covering this year’s production.
Sintay hopes to use the show to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities for families in need. “I hope that everyone who enjoys Control the Show will be inspired to sponsor some of the lights for the Ronald McDonald House,” he said. “Ronald McDonald House Charities offers so much to families during difficult times. It's my goal to help support their mission in a new and exciting way."
Pete Santago, Ph.D., associate director of SBES and chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said, “B.J. is one of our most outside-the-box engineering students. He’s bright, creative, and really handy, which the project clearly demonstrates. He also has developed instruments for research and has even published a book of cartoons about academic life as a student.”
Santago added, “I was excited to be a sponsor; it puts our biomedical engineering program in a great light, so to speak.”
Sintay responded, “Thanks to the sponsorship by the School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, I'll be able to deliver the show to millions of visitors each day.”
To view the show, and to learn more about it, go to controltheshow.com.
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Media Relations Contacts: Robert Conn, rconn@wfubmc.edu, Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, or Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu, at (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine. U.S. News & World Report ranks Wake Forest University School of Medicine 18th in family medicine, 20th in geriatrics, 25th in primary care and 41st in research among the nation's medical schools. It ranks 35th in research funding by the National Institutes of Health. Almost 150 members of the medical school faculty are listed in Best Doctors in America.
Media Relations
Main Number: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587