Three earth-friendly projects take prizes at the Husky Hackathon
On Friday, February 3, students from four west coast Northeastern campuses had their lights on late as they coded and designed through the night. Representing the campuses of Seattle, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Oakland, most worked in teams and some as individuals in the Spring 2023 Husky Hackathon.
Just over 80 undergraduate and graduate students spent 26 hours building their entries for the theme “Tools of the Future.” The students were given wide creative freedom to choose an area of focus within the categories of hybrid work & school solutions, climate change & sustainability solutions, and mutual aid/community building solutions. To allow participants from different programs and backgrounds to compete against one another, they had the opportunity to distinguish themselves to the judges on a rubric that included both technical complexity and non-technical criteria (like usefulness and environmental/social impact).
“Our goal with the hackathon was to encourage collaboration, taking risks to build new skills, and having fun building a meaningful personal project,” said Megan Powell, Experiential Learning Specialist in the Bay Area, who led the event planning. “We asked teams to focus on defining their problem & pitching a solution. Since we had a variety of skill levels participating in the hackathon, we welcomed design prototypes/mockups as well as apps that students could demo.”
The event culminated in a presentation from each team on their work. They showcased projects on a variety of topics such as new approaches to ride-sharing, ways to track your carbon footprint, and tools to improve mental health and productivity.
Two alumni were present to help judge the competitors: Becky Buckler, a Product Manager at Microsoft (Khoury College, MS in Computer Science ’22) and Eric Joraskie, a Machine Learning Researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Khoury College, MS in Computer Science ’21). The judging panel was rounded out by Oscar Veliz, Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern Seattle. Partners Microsoft and F5 generously contributed to the prizes.
Do More With Less Award
Awarded for: A simple, powerful, and resourceful solution
Sponsored by Microsoft
Winner: Xiaoge Zhang, Silicon Valley campus
Project: TogetherRide, a carpooling app for Northeastern students. The proposed features included using machine learning algorithms to match users with similar schedules, notifications about carbon savings to encourage usage, and integrated chat and mapping.
The judges said: “The value proposition was really great, [to] serve your Northeastern community with rides that already exist,” said Becky Butler. “[We were impressed by] the polish in this presentation, and the idea behind it.”
Prize: A session with Cathy Sullivan, Northeastern alum and Microsoft program manager, for resume review and job hunt coaching.
Human First Award
Awarded for: A solution that centers its users or the community it aims to serve
Sponsored by F5
Winner: BotaneXT, San Francisco campus
Team members: Triet Ngo, Hua Wang, Senay Argaw Tilahun, Zadie Moon, Huiqin Hu, and Justin To
Project: OKBloomer, an app to help users turn their unused outdoor space into carbon-absorbing gardens. Proposed features include soil analysis, plant recommendations, garden design features, and carbon reduction tracking.
The judges said: “Our choice for this one came from the ingenuity of the team, the polish of the presentation, and we were really called to the idea that they put the individual first,” said Jaren Walker, Director of Strategic Partnerships in Seattle.
Prize: A full day shadowing the Office of the CTO of F5 at their San Jose office, meeting with technical leaders and getting to know a day in the life of a tech leader.
Best in Hack Award
Awarded for: The top-scoring team across all judges and categories
Winner: Team Banana, Seattle campus
Team members: Jake Van Meter, Jessica Tanumihardja, Shreya Goyal, Randy Ramli, Wayne Zhou, Chunyun Zhang
Project: BananaMap, a navigation tool that compares modes of transportation to a given destination by amount of carbon emissions produced. Proposed features include tracking emissions saved, calories burned, and overall environmental and health impact.
The judges said: “A creative spin on emissions tracking, with thoughtful use of existing databases and APIs to deliver insights to users.”
Prize: Custom shirts and endless bragging rights.