George Hacks presents “Promoting Social Change Through Innovation” at AAAS Annual Meeting

This past weekend in Washington, D.C. at the AAAS Annual Meeting, the George Hacks team had the opportunity to share their organization with a community of scientists dedicated to improving society both environmentally and socially.

Our presentation, titled “Promoting Social Change Through Innovation with GWU’s George Hacks” covered our achievements in engaging students in social impact innovation at our hackathons. We discussed the intersection of innovation & entrepreneurship, the hackathon lifestyle, and the GWU startup ecosystem.

Our student-led organization promotes a problem-based interdisciplinary approach to solving current social and technological healthcare issues through the competitive, project-based events we organize. We successfully hosted our second annual 24-hour medical solutions hackathon this past January to solve issues raised by local and national healthcare organizations. In partnership with the Veterans Health Administration, we presented students with current challenges ranging from veteran health care, to on-campus food insecurity, prosthetic modification, and much more.

We showed attendees the applicable solutions students have created at their events and provided information for both undergraduate and graduate students who may want to get involved through competition or expansion of the organization. George Hacks is excited to further our outreach and create these new partnerships.

George Hacks Founder, Brianna Cathey, publishes paper in Scientific Reports

George Hacks founder, Brianna Cathey, and Sofian Obaid, working with Dr. Igor Efimov, are the first authors in paper published January 24 in Scientific Reports. This paper presents an open-source platform for optocardiography, in which both software and hardware are open to the public via open-source license. Hardware can be printed on a 3D printer, and the platform will be useful in research and education of the heart.  

The citation for their paper is: B. Cathey, S. Obaid, A. M. Zolotarev, R. A. Pryamonosov, R. A. Syunyaev, S. A. George, and I. R. Efimov. “Open-Source Multiparametric Optocardiography,” Scientific Reports, Vol. 9: 721 (2019).

A recent GW Today article, “SEAS Students Design 3D-Printed Optical Mapping System,” further explains their research and its implications.

George Hacks partners with the Veterans Health Administration

Last month, the Veterans Health Administration became an official partner of George Hacks. We are proud to join the VHA to highlight the many areas in which students can improve the lives of U.S. Veterans living with a wide range of disabilities incurred while serving our country.

At the 2019 Medical Solutions Hackathon, attending local veterans gave students the unique opportunity to address their personal medical needs, ranging from prosthetic adaptations for outdoor activities to medical examination accessibility.

We are incredibly grateful to be able to give our competitors the opportunity to improve the lives of those who dedicated their lives to improving ours, and we look forward to broadening our impact in continuing our engagement with the veteran population in future events. 

Recap | 2nd Annual Medical Solutions Hackathon

At 9:00 AM sharp on January 26th, students began filing into the B1 Level of SEH for the 2nd Annual George Hacks Medical Solutions Hackathon. Undergraduates signed up for the promise of an intellectual challenge, a chance to showcase their skills, and of course, free food.

This year, 80+ students divided into 20 teams to tackle real-world challenges from an expanded network of healthcare organizations. George Hacks partnered with the Veterans Health Administration and collaborated with Quality of Life Plus, OpenEMR, GW Hospital, and others who brought problems ranging from prosthetic modification, on-campus food insecurity, veteran health care, healthcare access, and more.

Teams presented their solutions in two rounds of judging, one round for technical qualifications and the other to evaluate the product in its intended market. The students exceeded expectations, making the event an absolute success, showcasing George Hacks’ mission of healthcare innovation for social impact.

Check out our recap video!

Highlights

84 Participants | 55 Judges & Mentors | 8 Partners | 10 Sponsors

Winners

Best Overall: We’re Working On It

Team Members: Sydney Bailes, Camille Daszynski, Mateusz Gierdalski, Jared Kern

Pitch Title: Adapting prosthetics for uneven terrain, provided by Quality of Life Plus

Best Demo: Handicycle

Team Members: Emily Cheung, Shubham Gupta, Elizabeth Fischer, Elias Ross Trupin

Pitch Title: Prosthetic Leg Holder for Handcycle, provided by Quality of Life Plus

Best Pitch: Bioelectric

Team Members: Lujain Al-Khawi , Matt Taylor, Ji-Eun Kim, Karen Rius

Pitch Title: Adapting prosthetics for uneven terrain, provided by Quality of Life Plus

Best Demo Runner-Up: Avengineers

Team Members: Shirali Nigam, Bianca Karpinecz, Jillian McGough, Trish Mikolajczyk

Pitch Title: ‘Getting Up’ alert for geriatric patients, provided by Christina Prather, MD (GW Hospital)

Post-Event Booklet

Medical-Solutions-2019-Booklet-1

George Hacks All-Women’s Team Takes 3rd Place at Pitch George Competition

The team of Caitlyn Pratt, Sydney Bailes, Shirali Nigam, and Trish Mikolajczyk—all from the BME Department—took Third Place and a $750 cash prize in the Undergraduate track at this year’s Pitch George Competition, held November 17 in Duques Hall.  The all-female team pitched their novel pill dispenser product, which targets the population over the age of 65 who may be dealing with problems like arthritis or juggling more than five medications a day.

The team is also one of the founding teams of the George Hacks Innovators in Action Program.  They were mentored by BME alumnus Konstantin Mitic, who co-founded the George Hacks organization and worked with the team as their adviser between rounds of pitches at the competition.

Recap | George Hacks partners with Lantuun Dohio for Human Trafficking Hackathon

Earlier this month, George Hacks wrapped up its first major event of the year, a two-week human trafficking hackathon in partnership with nonprofit organization Lantuun Dohio.

Lantuun Dohio was established to eradicate human trafficking and protect children from violence and exploitation in Mongolia. Their main approach is to work with children in vulnerable areas and foster self-worth and respect in their minds from a young age.

George Hacks and Lantuun Dohio are challenging GW students to work together to develop solutions in innovation marathon. The hackathon spanned sixteen days and challenged students to dive into pitches ranging from the reintegration of children into society after trauma experienced in trafficking to exploring solar panel efficiency.

While traditional hackathons focus on developing ideas over the span of a weekend, the George Hacks Fights Human Trafficking hackathon was a case study to see how successful the model could be with a less-condensed timeline.

“George Hacks Inspires Interdisciplinary Problem Solving,” GW Today

Read more about George Hacks human trafficking hackathon in partnership with Lantuun Dohio in the GW Today article “George Hacks Inspires Interdisciplinary Problem Solving.”

George Hacks Launches the Innovators in Action Program

George Hacks launched the Innovators in Action program two weeks ago when we sent 7 students to VCU’s 3rd Annual HealthHacks. This was the event that inspired our founding team to start George Hacks and we were so excited to be able to send more students to compete this year!

In 2017, George Hacks founder, Konstantin Mitic ‘18, attended the annual VCU medical hackathon. During the event, he developed a solution that went on to receive a medal, but he didn’t know how to further implement these ideas. He wanted to continue the innovative process even after the event was finished, but didn’t know how. The solution was simple: George Hacks.

Contact us to learn more and see how you can get involved in our Innovators in Action program.

Recap | George Hacks Kogan Makerspace

George Hacks co-hosted a makerspace event to showcase GWU’s growing ecosystem of innovation.

We opened up interactive activities to engage the student body and work to instill an entrepreneurial mindset at GW. The makerspace exposed GW students to the George Hacks community to showcase how students of all backgrounds can get involved and serve the community through innovation.

Students were able to engage with the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, GW Innovation Center, GW Data, Soylent, and Synapse to learn about each organization. George Hacks displayed their talent in a unique and engaging experiment by making music through potatoes at the event.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our Kogan Makerspace event. We had a great time meeting the GW community and sharing information about George Hacks.

George Hacks Founder, Konstantin Mitic, and his BME team take first place at 2018 Pelton Award for Outstanding Senior Design Project competition

George Hacks congratulates Konstantin Mitic, Paige Botie, Tania Singh, Trisha Talapatra, and Sarah Sopher for their first place win at the 2018 Pelton Award for Outstanding Senior Design Project competition. The title of their project is “Patient Transfer Sling and Hip Stabilization System”.  Watch them describe their research.

Dr. Pelton, Konstantin Mitic, Paige Botie, Tania Singh, Trisha Talapatra, Sarah Sopher and Dean Dolling