The Hackathon:
On February 21st-23rd, the University of New Mexico (UNM) Health Science Center hosted the second annual Health Hackathon. This event is an opportunity for a diverse set of inventors to come together and use their skills to develop innovative solutions to problems in the healthcare sector.
We are all Chemical Engineering students at UNM; Tina is a freshman in the program and Christina and Emily are both juniors. We decided to sign up for this event because we wanted to use our engineering skills to develop real solutions to important problems.
The first night of the Hackathon was spent choosing teams. We chose to join Tye Martin’s team; Tye is a post-doc student in the Biomedical Engineering department who wanted to develop a solution to the problems wheelchair users face when it comes to elevator access. By the end of the night our team consisted of eight members; three undergraduate chemical engineering students (us), two undergraduate computer science students, one post-doc (Tye), one post-bacc linguistics student, one UNM HSC staff member, and one UNM professor.
The next day we worked from 7:30 AM to 9:30 PM to conduct market research, develop branding, and rapidly prototype our solutions. This included surveying wheel-chair users, interviewing firefighters, coding apps, 3-D printing, and manipulating unconventional materials. See the photos below!
On February 21st-23rd, the University of New Mexico (UNM) Health Science Center hosted the second annual Health Hackathon. This event is an opportunity for a diverse set of inventors to come together and use their skills to develop innovative solutions to problems in the healthcare sector.
We are all Chemical Engineering students at UNM; Tina is a freshman in the program and Christina and Emily are both juniors. We decided to sign up for this event because we wanted to use our engineering skills to develop real solutions to important problems.
The first night of the Hackathon was spent choosing teams. We chose to join Tye Martin’s team; Tye is a post-doc student in the Biomedical Engineering department who wanted to develop a solution to the problems wheelchair users face when it comes to elevator access. By the end of the night our team consisted of eight members; three undergraduate chemical engineering students (us), two undergraduate computer science students, one post-doc (Tye), one post-bacc linguistics student, one UNM HSC staff member, and one UNM professor.
The next day we worked from 7:30 AM to 9:30 PM to conduct market research, develop branding, and rapidly prototype our solutions. This included surveying wheel-chair users, interviewing firefighters, coding apps, 3-D printing, and manipulating unconventional materials. See the photos below!
The final day was spent making final adjustments and then pitching our ideas! It was great to listen to the other team’s pitches. Ultimately, our team did not win the Hackathon, though we are proud of the solution we pitched. For more information, check out the local news coverage of the event (www.koat.com/article/health-hackathon-winning-teams-earn-grant-money/31123878).
Reflections:
Tina: I have never done something like that before. The health Hackathon was relaxed but so intense. There was so much food, like a 24 hour buffet. There were materials and 3D printers everywhere. I think my favorite part was meeting people. I was probably the youngest of my group and it was so cool to meet people who were older and more experienced than me. I originally thought that there would only be students doing this but there were professors, health professionals, and more. It takes bravery to first go up there and pitch your idea, and trying to choose a team to go on was hard because everyone's ideas were so good. The staff who made this possible was also so kind and so pumped to work with you. I enjoyed working with my team and being able to become their friends. It was amazing to see the amount of dedication people had to what they were doing. To my teammates who made the app and robot in 24 hours, wow! I am so happy I decided to be part of the health Hackathon because it made me push myself so see how I can help. I am also glad to have met everyone.
Christina: The health hackathon was such an amazing and rewarding experience. Going into this event, I was nervous and didn't know what to expect. Everybody was super friendly and welcoming. Once we were in our teams, we got to work. I got to exercise my experience with design thinking. It was really awesome getting to see an idea become a prototype of a product in just one weekend. I may be a little biased, but our group was so amazing. Despite everybody’s different backgrounds, we worked together very well and were able to produce an amazing design. Through the health hackathon, I got to meet great people, see what a pitch competition was like and put my knowledge of engineering thus far to good use. We all had such a fun weekend and I look forward to next year's health hackathon!
Emily: My favorite thing about this event was getting to use my skills to make a difference. Most of my experience in Chemical Engineering is research based, and it is generally hard to see the direct impact you are making when you are running experiments in a lab. At the hackathon I was introduced to rapid prototyping and design thinking. I also learned so much about how to conduct market research and how to use this to inform the iterations of your prototype.
Overall, I would 10/10 recommend participating in a hackathon. You learn new skills, meet new people, and gain a new perspective on your purpose as an engineer/coder/creator/etc.
We hope this inspired you to participate in a hackathon!
- Tina, Christina, and Emily
Reflections:
Tina: I have never done something like that before. The health Hackathon was relaxed but so intense. There was so much food, like a 24 hour buffet. There were materials and 3D printers everywhere. I think my favorite part was meeting people. I was probably the youngest of my group and it was so cool to meet people who were older and more experienced than me. I originally thought that there would only be students doing this but there were professors, health professionals, and more. It takes bravery to first go up there and pitch your idea, and trying to choose a team to go on was hard because everyone's ideas were so good. The staff who made this possible was also so kind and so pumped to work with you. I enjoyed working with my team and being able to become their friends. It was amazing to see the amount of dedication people had to what they were doing. To my teammates who made the app and robot in 24 hours, wow! I am so happy I decided to be part of the health Hackathon because it made me push myself so see how I can help. I am also glad to have met everyone.
Christina: The health hackathon was such an amazing and rewarding experience. Going into this event, I was nervous and didn't know what to expect. Everybody was super friendly and welcoming. Once we were in our teams, we got to work. I got to exercise my experience with design thinking. It was really awesome getting to see an idea become a prototype of a product in just one weekend. I may be a little biased, but our group was so amazing. Despite everybody’s different backgrounds, we worked together very well and were able to produce an amazing design. Through the health hackathon, I got to meet great people, see what a pitch competition was like and put my knowledge of engineering thus far to good use. We all had such a fun weekend and I look forward to next year's health hackathon!
Emily: My favorite thing about this event was getting to use my skills to make a difference. Most of my experience in Chemical Engineering is research based, and it is generally hard to see the direct impact you are making when you are running experiments in a lab. At the hackathon I was introduced to rapid prototyping and design thinking. I also learned so much about how to conduct market research and how to use this to inform the iterations of your prototype.
Overall, I would 10/10 recommend participating in a hackathon. You learn new skills, meet new people, and gain a new perspective on your purpose as an engineer/coder/creator/etc.
We hope this inspired you to participate in a hackathon!
- Tina, Christina, and Emily
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