This weekend, NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering hosted its biggest hackathon to date.

The event consisted of a competition to solve an engineering challenge in a set period of time. Hackathons test individuals’ skills in programming, design, creativity, time management and problem solving. The competition spanned 48 hours with students, faculty and alumni of all skill levels were welcome to participate.

Ultimately, 13 winners were selected. The winners of the dental track were Toothbit, Dentcaid and Oral Imagnostics. ShareMeal, Sentiment Forecast and Press were recognized in the Sustainability track. In the accessibility track, Thinker, Buddi and Stack were chosen as the winners. Ed-tech track winners included Mail Efficient, 100 NYU, Confluent and Fi-loc.

Mary Northridge, an associate professor of the NYU College of Dentistry, helped judge the competition and praised the talented students that participated in the event.  

“It has been a very inspiring and rewarding experience for the students to whom I have spoken,” Northridge said. “I am honored and delighted to be involved as a mentor and judge. Technology has so much to offer to improving the opportunities of individuals and populations, and in the end, might also promote social justice and health equity.”

Huzefa Talib, clinical director for the NYU College of Dentistry, also judged the Hackathon and shared similar sentiments with Northridge about the talent and intellect of the students present.

“I think I speak for all the judges involved with the HACKNYU this year especially those judging the ‘Dental Track’ that this was a very unique experience to which none of us have had any prior exposure,” Talib said. “Even though there was so much to see and learn, we are truly amazed at the myriad of technologies that are available and how they are implemented by our own NYU students.”

The competition drew the most talented individuals, and students were asked to take on innovative design initiatives under challenging time constraints. Even Northridge took the competition as a learning experience for herself.

“I feel like a learner in this environment, yet also embraced by the students and colleagues I have met and interacted with over the weekend,” Northridge said.

CAS sophomore Danielle Hopkins said she was intrigued by the eclectic group of competitors participating in the Hackathon.

“This is a great opportunity for students to come together and exercise their talents in a lot of different areas from engineering to dentistry,” Hopkins said. “I definitely have never heard of anything like this before.”

Email Kati Garrity at [email protected].