GW Engineering Students Won at UN Hackathon

George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science graduate students Dhairya Shah and Anket Patil, who are studying computer science, were named Best Overall at the United Nations Tech Over Hackathon, which is part of UN Open Source Week 2025.

UN Open Source Weekaims to facilitate global dialogue and collaboration on digital public infrastructure to develop innovative solutions and address global challenges. The event features a full week of networking, panels, hackathons and breakout sessions.

The UN Tech Over has three distinct but interrelated challenges. Shah and Patil won during the first event in the series, "Ahead of the Storm: Open Geospatial Analytics for Children-Centric Climate Emergency Response." The challenge called for data-driven solutions to protect vulnerable communities during climate emergencies.

Patil and Shah created a tool that helps policymakers assess the impact of natural disasters on children by analyzing local infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, along with surrounding terrain and bodies of water.