By Aidan Debelius
For the Diamondback
University of Maryland students gathered at the Iribe Center on Thursday night to share the software projects that they have been working on throughout the semester.
The students were part of this university’s chapter of Hack4Impact, which connects student software developers with nonprofit organizations. The students aim to streamline the organizations’ existing software and services to develop a more efficient experience for clients.
The chapter is currently working with seven different nonprofits across the country. Over the past four years, they have developed free tools for more than 30 nonprofit organizations.
One team of students worked with The Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington, a nonprofit organization that supports families through pregnancy and early parenthood by providing lactation consults, classes and equipment rentals.
[Gov. Wes Moore announces partnership with 2 AI firms to help streamline Maryland agencies]
Graduate computer science student Sophie Tsai, a tech lead for the project, said her team built a dashboard for employees to view different data about their clients across different services.
“We meet with our client point of contact weekly to figure out what features they need and how we can best support them,” Tsai said.
Sophomore computer science major Ramy Kaddouri, another tech lead for the project, said that the team was able to make improvements to the organization’s existing scheduling service.
Tsai and Kaddouri said it is rewarding to see their work have a real-world application that saves people time. Tsai said she hopes the saved time will allow employees to get more resources for their organization.
Freshman computer science major Ori Marx attended the showcase as a member of Hack4Impact’s bootcamp and hopes to join a project team in the near future.
The bootcamp program allows new developers to learn the foundational skills required to get involved with the projects. Members of the program learn various coding languages and engage in a three-week long project to help them prepare for the next step. Marx said he learned several new frameworks and programming tools during the bootcamp.
[UMD STEM students worry about impact of AI, federal workforce cuts on job market]
“I feel completely prepared to join a project team next semester and do really impactful work to help out nonprofits,” Marx said. “In today’s world, especially with the current tech market, there’s a real need for that intersection between technology and social good.”
Faith Comising, Hack4Impact’s director of events, believes it’s important for students to remember the reason behind the hours spent coding, working in teams and attending meetings.
“The main reason we want our teams to be able to show things off is not so that they can glorify themselves,” the senior computer science major said. “It’s to encourage others to do the same: To use the skills that you’re learning from school as a college student and put that out into the world in a way that positively impacts other people.”
