The annual HackNYU event is one of the largest student-run hackathons in the country. Eric Kwok, one of the Co-Chairs of HackNYU 2018, reflects on what it takes to put together such a large event, some of his favorite projects, and why the diversity of the hackathon and HackNYU’s organizational team gives him hope for the future.
Tandon School of Engineering
An App That Translates Voice and Sign Language
A team of students from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering recently built a prototype mobile app that translates spoken words into sign language to facilitate communication between deaf and hearing people. ARSL (Augmented Reality Sign Language) is part of Verizon’s Connected Futures challenge which, in partnership with NYC Media Lab, supports new media and technology projects from universities across New York City.
Digital Dérive
You’ve arrived at a train station. Where it is, who can say? What brought you here? That’s unclear. Maybe you’re searching for something, or running away from something. Maybe you just felt like wandering. As you stand on the platform, a man calls you over. He seems to know more about you than you know about him, or about yourself.
Reality Plus
Augmented Reality is set to become one of the largest new industries of the 21st century. The Mobile Augmented Reality Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering introduces students to working with AR in a myriad of ways.
Your Own Personal Hacker
Change in IT security is so rapid that what is learned in a classroom can be out of date by the time the class is over. The Hacker in Residence program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering provides access to security professionals so students can get experience with security issues.
Student-Led Space Combines Tech and Design Thinking for Social Good
One of the mains goals of Design Tinkering is to employ human-centered design and design thinking to create innovative solutions devoted to real social issues. It was precisely this mission that led to the creation of the Greenhouse and subsequently, to NYU students’ participation in several OpenIDEO challenges and submission of winning ideas for OpenIDEO’s E-waste Challenge and Women Safety Challenge.
Innovation at the NYU Poly Prototyping Fund Showcase
Each semester, ten teams of students receive up to $500 to build a hardware or software prototype. Teams present their projects at the showcase and discuss what they learned through building and testing the prototypes, as well as what they plan to do next in the development process.
Student Groups Encourage Data Access
For NYU’s student developers, writing code is not always the most challenging part; it is getting access to the large amount of data that a successful app requires.