Hackathon 2017 Winners

1st Place: Hiat حياة
Presentation Order: 7
Description: Connecting skilled refugees and the local community in an easy-to-use gig-economy platform.
Mentor: Islam El-Ashi (Software Engineer Twitter)
Students: Camilo Luciano (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argenitina), Amr Aljundi (American University of Sharjah, UAE) Vladimir Ilievski (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland), Sonia Xu (Hacking Medicine, MIT, USA), Radwa Hamed (The American University in Cairo, Egypt) and Munira Alali (Khalifa University, UAE)
2nd Place: 3ndi Headache (I Have a Headache)
Presentation Order: 9
Description: Automating triage nurses.
Mentors: Razan Qraini (WebTeb, Senior Android Developer, Palestine), Varun Arora (CEO, OpenCurriculum, USA) and Lingliang Zhang (NYUAD, UK)
Students: Daniel Watson (NYUAD, UAE), Khalid Abul Borghol (AUS, UAE), Hayat Al Hasan (NYUAD, UAE), Eithar Al Fatih (University of Khartoum, Sudan), Moiri Gamboni (NYUAD, Australia), Chenhao Xu (NYUAD, UAE) and Munachiso Nwadike (NYUAD, Nigeria)
Tied 3rd Place: Tarakeeb
تراكيب
Presentation Order: 4
Description: An automated grammar checker to teach Arabic.
Mentors: Anas Shahrour (Hamza Founder, UAE), Balsam Alkouz (University of Sharjah Research Assistant, UAE), David Warr (Language Garden Ltd, Founder, UK), Hanan Hadad (Lynx Vision Graphic Designer, UAE) and Saeed Motamed (Networkful CTO, UAE)
Students: Lama Ahmad (NYUAD, UAE), Fahmi Alnajjar (Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Jordan), Maha Amjad (NUCES FAST, Pakistan), Skye Im (NYU Shanghai, China) and Shorook Saleh (University of Sharjah, UAE)
Tied 3rd Place: AnNahr النهر (The Stream)
Presentation Order: 10
Description: An interactive hardware/software solution that addresses the issue of water wastage during the Wudhu (ablution) at the Masjid (mosques) by providing feedback to the user in an attempt to raise awareness and change their behavior, encouraging positive water saving.
Mentors: Fahim Dalvi (Qatar Computing Research Institute), Sama Kanbour (General Electric, Qatar) and Joyce Zhang (Boston Consulting Group, US)
Students: Zakaria Belkham (M’Hamed Bouguerra University of Boumerdés Algeria), Abdur Rahman Hijazi (Birla Institute of Technology UAE), Emmad Arif (Yale University, US), Elissa Mkanna (American University of Beirut, Lebanon), Driss El Ouiqary (National School of Applied Sciences of Tangier, Morocco), Abdelrazaq Al-Sharif (Innovation Engineer StartAD, UAE) and Seyed Mohammad Ahlesaadat (NYUAD, UAE)
Audience Winner: Teslam تسلم
Presentation Order: 8
Description: Service to visualize actionable data in the Arab world related to NCDs (specifically obesity & diabetes) through big data & machine learning, to share with government and business entities, and to educate the targeted subjects of these diseases through a conversational intelligent chat bot.
Mentors: Farah Shamout (University of Oxford, PhD Student, UK), Harini Kannan (Google, Research Software Engineer, US) and Khalid Machchate (K&W Technologies International, CEO, Morocco)
Students: Athra Al Khatri (UAE University, UAE), Shahan Ali Memon (Carnegie Mellon University, Pakistan), Leanne Dsouza (Middlesex University Dubai, UAE), Khalid AlAwar (Khalifa University, UAE), Ibrahim Soltan (Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar) and Daria Zăhăleanu (NYUAD, UAE)
Meet the 2017 Hackers

Omar Einea
Student Hacker, University of Sharjah
United States of America / United Arab Emirates

Arnaud Sahuguet
Judge, Cornell Tech
France / USA

Diala Alabsi
Mentor, University of Sharjah
Syria / United Arab Emirates

Zakaria Belkham
Student Hacker, M'hamed Bougara university - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IGEE ex-Inelec)
Algeria / Algeria

Osama Hasan
Student Hacker, AlHosn University
Syria / United Arab Emirates

Fabricio Pontes Harsich
Mentor, Google Inc
Argentina / USA

Jaisal Friedman
Student Hacker, NYUAD
United States of America / Singapore

Yassmeen Mohamed
Mentor, Mintrics
Egypt / Egypt

Razan Qraini
Mentor, WebTeb
Palestine / Palestine

Samridha Man Shrestha
Student Hacker, NYUAD
Nepal / United Arab Emirates
More about you: After taking an online Intro to CS class from Harvard University, I wanted to pursue CS as my career. After coming to NYUAD, I immediately enrolled in the CS classes and took up multiple CS side projects. I like to do a lot of out of academic work in CS, taking up student assistant-ships from the History department at NYUAD for digital design work. Or taking internships to help startups develop their applications. I also like to solve problems from Project Euler and learn new computer language skills on my spare time. I like not only the programming aspects of computing but I like to designing with the Adobe creative suite including videography using Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere and Audition. I have experience in using Python, C, C++ and JavaScript in making projects.
Love to do: Play multiple games of pong with my good friend. Go out with friends into the city to watch movies or eat at a restaurant.

Maha Amjad
Student Hacker, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences
Pakistan / Pakistan
More about you: Born on 1994, this girl made an entry into a house of four. She went on to excel and outshine her pears in school. She has a keen interest in games, reading and puzzle solving. Given her curiosity of the inner workings of computer devices, she enrolled in a Computer Science degree. She now appreciates the power of coding and has an inclination towards user experience design.
Love to do: Reading and writing.

Khalil Ramadi
Mentor, MIT
USA / USA
More about you: Khalil is the Co-Director of MIT Hacking Medicine, a student group dedicated to enhancing the creation of novel solutions to pressing healthcare problems across the world. MIT Hacking Medicine events have created 30+ companies, and raised $100M+ in seed funding. Khalil is passionate about increasing the translation of fresh ideas and concepts from bench to bedside through research and entrepreneurship. He believes that technology can play a significant role in improving the cost and quality of care provided to patients, affording them a better quality of life. Khalil is currently a PhD student in the Health Science and Technology department at MIT and Harvard Medical school, studying Medical Engineering and Medical Physics. His current project is focused on developing implantable devices for chronic neural drug delivery. Khalil holds a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering from the Pennsylvania State University. Before that, Khalil attended the International School of Choueifat in Alain.
Love to do: Reading, Latin Dancing, Dabke, Sailing, and watching planes!

Stephen Lang
Mentor, Cornell Tech
USA / USA
More about you: Stephen works as a User Experience Designer in New York City. He holds a BFA from Purchase with a concentration in design and is currently working as as the User Experience Designer in Residence at Cornell Tech. He is passionate about the democratization of design, creating collaborative workflows, and building products that connect people. He spends his days searching for balance between utility & pleasure in the tools he helps to build. Over the past few years he has participated in hack-a-thons, start-ups, and agencies working with small to medium sized multi-dicipline teams building websites, apps, products, films, and animations.
Love to do: Climb, ski, hike, bike, sail, etc…

Elissa Mkanna
Student Hacker - American University of Beirut
Lebanon / Lebanon

Manaf
Student Hacker, Shaqraa University
KSA / KSA

Sonia Xu
Student Hacker, MIT Hacking Medicine
USA / USA
Love to do:

Shahan Ali Memon
Student Hacker, Carnegie Mellon University
Pakistan / Qatar
Love to do: Cooking and watching movies.

Vladimir Ilievski
Student Hacker, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Republic of Macedonia / Switzerland
Love to do: Gym, Running, Hiking, Taking Outdoor Scence Photos, Listening Folklore Music

Aysha
Student Hacker, UAEU
UAE / UAE
Love to do: reading book probably

Tamara Tannir
Judge, C3 Consult and Coach for a Cause
Lebanon / UAE
More about you:
Love to do: Traveling, Reading, Gym/Cycling

Radwa Hamed
Student Hacker, The American University in Cairo
Egypt / Egypt
More about you: A double majoring student in Computer Engineering and Electronics Engineering who interned at Google Silicon Valley twice, at Affectiva co. as Machine Learning Intern, UC Berkeley Stardja Dai Lab and Microsoft Advanced Technology Labs. I love coding for a cause and working on entrepreneurial ideas that helps shape the world.
Love to do: Workout

Leanne Dsouza
Student Hacker, The Middlesex University
India / U A E
More about you: I’m a keen hackathon enthusiast and think life is a hackathon. No problems only solutions.
Love to do: Sing, read, bake and sleep

Erin Hoffman
Mentor, University of Washington
USA / USA
More about you: I’m a current PhD student in Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA. HCDE means we study not just the question of how to build things, but also what we should build. We use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to understand the relationship between people and technology. My personal research interest is in understanding how people can be more empowered specifically through informal computer science education. Before starting my PhD I studied Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, USA. While studying I also participated in hackathons as a hacker, volunteer, mentor, and organizer.
Love to do: I love doing artsy and crafty things — knitting, watercolor painting, cross stitch, you name it! Next I want to learn laser cutting

Emmad Arif
Student Hacker, Yale University
Pakistan / United States
More about you: I am a sophomore at Yale, majoring in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and Economics. I write for the Yale Daily News, work as a consultant for the NYC based start-up Citisense, and love problem solving in context of real world problems.
Love to do: Go running, hang out with friends, sleep.

Ken Leland
Mentor, Vydia, Inc.
USA / New Jersey
More about you: Ken Leland is the CTO of Video Tech startup Vydia and former SVP of Engineering at Cloud Telecom Service Provider Monmouth Telecom. Ken holds an MS from Stanford and a BS from Rutgers, both in computer science.
Love to do: Go outside and see the world

Fahmi Al-Najjar
Student Hacker, Princess Sumaya University for Technology
Jordan / Jordan
More about you: I’m a fast learner computer science student with 2 years experience in web development who wants to change the world and solve real-world problems, I’m a Co-Founder & CTO @ GATTAA Tutoring platform (Peer-to-peer tutoring service in MENA region).
Love to do: Reading books

Farah Shamout
Mentor University of Oxford
Jordan / United Kingdom

Param Singh
Student Hacker - National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur
India / India

Sonia Weymuller
Judge, VentureSouq
France / UAE

Shorook Mohamed Saleh
Student Hacker, University of Sharjah
Egypt / Kuwait/UAE

Joyce Zhang
Mentor, Boston Consulting Group
USA / USA
More about you: Joyce Zhang is an MIT engineering graduate and an alumna of the NYUAD Hackathon. She has won awards at several hackathons, including first place at the Singapore Environmental Health Hackathon and second place / Intel & GE Prize at the MIT Healthcare Hackathon. She has also developed drone image recognition software for Engie, France’s largest public utility company, and created an online tutoring platform for MIT-founded startup Rev.com. She currently works at the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm, where she helps Fortune 500 companies solve their business problems.

Kunal Malhotra
Student Hacker, BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus
India / United Arab Emirates
More about you: Student during the day — Hacker during the night, Hackathon Enthusiastic, Big Dream and expensive taste.
Love to do: Sleep

Ahmed Zaid
Student Hacker, Birzeit University
Palestine / Palestine
More about you: I don’t do amazing things but when I do , I don’t 😀
Love to do: Football

Hanan Hadad
Mentor, LYNX VISION
Palestine / UAE
More about you: Art and technology are my passion, I hold an IT-Multimedia bachelor degree, and currently I’m working as graphic designer for LYNX VISION. I’m a press coordinator in ArabWIC UAE Chapter, and a Women Techmakers Lead.
Love to do: Watch a movie

Jessica (Qinmei) Chen
Student Hacker, New York University, Shanghai
China / China
More about you: Jessica Chen is a senior student from New York University, Shanghai, double major in data science and Business & Finance. She has interned at Morgan Stanley and UBS, conducting web programming jobs. She is proficient in Python Programming with Data Analytics Packages including Numpy, Pandas, scikit-learn.
Love to do: Traveling, gourmet-hunting

Khalid Alawar
Student Hacker, KUSTAR
U A E/ U A E
More about you: senior computer engineering student
Love to do: Chill

Varun Arora
Mentor, OpenCurriculum
Oman (Indian passport) / USA
More about you: Varun is an entrepreneur and product builder working at the intersection of education, social change and technology. He uses his core skill sets of engineering, product design, sales and K-12 education on a daily basis to bring a more meaningful improvement in lives of people in underserved markets. Varun is most passionate about improvement in K-12 curriculum and instruction in schools around the world as a means to improving development outcomes through education. He also care deeply about governance & civic participation, social entrepreneurship as a discipline, and poverty.
Love to do: Read education and poverty literature

Naomi Pentrel
Student Hacker, University of Oxford
Germany / United Kingdom
More about you: I am a software engineer with previous work experience from interning at Google, Microsoft, and Palantir Technologies. Recently, I graduated from the University of Oxford and am currently starting my first full time job. In my free time, I am a passionate event organizer and recently organized the magical OxfordHack. As a hackathon enthusiast and regular attendee, I am very engaged with the European hackathon community.
Love to do: Play with my nephew

Sana Odeh
Founder and Chair for NYUAD Hackathon, Professor of CS at NYU New York and Affiliated Faculty at NYUAD. Founder and Chair of the NYUAD Hackathon.
Palestine / USA and UAE

Fahim Dalvi
Mentor, Qatar Computing Research Institute
India / Qatar

Idriss El Ouiqary
Student Hacker, National School of Applied Sciences of Tangier
Morocco / Morocco

Tiffany Tong
Mentor, NYUAD-CTED
USA / UAE

Nizar Habash
Judge, New York University Abu Dhabi
Palestine, USA / UAE
More about you:
Love to do: Work on my art projects.

Marisa Chow
Student Hacker, Princeton University
United States of America / United States of America
More about you: I’m a senior majoring in computer science with a minor in East Asian Studies. I’m passionate about the intersection between computer science and language
Love to do: I doodle and draw cartoons a lot. I also like drinking tea! 😀

Bassem Dghaidy
Mentor, SE Factory
Lebanon / Lebanon

Rashiq Ahmad Zahid
Student Hacker, Technische Universität Berlin
Germany / Germany

Athra Al Khatri
Student Hacker, UAE University
UAE / UAE

Alaa Maarouf
Student Hacker, Lebanese American University
Palestine / Lebanon
More about you: Since childhood, I have been passionate about technology and computers and fascinated with the rapid advancements in technology, which drove me to become a doer rather than just a dreamer, so I decided to pursue a B.E. in Computer Engineering. Because of my high achievements at school, the European Union granted me a full scholarship to study computer engineering at the Lebanese American University. Through my five-year journey in computer engineering, I enriched my knowledge through various major courses and worked on projects that allowed me to utilize my acquired skills and passion to turn ideas into reality. University is not only about courses and exams, but about learning fundamental lifelong skills as well. I participated in various extracurricular activities and volunteering opportunities in parallel with my university courses which developed my soft skills as well.
Love to do: I like to walk in the nature and enjoy its beauty.
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