Hackathon 2017 Winners

 

 

1st Place: Hiat حياة

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)

Code and Presentation

 


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)

Code and Presentation

 


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)

Code and Presentation

 


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)

Code and Presentation

 


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)

Code and Presentation

 


 

Meet the 2017 Hackers

Omar Einea

Omar Einea

Student Hacker, University of Sharjah

Country (origin/residency):
United States of America / United Arab Emirates
Good at: Full Stack Web Development and Android Apps Development
More about you: I grew up in Syria and came to study in University of Sharjah, I love Programming and Graphics design so I choose to study IT – Multimedia.
Love to do: Read a book or listen to a lecture
Arnaud Sahuguet

Arnaud Sahuguet

Judge, Cornell Tech

Country (origin/residency):
France / USA
Good at: Product design
More about you: Sure
Love to do: Reading books
 Diala Alabsi

Diala Alabsi

Mentor, University of Sharjah

Country (origin/residency):
Syria / United Arab Emirates
Good atI’m a Character Artist
More about you: I have a B.Sc in Computer Science, majored in IT-Multimedia. I’m a passionate artist, creative designer and a geek when it comes to programming. My Ambition is to be a successful role model for women, i dream of a world of equity and justice.
Love to do: Draw
Zakaria Belkham

Zakaria Belkham

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

Country (origin/residency):
Algeria / Algeria
Good atHardware programming (PIC/Arduino), IOT and machine learning
More about you:
Love to do: I like to watch documentaries, movies, practice sports and get to know people in the real life.
Osama Hasan

Osama Hasan

Student Hacker, AlHosn University

Country (origin/residency):
Syria / United Arab Emirates
Good atEureka Moments
More about you: 4th Year Software Engineering Student at ALHOSN University  
Love to do: Fix the internet to go online
Fabricio Pontes Harsich

Fabricio Pontes Harsich

Mentor, Google Inc

Country (origin/residency):
Argentina / USA
Good at I love dogs
More about you: Software Engineer at Google NYC. Visit http://fabricioph.com to learn more!
Love to do: Extreme sports
Jaisal Friedman

Jaisal Friedman

Student Hacker, NYUAD

Country (origin/residency):
United States of America / Singapore
Good at Ideas! (At least I think)
More about you:  I am a half indian and half Jewish. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia in the US. I grew up in Atlanta, Chennai, India, and Jakarta, Indonesia.
Love to do: Bike, snowboard, surf, read, photography
Yassmeen Mohamed

Yassmeen Mohamed

Mentor, Mintrics

Country (origin/residency):
Egypt / Egypt
Good at Getting things done, research and problem solving
More about you:  I’ve a technical background with hands-on experience with management and developed a deep business sense along the way. I love building innovative products and solving challenging problems.
Love to do: I paint and do handicrafts, check my portfolio (https://www.pinterest.com/yassmeen/my-work/)
Razan Qraini

Razan Qraini

Mentor, WebTeb

Country (origin/residency):
Palestine / Palestine
Good at Android apps development
More about you:  Passionate Java and Android developer. Tech savvy female with digital DNA. ArabWIC Ambassador (Palestine Chapter). Android Trainer. Interested in digital marketing and women empowerment.
Love to do: Reading, cooking
Samridha Man Shrestha

Samridha Man Shrestha

Student Hacker, NYUAD

Country (origin/residency):
Nepal / United Arab Emirates
Good at: I like to tackle multiple projects at a time. I took up several internships and assistants at the university at the same time. I undertook software development projects from the Physics department in the Experimental Research Building to build a cosmic ray tracking software. I like to work outside the classroom more than inside the classroom. I do not just like to completely dedicate myself to academics.
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

Maha Amjad

Student Hacker, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences

Country (origin/residency):
Pakistan / Pakistan
Good at: Coordinating with people, smart work, time management and multi tasking
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

Khalil Ramadi

Mentor, MIT

Country (origin/residency):
USA / USA
Good at: Troubleshooting and breaking down a problem
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

Stephen Lang

Mentor, Cornell Tech

Country (origin/residency):
USA / USA
Good at: Animation
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

Elissa Mkanna

Student Hacker - American University of Beirut

Country (origin/residency):
Lebanon / Lebanon
Good at: Public speaking
More about you: I’m a Lebanese CS senior student and a software development part-timer. I love to write clean code and proper documentation. I like all sciences and enjoy reading about the latest breakthroughs in all the scientific fields. I’m constantly looking to improve my skills and broaden my experience as much as possible.
Love to do: I love to sing
 Manaf

Manaf

Student Hacker, Shaqraa University

Country (origin/residency):
KSA / KSA
Good at: Programming
More about you: Programmer, Information Security Specialist, Hacker
Love to do: Complete the built idea
Sonia Xu

Sonia Xu

Student Hacker, MIT Hacking Medicine

Country (origin/residency):
USA / USA
Good at: Designing healthcare solutions to empower those in need
More about you: A life-long Bostonian, my background and interests lie in the intersection of biological sciences, innovative technologies, and public and global health. I am also a member of the student group MIT Hacking Medicine, that develops innovation techniques to inspire communities to tackle the most challenging pain points in healthcare.

Love to do:

I love dancing, reading, and expanding my culinary skills/palette


Shahan Ali Memon

Shahan Ali Memon

Student Hacker, Carnegie Mellon University

Country (origin/residency):
Pakistan / Qatar
Good at:
More about you: A tartan – Carnegie Mellon SCS Class of 2017 with interests in Machine Learning, Text Processing and Social Computing. I like to blog and brag about my travel stories. I am a potter-head and like to collect coins and key chains. In my free time I like to cook.
Love to do:
Cooking and watching movies.


Vladimir Ilievski

Vladimir Ilievski

Student Hacker, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Country (origin/residency):
Republic of Macedonia / Switzerland
Good at: Machine Learning, Data Science, Big Data, but I can do Web Programming too
More about you: Vladimir Ilievski was born in Veles, Republic of Macedonia in 1992. While his secondary education he attended mathematical competitions, in which he was awarded with a bronze medals on the Macedonian Mathematical Olympiad. He obtained a Bachelor degree in Computer Sciences in 2015 at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering in Skopje, Macedonia. During his undergraduate studies, he did an internship at CERN. Currently, he is pursuing his Masters degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland in the field of Machine Learning and Intelligence. In parallel he was working as a Research Scholar in one of the faculty’s labs. Contact him at: ilievski.vladimir@live.com
Love to do:
Gym, Running, Hiking, Taking Outdoor Scence Photos, Listening Folklore Music


 Aysha

Aysha

Student Hacker, UAEU

Country (origin/residency):
UAE / UAE
Good at
More about you
Love to do
reading book probably


 Tamara Tannir

Tamara Tannir

Judge, C3 Consult and Coach for a Cause

Country (origin/residency):
Lebanon / UAE
Good at

More about you:

A humanitarian within the corporate world. Studied and pursued a career in finance, but in parallel I’ve volunteered and carried out various initiatives mainly focused on education for underprivileged people. I would like to continuously challenge the ideology that if you are a corporate oriented person, you cannot be a humanitarian. I love traveling and believe that there is nothing more important than connecting with people and establishing genuine and meaningful relationships.

Love to doTraveling, Reading, Gym/Cycling


Radwa Hamed

Radwa Hamed

Student Hacker, The American University in Cairo

Country (origin/residency):
Egypt / Egypt
Good at:  Imagining stuff into reality
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

Leanne Dsouza

Student Hacker, The Middlesex University

Country (origin/residency):
India / U A E
Good at: Mainly into Web Development and Android. I’m also a Graphic Designer.
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

Erin Hoffman

Mentor, University of Washington

Country (origin/residency):
USA / USA
Good at: My secret power is reading and interpreting error messages. I have spent hundreds of hours as a TA and tutor so I have lots of experience helping people figure out why their code isn’t working!
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

Emmad Arif

Student Hacker, Yale University

Country (origin/residency):
Pakistan / United States
Good at Learning languages
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

Ken Leland

Mentor, Vydia, Inc.

Country (origin/residency):
USA / New Jersey
Good at Minimal Viable Products
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

Fahmi Al-Najjar

Student Hacker, Princess Sumaya University for Technology

Country (origin/residency):
Jordan / Jordan
Good at Backend Development
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

Farah Shamout

Mentor University of Oxford

Country (origin/residency):
Jordan / United Kingdom
Good at: multitasking
More about you: Farah Shamout is currently reading for her DPhil in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford as a UAE Rhodes Scholar. Before joining Oxford, Farah completed her BSc in Computer Engineering at New York University Abu Dhabi. Her present work focuses on creating a hospital wide alerting system that provides real-time assessments of patients based on big data and machine learning methods. Farah is particularly interested in the interaction of health and wellbeing and technology, women entrepreneurship and our future with artificial intelligence.
Love to do: go for a run!
Param Singh

Param Singh

Student Hacker - National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur

Country (origin/residency):
India / India
Good at: Breaking things and being clumsy
More about you: I’m Param Singh, a Computer Science student at NITH. I write code, listen to music, play chess and reddit.
Love to do: Mostly eat and sleep.
Sonia Weymuller

Sonia Weymuller

Judge, VentureSouq

Country (origin/residency):
France / UAE
Good at: I am a human router
More about you: Sonia is a Founding Partner of VentureSouq. Previously, she headed Advertising Sales for Turner Broadcasting’s portfolio of children’s platforms across MENA and Africa. Prior to Turner, Sonia worked with Viacom’s Emerging Markets’ Strategy Group and Microsoft’s Strategy and M&A team in London. Sonia holds a B.A. from Yale University and a MSc from the London School of Economics. She is a Charter Member for The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Dubai chapter, serves as the UAE Director for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee, is an active Committee member and mentor at e7 Daughters of the Emirates and an advisor to Air Shepherd.
Love to do:Life life
Shorook Mohamed Saleh

Shorook Mohamed Saleh

Student Hacker, University of Sharjah

Country (origin/residency):
Egypt / Kuwait/UAE
Good at: Befriending people at the speed of light,
More about you: I’m usually called by my friends a social butterfly cause I have too many different social circles. I’m also a “Jack of all trades, master of none”, I can easily pick up new hobbies or find new interests but I rather know at least one thing about everything than become a master of only one. It’s good to be specialised in something but I’m still trying to find my passion!
Love to do: Playing on my guitar and singing, Drawing, Reading, watching Japanese verity shows animation and learning the language.
Joyce Zhang

Joyce Zhang

Mentor, Boston Consulting Group

Country (origin/residency):
USA / USA
Good at: Giving elevator pitches

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.

Love to do: Watch live music



 Kunal Malhotra

Kunal Malhotra

Student Hacker, BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus

Country (origin/residency):
India / United Arab Emirates
Good at: I can turn pizza and coffee in code and a good conversation
More about you: Student during the day — Hacker during the night, Hackathon Enthusiastic, Big Dream and expensive taste.
Love to do: Sleep


 Ahmed Zaid

Ahmed Zaid

Student Hacker, Birzeit University

Country (origin/residency):
Palestine / Palestine
Good at: Watching Movies
More about you: I don’t do amazing things but when I do , I don’t 😀
Love to do: Football


Hanan Hadad

Hanan Hadad

Mentor, LYNX VISION

Country (origin/residency):
Palestine / UAE
Good at: Painting
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

Jessica (Qinmei) Chen

Student Hacker, New York University, Shanghai

Country (origin/residency):
China / China
Good at: web-programming, data-analytics
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

Khalid Alawar

Student Hacker, KUSTAR

Country (origin/residency):
U A E/ U A E
Good at: making things happen
More about you: senior computer engineering student
Love to do Chill
Varun Arora

Varun Arora

Mentor, OpenCurriculum

Country (origin/residency):
Oman (Indian passport) / USA
Good at: Making animated videos
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

Naomi Pentrel

Student Hacker, University of Oxford

Country (origin/residency):
Germany / United Kingdom
Good at: Python
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

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.

Country (origin/residency):
Palestine / USA and UAE
Good at: Research, Teaching, Organizing and leading CS International collaboration for Social good and Passionate about Women in Computing.
More about you: Professor Sana Odeh, is a Clinical Professor, and Faculty Liaison for Global Programs of Computer Science at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, and an Affiliated Faculty of Computer Science, New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). A proponent of women in technology, Professor Odeh is the founder and chair of the NYUAD Conference on Women in Computing in the Arab world (held in Abu Dhabi during Spring 2012, 2013, and 2015), founder and chair of the Arab Women in Computing (arabwic.org), founder and chair of the Annual NYU Abu Dhabi International Hackathon for the Social Good in the Arab World, and chair of the annual New York City Girls Computer Science and Engineering Conference (sponsored by Google, NYU’s Courant Women in Computing (WinC) and Princeton University Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE). Professor Odeh is also the faculty advisor for NYU’s Courant Women in Computing (WinC) at NYU NY. She is also a member of the leadership committee of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC), the world’s largest conference for women technologists, and also a member of the steering committee of the Association for Computing Machinery Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W). She is also an Affiliated Faculty of Computer Science at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) where she spent three years (from 2010 to 2013) setting up the Computer Science department at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and also created successful international collaboration projects in Computer Science. Her research focus is Programming Languages and Web and Mobile Technologies, Developing information technologies for the developing world, E-Learning, and Arab Women in Computing.
Love to do: Hang out with friends, walk aimlessly, eat, watch movies, and read.
Fahim Dalvi

Fahim Dalvi

Mentor, Qatar Computing Research Institute

Country (origin/residency):
India / Qatar
Good at: Learning a new skill completely from scratch quickly enough for most emergency situations!
More about you: Software Engineer and Researcher at Qatar Computing Research Institute, working on applying Deep Learning for Arabic Language Technologies! Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon and Stanford, with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence.
Love to do: Swimming, Cycling, Star gazing
 Idriss El Ouiqary

Idriss El Ouiqary

Student Hacker, National School of Applied Sciences of Tangier

Country (origin/residency):
Morocco / Morocco
Good at: my secret power is that i can combine between management and leadership
More about you: a 22 years old enthousiastic engineering student ready for any challenge to shape the future
Love to do: learning new things about business management
 Tiffany Tong

Tiffany Tong

Mentor, NYUAD-CTED

Country (origin/residency):
USA / UAE
Good at: Connecting people
More about you: Tiffany is a researcher and project coordinator with NYUAD’s Center for Technology and Economic Development. She is passionate about the development and implementation of technologies that can solve some of society’s most fundamental challenges. Her current work is centered on the development of mobile Android apps that can be used to crowdsource economic data from farmers in Ghana. Tiffany brings a global perspective and human-centered design approach to her work, and enjoys using insights from her extensive field experiences to make good ideas great. She has been involved in nearly all stages of the product life-cycle and is comfortable wearing many “hats.” Prior to CTED, her PhD research focused on inter-disciplinary solutions to challenges of energy access and rural electrification in sub-Saharan Africa. Tiffany is originally from the US and has lived and worked in the UAE for nearly 5 years. She enjoys music, photography, and travel on the side.
Love to do: Explore new places off the beaten track
 Nizar Habash

Nizar Habash

Judge, New York University Abu Dhabi

Country (origin/residency):
Palestine, USA / UAE
Good at: computational linguistics / natural language processing

More about you:

More about you: Nizar Habash is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Professor Habash specializes in natural language processing and computational linguistics. Before joining NYUAD, he was a research scientist at Columbia University’s Center for Computational Learning Systems. His research includes extensive work on machine translation, morphological analysis, and computational modeling of Arabic and its dialects. Professor Habash has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on over 20 grants. And he has over 150 publications including a book entitled “Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing”.

Love to do: Work on my art projects.

 Marisa Chow

Marisa Chow

Student Hacker, Princeton University

Country (origin/residency):
United States of America / United States of America
Good at: Ping pong!
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

Bassem Dghaidy

Mentor, SE Factory

Country (origin/residency):
Lebanon / Lebanon
Good at Problem Solving
More about you:  Night owl, tinkerer, polyglot developer, science and art enthusiast
Love to do: Playing the electric guitar, oil painting, reading, record shuffling, mountain biking
Rashiq Ahmad Zahid

Rashiq Ahmad Zahid

Student Hacker, Technische Universität Berlin

Country (origin/residency):
Germany / Germany
Good at Android Development
More about you:  Android Developer. Previously interned @Microsoft @Wunderlist @Sunrise @KAYAK, soon at @Yelp
Love to do: go online
Athra Al Khatri

Athra Al Khatri

Student Hacker, UAE University

Country (origin/residency):
UAE / UAE
Good at Baking 😉
More about you: 
Love to do: I am never off the line
 Alaa Maarouf

Alaa Maarouf

Student Hacker, Lebanese American University

Country (origin/residency):
Palestine / Lebanon
Good at: I am very good at adapting to new environments fast.
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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