NYUAD International Hackathon for Social Good

Quantum Computing and UN Sustainable Development Goals

2024 WINNERS

1st Place & Audience Award

QGasBusters | كاشف الغاز (Team 20)

QGasBusters protects critical infrastructure by instantly detecting pipeline anomalies, and optimally allocating emergency resources using Quantum Sensing & Machine Learning.

Students

  • Mateo Stipanicic, Junior, Universidad de Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Sarah Marya Mitiche, Masters, University of Essex, UK
  • Federico Fuidio, Senior, Universidad de Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Mehak Mehak, Masters, Raman Research Institute, India
  • Rustem Khassanov, NYUAD, UAE
  • Tamara Hamad, Sophomore, Ajman University, UAE

Mentors

  • Alberto Marchisio, Postdoctoral researcher, NYUAD, UAE
  • Elias Xaver Huber, Yenching Scholar, Peking University, Switzerland
  • Priya Aswani, Independent Consultant, UAE

“Hackathons: where teamwork fuels innovation toward achieving SDG goals” ~ Tamara M. T Hamad

“Brilliant midns joining forces to solve problems and shape the future of quantum computing is an invaluable experience” ~ Alberto Marchisio

2nd Place & SDG Award

QMarjan | كمرجان (Team 17)

QMarjan helps identify optimal spots to achieve the highest coral restoration with limited resources.

Students

  • Agustín Panizza, Senior, Universidad de Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Corey Ferrier, MIT, USA
  • Obada Abdallat, Junior, Applied Science Private University, Jordan
  • Sojood Jamoos, Senior, An-Najah National University, Palestine
  • Reem Abu Hasna, Senior, Ajman University, UAE
  • Basil Ahmed Qureshi, NYUAD, UAE
  • Aknur Kassym, NYUAD, UAE
  • Md Hasibur Rahman, NYUAD, UAE

Mentors

  • Mohammed Alkhanafseh, Assistant Professor in Computer Science (Cyber Security), Birzeit University, Palestine
  • Sama Kanbour, GE Aerospace, USA
  • Hayk Sargsyan, Senior Software Engineer, TII

“It was an enlightening experience! I loved working with ambitious like-minded people from around the world to contribute to the solution of global problems.” ~ Aknur Kassym

“In 3 days, the team worked together to identify a problem worth solving they felt personally passionate about, and had a chance to learn, apply and teach one another new tools and frameworks, from Quantum, ML, data visualization, storytelling, and business strategy, allowing them to build and practice new skills.” ~ Sama Kanbour

3rd Place

aQua | نقاء (Team 15)

Using Quantum Simulations to Identify how to remove harmful PFAS molecules from water supplies to make them drinkable

Students

  • Yahia Abdeldjalil Benyahia, Junior, Bouira University, Algeria
  • Ameera Saeed, Junior, Ajman University, UAE
  • Sama Hassane
  • Andrew Juang, Junior, Boston University, USA
  • Mohammad Aker, Senior, An-Najah National University, Palestine
  • Yassine Abbahaddou, PhD Student, Ecole Polytechnique | Visiting scholar, New York University, USA
  • Ines Manel Boumazouza, Senior, Higher national School of computer science ESI, Algeria

Mentors

  • Mohammad Aamir Sohail, Ph.D. Student, University of Michigan, USA
  • Mamoun Abu Helou, Dr./ Head of Data Science Department, Al-Istiqlal University, Palestine
  • Omar Al – Khazali, Student, American University of Sharjah, UAE
  • Lalit Pradhan, PhD, Applied Scientist – NLP, Core42

“An international collaboration between brilliant young minds that want to help people in the most impactful way” ~ Omar Al Khazali