Winning ideas at Hacks with Friends 2018

By | March 29, 2018

Hacks with Friends, March 1–2, 2018

  • All of the participants at Hacks with Friends 2018 (photo: Joel Iverson)
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We often celebrate the Michigan IT community for its creativity, innovation, and cross-departmental expertise. But there’s one event that truly bears out those claims: Hacks with Friends.

It’s a two-day hackathon where IT pros across U-M come together to form teams, hash out new ideas, and quickly build a prototype. But as famed investor Chris Sacca once said: ideas are cheap, execution is everything. Although many ideas were pitched (see all 26 online), only four were voted into the finals.

“Watching all of the presentations was wonderful,” said Andrew Rosenberg, chief information officer for Michigan Medicine and U-M’s interim vice president for IT and CIO. “The fact that teams can come up with things that work in the time given is remarkable. We are deeply proud to watch our students, staff, and colleagues do this kind of work.”

Rosenberg served as one of three judges alongside Stephen Stefanac, senior associate dean for the School of Dentistry, and M.S. Krishnan, associate dean for executive programs, Accenture professor of computer and information systems, and professor of technology and operations at Michigan Ross.

Here’s an overview of those four teams and their ideas.

First place: MPressive Support (team 2)

MPressive Support created a cloud-based reporting system that could be used on campus to report audiovisual problems with the push of a button. They used an Amazon Dash button to trigger an event in U-M ServiceLink, share location, and request help ASAP.

Team MemberDepartmentRole
Greg BennITS – Service MgtServiceNow Coding
Will BurnsITS – EIS Mobile/WebHack Presenter
Matthew ChessITS – InfrastructureAWS
Brian CorsITS – InfrastructureHack Coordinator
Brian HobbsITS – Service MgtServiceNow Coding
Steven KolasaITS – InfrastructureAWS
Jeff KopmanisITS – MiWorkspaceIoT Button Coding
John SimpkinsITS – InfrastructureIoT/WiFi Assistance
Aaron StarkITS – eReasearchSlack Integration
Chris StockbridgeLSA – Research SupportIoT Button Coding

Second place: Incentivize Spirometry (team 9)

Incentivize Spirometry created a way to do just that: They 3D-printed a base with embedded hardware sensors that attaches to an incentive spirometer (IS). It transmits real-time data to a Unity-based videogame designed to incentivize proper use of the device.

Team MemberDepartmentRole
Shawki AtassiLSA CS (student)Game Design
Paul BiglerDART, EAS-ITSIntegration
Michael BurnsAnesthesiology, MPOGGame Design
Mikele GarrettAnesthesiologyHardware
Jay JeongAnesthesiology, MPOGIntegration
Tomas MedinaAnesthesiology, Office of ResearchGame Design
Luke PalnauOffice of University DevelopmentIntegration
Abbey RoelofsLSA, ITGame Design
Anik SinhaAnesthesiology, MPOGHardware
Sheetal SonarDART, EAS- ITSIntegration
Nancy WatersSPECS, Office of University DevelopmentGame Design
Amanda WrightHealth Information Technology ServicesGame Design

Third place: Stroke Alert (team 18)

Stroke Alert imagined an app that uses facial recognition to detect a stroke before the patient is aware of symptoms. It would compare facial symmetry to a baseline photo, then alert the patient to the likelihood of stroke and provide emergency info.

Team MemberDepartmentRole
Ajitha DevarajanOffice of University DevelopmentBrainstormer, developer
Charlene EagleITS Strategy and PlanningBrainstormer, analyst, user experience
Ben IbachHITS MiChartBrainstormer, user experience
Gloria KimMichigan MedicineProject manager
Ramya KommareddiOffice of University DevelopmentBrainstormer, developer
Dan McClenaghanHITS Desktop SupportBrainstormer, designer

Fourth place: Enterprise apps (team 22)

The enterprise apps team built a tool that inventories ITS enterprise applications and visualizes relationships between them. The diagram highlights dependencies between applications, helping to evaluate their eligibility to move to the cloud.

Team MemberDepartmentRole
Mandie ChapmanInformation QuestAnalyst
Jeff JenkinsInformation QuestDeveloper
Amber MaddenInfrastructure SystemThe Glue
Mark McManamayEnterprise Application SystemsDeveloper
Chris RowlandInformation QuestDeveloper
Michael SheppardInformation QuestThe Glue
Brandon SwickerathSystems SupportDeveloper
Leticia ValdezInformation QuestDeveloper