ADVERTISEMENTs
Indian-origin students win top award at UN hackathon
Mumbai-born students at George Washington University develop geospatial tool to assess the impact of natural disasters.
-
1749497506.png)
Malvika Choudhary - Fri, 12, Sep 2025
- 14:58 EDT
- 15
Dhairya Shah and Anket Patil / GW Engineering
Two Indian-origin graduate students won top honors at the United Nations’ global hackathon series, UN Tech Over, held during the 2025 UN Open Source Week in New York City.
Dhairya Shah and Anket Patil, computer science students from The George Washington University's School of Engineering and Applied Science, were awarded the Best Overall prize for their project in the "Ahead of the Storm: Open Geospatial Analytics for Children-Centric Climate Emergency Response" event.
Also Read: Stanford’s Dr. Nirav Shah joins Ohio health-tech firm
The challenge required participants to design scalable solutions for disaster preparedness, with a focus on protecting children and vulnerable populations. Patil explained that their tool enables policymakers to assess the impact of natural disasters by analyzing schools, hospitals, terrain, and water bodies in affected areas.
Using data from Bangladesh, the students demonstrated how the model could be applied globally to assist the UN and governments in making timely decisions for children’s safety.
Shah said the success of their project lay in demonstrating its real-world impact. “Everybody will develop a tool, but it’s all about how you can demonstrate to the judges that it will have the desired impact. If someone can resonate with the impact of using your tool, then your product will stand out,” he said.
The two-day hackathon brought together more than 200 innovators worldwide. Shah and Patil had previously collaborated at George Hacks’ Innovation Hackathon in 2024, where they won in the health, education, and equality track. Guided by a mentor from that event, they entered the UN competition on the global stage.
Shah is pursuing a master of science in computer science at GW, where he also works as a graduate teaching assistant in machine learning. He has prior experience as a software developer at Empyron Solutions and Totem Interactive, and as a frontend development intern at the University of Texas at Dallas. He earned his bachelor of technology degree in information technology from K. J. Somaiya Institute of Technology, Mumbai, with an honors specialization in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Patil is also pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at GW, specializing in full-stack web development with expertise in the MERN stack and databases. He has interned at Edu.io as a software development engineer and at Carniq Technologies, where he worked on database design and backend modules. He graduated with distinction in information technology from K. J. Somaiya Institute of Technology in 2024.
Related
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
E Paper
ADVERTISEMENT
.jpg)
Video
Comments
Start the conversation
Become a member of New India Abroad to start commenting.
Sign Up Now
Already have an account? Login