2024 Award Winners
This Award honors the project who has most effectively demonstrated: (1) the relevance of the problem they are trying to solve; (2) the originality of their proposed solution; (3) and the potential and applicability of their project’s impact.
HABit
Tia Faye Pappas, Shannon Ling, Isabella A Anne Otterson, Ryan Miles Beam, Michid Byambajav, Kelly Tsai
This Award honors the project who has most effectively demonstrated: (1) the relevance of the problem they are trying to solve; (2) the originality of their proposed solution; (3) and the potential and applicability of their project’s impact.
UCSF Living Kidney Donor Program: Medical Privacy Tote
Darleene Nguyen, Sophie Young, Akhil Venkatesh, Jasmine Taylor Mah, Rachel Minh Anh Pham
This award honors the project team who has exemplified the mission of the fellowship “by advancing impactful solutions to solve real world challenges through innovation, technology, and inclusive collaboration across communities.
Birth by Us (BBU) Doula Integration
Ana Hernandez Vega, Christine Mazzi, Alimat Omolola
This award honors the project team who has exemplified the mission of the fellowship “by advancing impactful solutions to solve real world challenges through innovation, technology, and inclusive collaboration across communities,
BlueEndROV
Eliza Coleto, Daniella Asturias, Aishi Gulati, Faith Miller, Sophie Simon
Conservation Track
Team: Eliza Coleto [Bioengineering], Daniella Asturias [Integrative Biology], Aishi Gulati [Economics and Data Science], Faith Miller [Molecular & Environmental Biology and Data Science], Sophie Simon [Conservation & Resource Studies]
Industry Partner(s): Blue Endeavors – Vince Smith
BlueEndROV seeks to combat a lack of standardization and accessibility in underwater survey protocols for both occupational and community field scientists. BlueEndROV enhances existing hardware technology in ROVs/DPVs, utilizes data analysis and computer vision for underwater object detection and 3D photogrammetry, and develops an open-source ROV/DPV specification and methodology for underwater surveys. As a result, we hope to break down the global barrier to underwater data by effectively collaborating with front line researchers, conservationists, and policy makers to make impactful marine solutions.
Team: Catherine Yeh [Cognitive Science and Conservation & Resource Studies], Michelle Hom [Economics], Raya Salah [Data Science]
Industry Partner(s): The Earth Genome – Glen Low
DroughtGuard endeavors to enhance California’s current drought monitoring system, aiming to provide decision makers with a more comprehensive understanding of drought consequences. Collaborating with Glen Low from the Earth Genome, we conducted interviews with experts and designers in the water management field to pinpoint the challenges associated with conveying drought risks. In our prototype, we carefully curated a selection of key indicators influencing drought consequences, categorizing them into three primary areas: the natural environment, agriculture, and community impact. By visually representing drought consequences across California’s regions, DroughtGuard bridges the gap between perception and reality, empowering decision makers to formulate more informed policies regarding resource allocation and drought prevention.
Team: Tia Pappas [Environmental Economics & Policy and Environmental Science], Shannon Ling [Environmental Economics & Policy], Bella Otterson [Computer Science], Ryan Beam [Conservation & Resource Studies], Michid Byambajav [Environmental Economics & Policy and Conservation & Resource Studies], Kelly Tsai [Industrial Engineering & Operations Research and Business Administration]
Industry Partner(s): Planet – Joe Mascaro
We’ve teamed up with Planet Labs, a leading provider of daily satellite imagery, to monitor and detect algal blooms in the San Francisco Bay. Algal blooms are rapid increases in the population of algae in aquatic systems, often leading to harmful effects on human and environmental health. Despite these dangers, public awareness in California remains low, with inconsistent monitoring and alert procedures that are primarily conducted manually. To bridge this gap, we’ve developed an API using validated Planet data that provides the public convenient access to up-to-date harmful algal bloom (HAB) warnings. We’ve modeled what this tool looks like integrated into various platforms, such as Google Maps and the Weather app, ensuring the public has easy access to crucial information for their safety
Team: Mareesa Islam [Molecular & Environmental Biology], Rokshana Bushra [Cognitive Science], Shreya Chaudhuri [Environmental Science and Geography]
Industry Partner(s): African Bush Camps Foundation – Koinonia Baloyi
We are working with the African Bush Camps Foundation to design and develop a lion deterrence system to protect the livestock and households of a community in Mola, Zimbabwe. In order to protect both the communities’ livestock and lions from retaliation killings, we have decided to build a solar powered light device in which mimics human activity and dissuades lions from approaching or attacking. Our hopes are that this prototype will also address current drawbacks and weaknesses of similar existing products.
Health Track
Team: Ana Hernandez Vega [Public Health and Data Science], Noemi Franco [Public Health and Child Development], Christine Mazzi [Public Health], Alimat Omolola [Public Health]
Industry Partner(s): Birth By Us
The primary objective of the Birth By Us (BBU) Doula Integration project is to improve the existing platform by incorporating a dedicated feature to connect individuals in the BBU birthing community with experienced doulas/doula organizations. The goal of BBU is to empower women of color to shape their own birthing experience, fostering a sense of control and support throughout the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey. Additionally, the integration seeks to provide valuable insights to healthcare providers and hospital systems, ultimately working towards reducing preventable maternal deaths and complications.
Team: Ashley Huerta [Public Health], Tiffany Ho [Psychology and Cognitive Science], Divya Jindal [Computer Science and Data Science], Tsing Miller [Social Welfare], Daisy Ohajunwa [Data Science]
Industry Partner(s): Flourish – Xuan Zhao
Our team collaborates with Flourish to explore the obstacles associated with monitoring student well-being and to gain insights into how the app could be improved to better serve the student community. Flourish, a public benefit startup established by Stanford behavioral scientists, aims to enhance mental health resources. As Fung fellows, we are bringing value to the Flourish initiative by offering comprehensive user insights from UC Berkeley students and developing prototypes of potential enhancements to the Flourish app for optimal usability.
Team: Shine Lee [Cognitive Science], Emily Tu [Public Health and Data Science], Sabrina Baur [Cognitive Science]
Industry Partner(s): Goji Play – Tiffany Tao
Game Breaks @ Cal is a pilot study understanding the experience of Blue Goji’s gamified exercise bikes on college students with a focus on assessing the improvement of mental wellbeing. We conducted multiple iterations of mental assessments surveys and interviews in MLK Student Union, our goal being to recommend a design for long-term implementation on campus. At the end of the semester testing period, we report our quantitative and qualitative findings on the impact of the bikes.
Team: Jiyeon Suh [Molecular & Cell Biology], Jessica Lin [EECS and Bioengineering], Pooja Mehta [Bioengineering], Will Choi [Molecular & Cell Biology], Sheila Mercado [Conservation & Resources]
Industry Partner(s): MindCo – Cristian Waitman
Our project integrates virtual reality (VR) technology, telehealth, and physical prototypes to transform pain management for oncology patients. We aim to provide personalized VR simulations and physical tools that offer therapeutic activities and distraction techniques tailored to individual needs. We strive to make a meaningful impact on the lives of oncology patients by offering innovative and empathetic pain relief solutions.
Team: Rianna Escobar [Nutritional Science], Jenny Trinh [Cognitive Science], Daira Rivera [Political Science]
Industry Partner(s): Euki – Ana Ramirez
Our project is to conduct user testing regarding a new abortion care feature on Euki, a period tracking app. We have interviewed POC freshmen to see if the feature is helpful to the younger population as they may not have in-depth knowledge regarding abortion services. Given this situation is highly sensitive and has a time constraint, we are working with Euki to improve the usability of the feature to better the user experience when looking for abortion care services.
Team: Tom Lam [Data Science], Veda Garg [IEOR], Reese Tran [Economics], Ishita Srivastava [Molecular & Cell Biology]
Industry Partner(s): Spect – Michael Leung
Spect is making eye scanning more accessible for patients with diabetes by providing the device at family physician clinics. Our solution detects potential issue for patients during their yearly check up beyond just standard procedures. Our product integrates into the MA workflow with a phone like device contains special camera for scanning with an orthodontist on the other side of the call for guidance.
Team: Darleene Nguyen [Molecular & Cell Biology and Public Health], Sophia Young [Cognitive Science], Akhil Venkatesh [Data Science and Economics], Jasmine Mah [Sociology], Rachel Pham [Psychology]
Industry Partner(s): UCSF Living Kidney Donor Program
Our team is tackling the challenge of encouraging living organ donation at UCSF by making the experience more humanizing and accessible. In the living donor journey, we identified a need to make the 24-hour urine screening process more discrete, convenient, and supportive for those who choose to volunteer their time to be a part of our program. As a result, we created a medical privacy tote to aid donors in their LabCorps testing processes.
Team: Kiaramae Sierte [Molecular & Environmental Biology], Karrar Alrubaye [Molecular & Cell Biology], Andrea Alfaro [Electrical Engineering & Computer Science]
Industry Partner(s): Welfie – Dr. Steven Moyo
In collaboration with our project partner Welfie, we mitigate issues youth face when addressing mental health through a mobile application. Our innovative solution to this expanding problem includes developing a gamification feature, as youth will complete mental health challenges in exchange for points. Through utilizing gamification, we aim to increase user engagement, learning, and encourage healthy outcomes within users.
