It is very difficult for the numerous international students at UW, coming from countries with a very different cultures, academics, and people, to adjust here. It becomes even harder without having easy access to correct information about important things such as finances, housing etc. We made a one stop website which students can use to easily get information about important things and adapt well to this new place and system and in turn succeed in their lives!

Learning science is hard: active learning in science class is rare. Few parents are confident teaching their kids at home, and there are minimal opportunities for kids to engage in the science community. Marine Rescue provides a fun way for kids to learn about marine animals and debris through interactive stories and minigames. Players learn research vocabulary and practice contributing to citizen science by classifying real marine debris photos from Washington beaches. Our content was developed following child-centered design and in collaboration with COASST researchers. Marine Rescue has been well-received and is an effective platform for kids to learn science at home.

Our earth is at a critical stage where everyone of us should contribute to protect our land. In the U.S., 28% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by transportation, and 40 million tons of food are wasted every year in the states. LEAF, a web application that offers three main features, would make real differences. Record, analyze, and off-sets your carbon emission. Every step you take to offset your carbon footprint would be resulting in a tree in real life. We hope to build a community for people to do something real to help the environment.

Improving and maintaining our mental wellbeing is a constant uphill battle that is often overlooked. After a difficult year, many are recognizing the importance of mental wellness and the effort needed to maintain it. Research shows that although many are becoming increasingly aware of its importance, few know where to start. For some, reflection can be an important first step. Leafy uses a gamified approach to mental wellness through reflection and journaling. Although everyone approaches their own wellbeing differently, we hope that Leafy will encourage users to be mindful of their mental wellness through journaling and intentional reflection.

Students and parents had to make challenging decisions regarding education during the COVID-19 pandemic. School districts across the US implemented varied school operation plans and the federal government did not create a centralized source for operational statuses at the national level. Data at the state level differs greatly in availability, verbiage, and format. This project aggregates and tracks district-level school operational statuses state-by-state, as well as school-related COVID-19 cases. It accounts for 6,800 out of 10,000 US school districts across 33 states. With this data, K-12 parents and children have a tool to make informed decisions regarding education and health.

Have you ever had the experience that you unlock your phone, scroll through a few pages of the home screen and don’t know what to do or which app you are going to use? This is the gap we are trying to fill in with MIRRO. Thanks to its recommendation algorithm, MIRRO will help you locate your preferred content, music, news, games, shows and faster. What you need to do is telling MIRRO how much time you have, and it will take care of the rest. With MIRRO, great content has never been easier to find!

Portable air cleaners can provide additional protection against the spread of COVID-19 in small businesses, but it’s difficult for business owners to determine if an air cleaner will effectively ventilate their space. PACC is a web application based on research from air quality experts at Harvard University and University of Colorado Boulder that helps users find affordable and effective air cleaners. Sponsored by the Washington State Department of Commerce, our application lessens the burden on small businesses by providing a user-friendly website with a simplistic design. Our tool helps businesses operate safely and protects the health of employees and customers.

With more than 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide, we believe that accessibility is essential and should not be left as an afterthought. Data visualizations are one area where accessibility lags behind. This is especially important for Power BI, a growing platform with over 5 million subscribers. Power BI creators have difficulties building accessible reports due to a lack of accessibility tools & standard guidelines on how to make visualizations accessible. Thus, we developed PowBility: a chrome extension that enables Power BI report creators to design accessible visualizations. PowBility aims to enable everyone to utilize visualizations to their full potential.

With 35,500 species being threatened with extinction around the world, the endangered species crisis is becoming severer each day. By educating high school and college students, they can be the leaders of change needed to protect our ecosystems. Project Perception is a website designed to push these students to learn more about endangered species by engaging in interactive stories that focus on overlooked species in different regions. With this project, we strive to help people realize the urgency of species decline and make sustainable lifestyle changes to positively impact our ecosystems.

A soft skill gap is growing between college grads and future employers, disproportionately affecting first-generation college students. We aim to close this gap by providing two workshops student organizations can use targeting key areas in supporting the growth of student's soft skills. Each workshop can be completed individually or through a cohort and includes pre- and post-lesson exercises, written instructions to complete the lesson, a slide deck, and more.