An ACM and Xorbix project
Earlier this October, ACM and Xorbix Technologies collaborated to host a week-long Hackathon event at the University of Iowa. During this event, Computer Science students turned their bright ideas into functioning projects—and competed for cash prizes.
Xorbix Technologies is a software development and IT solutions company that specializes in artificial intelligence and data analytics. Ben Schmirler, Director of Data and AI at Xorbix, visited the University of Iowa to supervise the Hackathon with the University’s chapter of ACM (the Association for Computing Machinery).
Schmirler is a former student of University of Iowa Professor Erik Krohn, when Krohn used to teach at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. Now, Schmirler and Professor Krohn have worked together to bring technical discussions, interviews, and events like the Hackathon to students at the University of Iowa.
Hackathon details
Ben Schmirler and Xorbix Technologies brought a challenge to University of Iowa ACM students: Given a network of chiropractic clinics that are quietly losing money, can you build software with DataBricks that turns this data into savings?
DataBricks is an American data software company that develops a platform for building apps, running projects, and training agentic artificial intelligence on data. Major industry titans, newcomers to the field, and students who want to learn more all use DataBricks.
Students who participated in the Hackathon formed teams of two or worked by themselves. They had one week to build a functioning project with DataBricks and evaluate its performance with test data.
When the final day came, each team presented their project to a board of judges, which included ACM executives, Professor Erik Krohn, and Ben Schmirler. By the end of the night, the top three projects were chosen. The awards promised to these winning teams were $500, $300, and $200.
Who participated in the Hackathon?
The following teams spent one week crafting their projects for the final showcase—and a shot at the prize. Their projects ranged from harnessing artificial intelligence agents to highlight potential return-callers, to optimizing resources and treatment plans in clinics.
Eyad Ali and Sahleh Al-Herz
Mike Zeng and Steve Zeng
Gido Thompson and Erick Ford
Hayden Gamble and Eva Singh
Biswash Bhattarai and Pranjal Paudel
Ibrahim Osman and Cooper Scott
Mohamed Reda Naanaa
Nathan O'Hare and Erick Patricio
Toqir Mir and Heath Lane
Patrick Touhy and Tommy Le
What were the winning projects?
After watching all the team’s presentations and carefully considering their projects, the judges decided who would win the top three places. They took into account the teams’ use of DataBricks, the projects’ applications to real business data, and how the teams efficiently built their products.
Here are the winners and their own project descriptions:
3rd Place - $200
CLINIC-COPILOT by Steve Zeng and Mike Zeng.
Managing a private chiropractic clinic often has issues like underutilizing high capital investment resources and offering unique healthcare benefits. Clinic-Copilot helps tailor treatment plans to the individual, personalize attention to detail, and track the underutilization of resources.
2nd Place - $300
ATLAS by Mohamed Reda Naanaa.
Atlas is a team of artificial intelligence agents that checks every clinic in a chiropractic network each night. The team finds where the clinics are losing money and why, and writes a fix for staff to approve.
(For more of Reda's projects, see our article about his recent internship at Huhtamaki!)
1st Place - $500
REALIGN by Eva Singh and Hayden Gamble.
An artificial intelligence platform that investigates why patients stop returning, estimates potential revenue loss, and recommends ways to improve patient retention.
Congratulations to all the winning teams!
