Infect-ID wins Rep. Julia Brownley’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 26th District
Rep. Brownley has named Jason Xie (12th grader), David Wan (11th grader), Vaibhav Sridhar (11th grader), and George Wang (10th grader), all students at Oak Park High School, as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 26th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Infect ID, the students said, “In the wake of the recent pandemic, the importance of visualizing patient networks for scientific research has become apparent. An uncontrolled outburst of disease is detrimental because we often do not have adequate information to implement protocols to limit the spread. Because of this, society is sent into a panic as the outbreak runs rampant. Millions of people lose their lives due to the lack of information. This is where Infect-ID comes in. Infect-ID enables individuals to upload their own patient networks, allowing people to visualize and track the disease networks surrounding their own lives. With this information, individuals can rely on themselves to identify patient zero as well as predict where the disease will go next. By keeping people calm, informed, and safe, Infect-ID aims to aid the community by preventing the spread of deadly diseases, keeping people healthy, and saving lives.”
This year’s Challenge saw an unprecedented level of participation, with 374 Members of the House of Representatives hosting competitions, surpassing the previous record of 340. A remarkable 11,334 students from across the United States competed in this year’s Challenge, marking an impressive increase of nearly 1,000 participants compared to the previous record set in 2019. The enthusiasm and creativity these students display is a testament to the growing interest in technology and signal a bright future for American innovation. The surge of ingenuity continued with a whopping 3,645 original applications flooding in, nearly a thousand more than the previous year’s high. This remarkable growth showcases the exceptional talent and innovation within our nation’s youth.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. This resounding show of bipartisan support emphasizes the critical importance of STEM education in today’s rapidly evolving world. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and each winning team is invited to showcase their winning app to Congress during our annual #HouseOfCode festival. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from Omidyar Network, AWS, Rise, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2024 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May of 2024, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.