Winston Fan wins Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks ’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Iowa’s First District

When asked what inspired the creation of LONIQ-AI, the student said, “Being a part of the swimming community in Iowa, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating impact that mental health struggles can have on individuals, particularly in the past three years, during which we tragically lost three swimmers to suicide. This heartbreaking reality, combined with the widespread acknowledgment of mental health issues within the swimming community, compelled me to explore the underlying causes and broader implications of these struggles. Through the research, I found that mental health challenges are not only prevalent in the United States but are a global crisis, with loneliness emerging as a significant contributing factor. The more I investigated, the more I realized that loneliness, often invisible and insidious, plays a critical role in exacerbating mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, which can lead to tragic outcomes like those we have experienced in our community. Recognizing the urgent need for better tools to identify and address loneliness, I sought to leverage technology to make a difference. I discovered that Reddit(r/lonely), with its vast and diverse user-generated content, provided an abundant source of data that was perfectly suited to train and test machine learning models designed to detect signs of loneliness. The platform’s wealth of real-world conversations allowed me to develop algorithms that could accurately assess and quantify loneliness based on language patterns and social interactions. This process of data collection, model training, and testing ultimately led to the creation of the application tool specifically designed to aid in the early detection and quantification of loneliness, which I believe can play a crucial role in preventing future tragedies within our community and beyond. Through this application, I hope to contribute to a broader understanding and intervention in the fight against loneliness and its devastating effects.”