Seton Hall Students Tackle Global Challenges, Win Big at Social Impact Hackathon

The Stillman School of Business brought together students, faculty and alumni entrepreneurs for the second annual Social Impact Hackathon and SHU Hult Prize Foundation Startup Challenge. In an intensive, hands-on competition on February 21 in the Jubilee Hall Atrium, student entrepreneurs leveraged AI tools and collaborated with mentors to develop business models addressing global challenges in alignment with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The event culminated in the SHU Hult Prize Foundation Startup Challenge, where teams pitched innovative solutions with real-world impact. Taking first place was "Guard Net," a mobile app designed to raise awareness about human trafficking and provide emergency resources for at-risk individuals. Created by Aaron Stanway (Junior, Diplomacy), Maximillian Otto (Senior, Diplomacy), and Michael Buonaiuto (Sophomore, Business Undecided), the project earned a $1,000 prize and a trip to the Hult Prize Foundation Boston Summit, where the team will compete in the next round of the global competition.

Second-place honors and $600 went to "MedLumen," an app and online platform designed to connect pre-med students with experienced physicians. The project was developed by Sami Kabakibi, Carlos Miranda and David Kanikwu, all Biology majors.

The third-place team, winning $300, created "Equal Apply," a platform aimed at increasing job opportunities for minority and women candidates in finance and Wall Street. The team included Josalyn Treadwell (Junior, Management), Anaiyah Johnson (Senior, Finance), Kaitlyn Kane (Sophomore, Marketing), and Rheeya Patel (Freshman, 3+3 BSBA/JD).

First-place winner Maximillian Otto saw the hackathon as a way to merge entrepreneurship with advocacy. “As vice president of Zero Chains Initiative, I have a passion for spreading awareness about human trafficking, and this event allowed me the chance to propose an app that would act as a comprehensive guide to human trafficking awareness and a tool for prevention,” he said.

Teammate Aaron Stanway indicated a documentary on human trafficking inspired his team’s idea. “Seeing On Her Shoulders by Nadia Murad gave me hope for how ideas, when presented to the right people, can change the world,” he said. “Max [Otto] came up with the idea for an app that functions as an awareness and emergency tool. Then Michael [Buonaiuto] came up with the idea for the trackers. My role was creating the pricing and revenue model.”

Hear more from our winning team in this video »

Throughout the hackathon, students participated in team-building exercises and AI-powered workshops to rapidly prototype solutions to global issues. Faculty mentors, who played a key role in guiding teams through the process, included Assistant Professor of Management David Keating, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Marketing Debra Lee Surface, Ph.D.; Finance Lecturer Ben Lowe, M.B.A.; and Esports Manager and Adjunct Professor Victor Gomez. Also providing mentorship was Abhishek Pathak, a current M.B.A. student, along with industry experts Danielle Corea-Smith, United Way of Greater Newark; Sunny Bathla, Sonata Software; Gabino Roche Jr., Saphyre; Peter Tu, Law Office of Peter Tu; and RoseMary Stanchak, Fusion Health.

“With innovation, mentorship and real-world impact at its core, Seton Hall’s Social Impact Hackathon and Hult Prize Challenge continue to provide students with opportunities to develop solutions that create meaningful change,” said Susan Scherreik, M.B.A., founding director of the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Stillman School of Business.

Categories: Business, Nation and World