Macathon 2023 had a harmonious introduction in the Mairs Concert Hall with bagpipes and dance, kicking off the beginning of the twenty-four-hour challenge for Mac鈥檚 innovative student entrepreneurs. This idea-building, creativity contest asks students to put liberal arts into action by identifying a real-world problem and inventing a unique solution, all overnight.
Throughout their intensive brainstorming period, each team is paired with a group of four to six alumni judges from around the world who provide mentorship and advice.
鈥淓ach year, Macathon is a powerful experience for students and alumni alike to work together on ideas to make an impact in the world,鈥 said President Suzanne Rivera.
At the end of the event, each team delivers a seven-minute presentation on their final product to a panel of judges. Each placement is given a reward of $500, $750, and $1,000 respectively for third, second, and first place.
鈥淚’m thoroughly impressed by the quality of projects proposed by the many teams,鈥 said Sasmita Tripathy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation program manager. 鈥淚 hope students continue to bring such wonderful ideas in the future.鈥
In third place, 鈥淐runchy Rice鈥 for their allergen testing kit
Evelyn Bond 鈥26, Shelly Bai 鈥25, and Tobias Schecter 鈥25 focused on the issue that the vast majority of food-related allergic reactions occur in non-prepackaged food, namely in restaurants. Their solution is a testing kit that traces peanut proteins, the most commonly found food allergens, allowing the user to confirm whether or not the food contains allergens.
In second place, 鈥淧owerpuff Girls鈥 for their 鈥淪hh鈥︹ product
This group, comprised of Lifelihle Kunene 鈥25, Anna Diagne Sene 鈥24, Ghaicha Aboubacar Ahe 鈥24, Maria Benito Correa 鈥25, and Christine Oduor 鈥25, drew attention to an issue that menstruating individuals experience: the loud, recognizable sound of sanitary pad wrappers. They presented the narrative of a menstruating individual opening a pad in a public bathroom, where, depending on the context of their local environment, they may not want to announce to anyone else that they are using a menstrual pad.
Their solution is a silicon pad wrapper, dubbed 鈥淪hh,鈥 that attaches to adhesive parts of the menstrual pad. The user opens their pad(s) at home, attaches them to the wrapper(s), and has them on the go.
To supplement their product, the group also brainstormed an educational app that helps consumers both use their product and learn other general information about menstrual cycles.
In first place, 鈥淢intT鈥 for their 鈥淭oxApp鈥
The final group, comprised of Laith Alayassa 鈥24, Chloe Vasquez 鈥24, Isabella Bautista 鈥24, and Timothy Lang 鈥24, won the first-place prize with their 鈥淭oxApp鈥 idea. The app addresses the low survival rate from snake bites, as 140,000 deaths and 400,000 disabilities result from snake bites every year.
Two key factors determine survival/recovery of a snake bite: how quickly an individual and emergency services can respond to it, and which anti-venom is required for a certain bite. To combat these often time-consuming processes, the 鈥淭oxApp鈥 informs the user what their next steps should be to react to the snake bite, find the closest hospital that has the right anti-venom, and identify the snake that bit them.
