Words hold power and weight – disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous, and people of color. “People claim that words don’t matter, yet they literally affect the way people are treated,” said Spark! Fellow Shateva Long. “Racial bias is found all throughout medical textbooks and it is negatively affecting the lives of women of color, especially Black […]
If artificial intelligence is the future, why does AI seemingly fall short when it comes to biases embedded in its algorithms? Coded Bias’ Director Shalini Kantayya took to the Spark! virtual stage this month to explore this question and more during a Q&A following the exclusive screening of her documentary that premiered at Sundance Film […]
“I gained some of the best experiences and closest friends through BU Spark!”Taylor Poyte’18 is a Boston University and Spark! alumni. She has been a part of Spark! since the inaugural class and participated throughout her senior year. After graduating in 2018 with her degree in computer science, Taylor went on to work as an […]
“TechTogether truly would not be where it is today without her (Ziba Cranmer’s) support.” Spark! alum are growing the fire ignited at Boston University and applying it to the world at large. Fiona Whittington took what was once a simple idea for an organization and transformed it to the nation’s largest equity-driven hackathon. Now the […]
2020 magnified several faults in our system that have existed for ages — xenophobia, racism, classism, among countless other defects. A single hackathon paved the way to addressing those issues head on. Spark!’s Resiliency Challenge allowed students, mentors, partners and alike from around the globe to develop innovation which addresses challenges associated with COVID-19. Project […]
A rescinded job offer, graduation plans cancelled and little to zero social contact – can leave even the most positive people – at a loss. This was the case for computer science graduate student and Spark! software engineering TA, Asad Malik. “What I noticed was that a lot of my friends were going through similar […]
Machine learning, coding, software engineering – all concepts related to Spark!, but the real moving parts that keep Spark! going can’t be coded or prototyped. Students and faculty are at the heart of the process, and you don’t know enough about Spark! if you don’t know the name Dharmesh Tarapore – BU alum and Spark!’s […]
The Resiliency Challenge was a nine-week, virtual hackathon, with three-week sprint challenges aimed at catalyzing student innovation in response to the unprecedented situation facing colleges and communities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The goal was to bring the talents of the university technology community together with subject matter experts to envision, design, develop, […]
An entire semester of time, dedication, and innovation resulted in Demo Day. A shift to an online platform did not stop BU Spark!’s community from attending Demo Day to support our students and their projects. The presence of 185 participants at Demo Day was a touching reminder that the Spark! community remains as strong and […]
The Resiliency Challenge is a nine-week, virtual hackathon, with three-week sprint challenges aimed at catalyzing student innovation in response to the unprecedented situation facing colleges and communities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Our goal is to bring the talents of the university technology community together with subject matter experts to envision, design, develop, […]