Computing for Good (C4G)

Laboratory Information System with the CDC.

Students will be conceptualizing and developing an automated system to track and manage all specimens collected in the CDC overseen testing labs in 70 countries worldwide (over 1500 labs). Currently used is a paper monitoring system, the inherent inefficiencies of which frequently result in mismatched or delayed test results. The system would improve accuracy, speed of assistance and increase the number of specimens able to be handled.
Trends and Analysis for the United Way's Shelter-to-Home program

In 2008, a GA Tech graduate student Abhisheak Iyer and faculty member Santosh Vempala worked with the Regional Commission On Homelessness to develop a web-based database to help us track homeless clients who enter our Street/Shelter to Home program. This dynamic system has been an incredible improvement over our past tracking method (ie Excel). Now we are looking for students to help with the next level of this project: analysis and trends. With information of over 500 homeless consumers we feel confident (but not equipped) that there will be trends that may allow us to improve services to and for our consumers.
Zero training care management user interface

People who work at social services agencies that help people who are behind on their rent and mortgages are overwhelmed by phone calls from people who are about to be evicted or whose homes are being foreclosed or need emergency housing for other reasons. They need to be able to quickly client information in the community's shared care management system so they can serve as many of these people as possible. This project will examine their needs and patterns of use to design an intuitive, efficient user interface to the existing community care management system (Pathways) that needs minimal training. The end goal is that employees and volunteers at financial assistance organizations spend less time looking for information and more time helping people in need.
Social Services Consumer Portal

This project is motivated by people who need help paying their rent or mortgage, or need emergency housing or other social services. The portal would be able a secure site that interacts with the shared care management system that's used by over a 100 local social services agencies, and check their eligibility for available services, review their services history and apply for services online. This project will make it possible for people to obtain help more quickly, while saving time and effort by avoiding applying for help at social services organizations that can't help them. This project will also benefit social services agencies by streamlining the process of qualifying people for services.
Connectivity for developing regions with MyMANET.

MyMANET is a project for students interested in developing functional communications network in disaster situations and developing regions with low to zero communications infrastructure. The project will target both usability issues and developing relevant applications for such regions, with the goal of a real-life deployment.
GeTGreen with GT/CoC facilities.
How can we make it easy for our colleagues, friends and visitors on campus to recycle more and waste less? Digital sensors? Creative, well-placed signs? Optimized bin locations?
Education portal with OPEACE.
Since May 2008, Operation P.E.A.C.E. a nonprofit operating in Atlanta's old 4th ward, one of the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods, has been using an internet portal to aid in its afterschool program for young children. This project will review the system in place and make improvements and extensions to functionalities for students, teachers and administrators.
Garden Simulator with World Food Garden.
This is a project about sustainability. Students will build a simulator for how to grow your own garden, whether you’re a city dweller or a suburbanite with space.
Asthma Technology Empowerment with ZAP.

In this C4G project we will leverage the strength of ZAP asthma, a community driven project that reduces preventable morbidity and mortality for children living in Atlanta's Empowerment Zone by administering a home intervention to minimize environmental triggers. We will develop technology that trained community health workers and families can use to sustain ZAP's intervention and increases parental sense of control in managing their child's asthma.
Healthy Living 2020 with the CDC.
Every ten years, the CDC is required to develop health goals that county health officials in the United States adopt depending on their own budget and county health trends, etc. These guidelines are currently produced as one big book, or PDF. If these guidelines were put on the web and made searchable, customizable, tagged or otherwise made more relevant to the personal needs of the health officials, they would become much more useful to managing our country’s health.
Vein-2-Vein (V2V) with the National blood transfusion services of multiple countries.
This is an offshoot of the Blood Safety Indicator System, a class project from Spring 2008, that is currently in use by 14 African countries. That system is an aggregate data system with no record of individual blood units. The current system addresses a dire need to monitor blood units from collection to transfusion, to be able to see patterns in collection, test results and utilization, to predict these quantities and use the predictions to plan blood allocation and transportation. The project will team up directly with National blood services in Zambia and Namibia during testing and initial deployment.
Districting and Redistricting in Democracies.
Bridging Contributors and Charities*.

Team: V. Gopi Krishna (lead), M.N.S.V Prasad, Phani Chakravarthy, P.Madhu, B. Ganesh Kumar.
(This is a team which will participate in the course remotely!)
A website that connects volunteers, donors and other contributors to charities and service organizations in need, e.g., orphanages, old age homes, blood banks etc., with information on the facilities, services offered, scope for donations/service, contact information, location details, modalities, year wise statistics etc. The goal is to enable people who have time or money or ideas to quickly and efficiently channel their resources towards a worthy local cause. The initial focus will be Vizag, India.