On October 8, 2025, the NYC Preparedness & Recovery Institute (PRI) hosted Narrative 2 Numbers (N2N), a one-day mixed methods hackathon at The Forum at Columbia University. The event brought together students, researchers, data scientists, engineers, and public health professionals to explore how qualitative data, capturing human stories and lived experiences, can be transformed into actionable insights for public health preparedness and response.
The hackathon invited participants to design practical solutions that integrate quantitative data with capture and analysis of qualitative data, from voice and text to social media and community reports. Rooted in PRI’s commitment to strengthening New York City’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health threats, the day emphasized collaboration, creativity, and data equity across disciplines.
Problem Solving with Purpose
“People are critical for preparedness,” said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, Co-Lead of the NYC Preparedness & Recovery Institute. “The hackathon showed how students and emerging professionals can drive innovation when given the space to collaborate and create. PRI’s role is to bring those voices together with public health and community partners to shape a stronger, more equitable future.”
The day began with opening remarks from Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, Co-Lead of PRI, who underscored the importance of bridging community narratives with data-driven decision-making. Dr. Jeanette Stingone, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University and co-lead of PRI’s Data Sharing and Collection team, set the stage for a day of exploration and problem-solving.
Participants were challenged to design tools and approaches addressing the ten key hazards identified in New York City’s 2024 Jurisdictional Risk Assessment, including infectious disease, climate-related threats, and infrastructure risks. Teams were formed on-site, bringing together individuals with backgrounds in epidemiology, computer science, environmental health, and communications.
Throughout the day, mentors from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), Columbia University, CUNY School of Public Health, JPMorgan Chase, and Amazon Web Services provided expert guidance.
“Events like this remind us that public health problems rarely fit into a single discipline,” said Dr. Lauren Houghton, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “The teams combined technical skill with human insight, showing how qualitative and quantitative approaches can work together to create solutions that are both rigorous and grounded in lived experience.”
What Teams Built
Hackathon teams produced an impressive range of projects that combined creativity with technical rigor. Teams designed tools for collecting real-time voice reports from community residents, dashboards for analyzing social sentiment, and systems for connecting community input with rapid public health response. Ideas ranged from AI-powered social media monitoring to community-led communication platforms, each reflecting PRI’s belief that solutions should be built with and for the communities they serve.
Judges from Columbia, CUNY, Amazon, NYC DOHMH and Cornell Tech evaluated project submissions and team presentations on innovation, community focus, use of open data, and public health relevance. Five projects were recognized for their outstanding creativity and potential:
“What stood out most was how quickly participants were able to connect creativity with purpose,” said Analee Etheredge, PhD, MPH, N2N Judge, Senior Research Scientist and Public Health Data Science Team Lead at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “In just one day, they built projects that centered community voice while advancing practical approaches to data and preparedness.”
Best Overall – Social Heat Impact Index
The winning team developed a Social Heat Impact Index that uses social media data to measure disproportionate heat impacts across communities. By integrating qualitative sentiment with quantitative environmental data, the tool highlights neighborhoods most at risk and supports more equitable heat response strategies.
Team Members: Matthew Hill (CUNY Graduate Center), Linden James (Columbia University School of General Studies), Shirley Liu (Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), Christine Mourani (NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene), Kylen Solvik (Columbia University), Emma Wang (Columbia Graduate School of Arts & Science)
Prize: $2500 in AWS Credits
Runner Up – Accelerating Case Definition and Outbreak Detection
Team Members: Shivalika Chavan (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), My An Huynh (Columbia University), Ila Kanneboyina (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), Soomin You (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health)
This team proposed a community data-driven early warning system that mines social media and local reports to detect outbreaks faster. Using natural language processing, their tool identifies emerging symptom clusters and refines provisional case definitions, helping public health teams act before cases escalate.
Prize: $2000 in AWS Credits
Most Community Focused – Voice to Metrics
Team Members: Garima Jain (Columbia Engineering, SEAS), Riddhi Oza (Columbia Engineering, SEAS), Ann Zhang (Columbia Engineering, SEAS)
Voice to Metrics designed a real-time multimodal hazard reporting platform that collects text, audio, and image submissions from residents, validates them using AI, and routes verified incidents to the appropriate city agencies. The approach prioritizes accessibility and reliability, reducing misinformation while accelerating emergency response.
Prize: $1000 in AWS Credits
Most Innovative – UrbanEar
UrbanEar developed a voice-based reporting system that captures residents’ experiences during disasters through short spoken surveys. The tool uses natural language processing to analyze emotional tone and key needs, visualizing real-time maps of community well-being and resource demand.
Team Members: Albina Krasykova (Cornell University), Pierce Hoenigman (Cornell Tech), Kai Zuang (Cornell University), Haokun Yuan (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health)
Prize: $1000 in AWS Credits
Best Use of Open Data – Flood Voice
Flood Voice empowers community representatives to check on vulnerable residents during flood events using SMS and automated voice calls. Combining real-time open-source environmental monitoring data with ground-level perspectives, Flood Voice uses natural language processing (NLP) to construct dashboards that display both metrics and personal narratives, enabling real-time situational awareness and more human-centered response planning.
Team Members: Jessenia Cintron (Pursuit), Ethan Davey (Pursuit), Shanell Holback (Pursuit), Erica Rowe (Pursuit), Kelvin Saldana (Pursuit), Josue Villalona (Pursuit)
Prize: $1000 in AWS Credits
Thank you to our partners at Amazon for providing Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits to winning teams!
Outcomes and Next Steps
The N2N Hackathon demonstrated how much can be achieved in a single day when diverse minds come together. In just a few hours of focused work, teams created thoughtful and technically sound ideas that addressed real public health challenges. The event highlighted the value of hackathons as a practical, time-bound format for collaboration in a field that rarely uses them, showing how public health, data science, and community experience can intersect productively.
“The energy and creativity our participants brought to this hackathon were truly inspiring. At PRI, we believe that with the right support, ideas that integrate data analytics with community voice can spark meaningful change. We’re excited to continue fostering this spirit of innovation as these projects take their next steps,” said Dr. Jeanette Stingone, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University and co-lead of PRI’s Data Sharing and Collection team.
PRI will continue to work with participating teams to refine and advance their ideas, supporting opportunities for mentorship, research integration, and potential pilot projects with city partners. The hackathon also reinforced PRI’s commitment to creating spaces where collaboration and experimentation can generate new ways to strengthen preparedness and recovery across New York City.