CMU-Q’s LifeLines Hackathon 2025: Winning projects harness the power of AI for crisis management and education
Participants delve into real-world problem solving during three-week event
The top three teams at this year’s Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) LifeLines Hackathon explored AI-powered solutions to tackle challenges in crisis-affected parts of the world. A total of 264 students from 44 schools and universities across Qatar came together for the event that took place over three weeks. Participants were from a diverse range of academic backgrounds and they created truly interdisciplinary solutions.
Michael Trick, dean of CMU-Q, noted that the Carnegie Mellon approach encourages students to find solutions for humanitarian issues and challenges facing vulnerable populations.
“At Carnegie Mellon, we take a different approach to research and innovation: we do work that matters,” he said at the final award ceremony. “This means that we channel our knowledge and skills toward ideas that will make the world a better place. The LifeLines Hackathon is exactly in this spirit.”
CMU-Q hosted the LifeLines Hackathon with organizing partner Hamad Bin Jassim Center for K to 12 Computer Science Education. The center is a collaboration between CMU-Q and the Jassim and Hamad Bin Jassim Charitable Foundation.
Saeed Mudhkar Al Hajri is the managing director of the foundation: “We are proud to support the ‘Lifelines Hackathon 2025’ competition, which allows students to apply their knowledge in creating technical solutions that have a tangible and fundamental impact on the lives of people around the world.”
Regarding the LifeLines initiative, he stressed that this initiative, which is based on linking the elements of technology and innovation with humanitarian work, represents a qualitative turning point in the importance of charitable work as an effective element in encouraging the educational process based on innovation and employing it in various fields, especially humanitarian ones.
The winning project was developed by a team of first-year CMU-Q students. David Bratu, Marco Casagrande, Madina Mirzatayeva and Belard Rutayisire created a prototype for an AI-powered platform and solar-powered device that offers teacher support in regions with limited resources, connectivity and infrastructure. The project was ranked first out of 25 finalists by a panel of 22 judges.
The third-place team was also composed of first year students from CMU-Q. Sherkhan Bakdaulet, Sun Choi, Enkhmunkh Enkhbayar, and Furqan Saeed created a prototype for a resilient communication network for crisis zones where traditional connectivity is unreliable, including AI-powered medical support.
Khaled Harras, senior associate dean for faculty and a teaching professor of computer science, also serves as faculty advisor for the LifeLines organizing team. “I am very proud of these first year students who placed first and third in the LifeLines Hackathon. Artificial intelligence was invented at Carnegie Mellon more than 50 years ago, and our newest students are already finding ways that AI can ease suffering and improve people’s lives.”
The second place team was from Qatar University, also they used an AI solution to improve efficiency in emergency response. Qatar University students Fatima Ahmed, Shada Ibrahim, Ranya Merabet and Hala Subeh’s solution enhances emergency medical response through patient, paramedic, and emergency department staff interfaces. Their platform helps gather health data and disseminate first-aid guidance through an AI-powered chatbot.
Awards were sponsored by Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Council, who contributed 75,000 QAR in prizes for the top five winners.
WISE, Education Above All and Qatar Red Crescent Society provided expertise in crisis management and education, as well as problem statements, mentorship, judging, and workshops.
Qatar Computing Research Institute, the Qatar Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and Deen Developers collaborated with CMU-Q for the workshop series that preceded the final event.
The LifeLines Hackathon encouraged students to form interdisciplinary teams to tackle issues in the themes of education and crisis management. Pre-event workshops covered key topics that included crisis computing and risk management. At the closing ceremony, representatives from WISE and EAA spoke at a panel on using innovation for impact.