UMBC students help veterans with PTSD with new app

Mon, 23 Nov 2015 16:48:22 -0500

UMBC students Damola Adediran ‘17, computer science, and Sarah Kirby ‘16, computer science, were members of a standout team at the 2015 HackDC Hackathon that won top prize in the “Best Mobile Application for Clinicians” category, for their app “myBivy.”

This year’s HackDC Hackathon challenged competitors to build a mobile app to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) deal with insomnia, which is common within this population.

The myBivy app tracks veteran’s heartbeat and movements to detect night terrors, and over time works to help prevent them. The app allows veterans to observe their sleep patterns and to share the data collected overnight with their doctor.

The 36-hour-long Hackathon, held September 25-27, gave teams a chance to work on developing their apps by collaborating with clinicians, veterans, and veterans’ families and friends, who offered feedback on what information the veterans want to track.

Adediran’s job on his team was to communicate with clinicians about how the app would best serve the veterans, and to debug the app throughout the development phase.This was Adediran’s second Hackathon, and he says it was extremely empowering. He describes it as, “something I’ve never experienced before.”

In addition to a cash prize, the team will use funds collected on their Kickstarter page to develop, test and launch the myBivy app by the spring of 2016. For more information about the myBivy app and team, visit the Kickstarter page.