Affordable aims to provide a central location that people can both provide and apply for medical financial aid for their medical needs. Healthcare costs are rapidly inflating, meaning many people need help now more than ever before. This need is compounded by the COVID virus leading to an increase in hospitalizations around the country. Support for medical aid and healthcare is one of the largest nonprofit/volunteer sectors, and thus our system could incorporate a wide base of grant types and applications.
With a diverse range of needs and providers, organizations may struggle to find the ideal candidate for their support. if their criterion are too strict, they may not find close suited applications for their aid, and may struggle to disperse their money appropriately. If they are too liberal with their application criteria, then they will get too many people to sort through or find it difficult to find a best match candidate. This is where sorting algorithms are useful.
The team at University of Maryland worked on creating a sorting mechanism that could help organizations choose the best candidate. First, it would be able to intake ranking criteria, based on the grants priority, and then give a score to applicants based on how closely they fit those obligations. Second, the algorithm could learn what the organizations wanted to make a prediction. It may look at the history of previously selected candidates, and find patterns that it would be able to apply to new individuals for the next round of aid. This will be offered as a powerful tool to automate the grant delivery process and reduce the administrative burden on providing these services to the community.
We are grateful for the work this team put into this software, and hope to integrate their features in the near future. Read this interview from Alexander Giza regarding his experiences on the project.
Where are you currently enrolled in college?
I’m enrolled at the University of Maryland studying Computer Engineering.
What is your development team name? Who is your professor?
I currently am a part of the CMSC435 AFFORDABLE development team! Our professor is named Jim Purtilo.
Who were the members on your team?
The other members of the team are: Melvin Molina, Yiming (Andy) Lee, Jesse Oh, Yishan Zhao, Jason Zhong, and Nick Mauro
What was the goal of your software engineering project?
Over the course of this fall 2021 semester we were tasked with designing a product that can rank potential recipients of medical grants. This was intended to help organizations have an easier time giving the correct applicant the money they need for medical care. To do this we had to design an algorithm that is able to sort through applicants and provide potential fits for the organizations based on their requirements of the grant
What tool/features did you have to create?
Personally I worked on the parts that glued everything together such as the front end UI that we developed for feedback purposes, as well as managing the database and operations performed on it
What skills did you learn during the semester?
I picked up a lot of back end knowledge during this semester. I had to teach myself how to set up a database as well as the correct way to interact with it.
What did you enjoy about working with Affordable?
Over the course of the semester we interacted frequently with AFFORDABLE and discussed our product as well as the potential vision they have for the future. I really enjoyed working on a real world project and creating something that can actually help people have a better life.
What are your future career plans?
As for me in the future, I hope to continue working in software development and creating things that can positively impact other people!
Where are you currently enrolled in college?
I’m enrolled at the University of Maryland studying Computer Engineering.
What is your development team name? Who is your professor?
I currently am a part of the CMSC435 AFFORDABLE development team! Our professor is named Jim Purtilo.
Who were the members on your team?
The other members of the team are: Melvin Molina, Yiming (Andy) Lee, Jesse Oh, Yishan Zhao, Jason Zhong, and Nick Mauro
What was the goal of your software engineering project?
Over the course of this fall 2021 semester we were tasked with designing a product that can rank potential recipients of medical grants. This was intended to help organizations have an easier time giving the correct applicant the money they need for medical care. To do this we had to design an algorithm that is able to sort through applicants and provide potential fits for the organizations based on their requirements of the grant
What tool/features did you have to create?
Personally I worked on the parts that glued everything together such as the front end UI that we developed for feedback purposes, as well as managing the database and operations performed on it
What skills did you learn during the semester?
I picked up a lot of back end knowledge during this semester. I had to teach myself how to set up a database as well as the correct way to interact with it.
What did you enjoy about working with Affordable?
Over the course of the semester we interacted frequently with AFFORDABLE and discussed our product as well as the potential vision they have for the future. I really enjoyed working on a real world project and creating something that can actually help people have a better life.
What are your future career plans?
As for me in the future, I hope to continue working in software development and creating things that can positively impact other people!
