Terriers Take Charge: Student-Built Tools to Enhance Campus Life

At Boston University, innovation isn’t limited to the lab or the classroom — it happens whenever students are given the space to explore real problems and design meaningful solutions. This year’s DS+X Hackathon’s HackBU track embodied that vision, bringing together students from across disciplines to create tools that make research more accessible and improve the BU student experience.

BU Spark! and Information Services & Technology (IS&T) recently launched a new opportunity for students to engage directly with their own data through a series of challenges, HackBU. The HackBU track challenged students to dive into data science, analytics, and AI innovation, all while remixing BU data into campus upgrades —smarter dining, next-gen housing, and passion projects that hit home.

The HackBU track equipped students to identify research needs, work hands-on with data, and prototype solutions that could directly benefit the campus community. The HackBU track culminated with 13 student-built projects, exemplifying how interconnecting disciplines can creatively address students’ biggest challenges.

From platforms that directly connect students with on-campus research opportunities to AI optimization of course schedules, these projects demonstrate what’s possible when students are invited to become co-creators in shaping their academic journeys. Each prototype is not just a technical accomplishment; it’s a reflection of students using research itself as a tool to improve their own BU experience.

CollabNet

In academia and industry alike, research thrives on collaboration. Yet finding the right collaborators—those who share overlapping interests, complementary expertise, and compatible working styles—remains a challenge. We were inspired by the idea of harnessing the wealth of information in open academic databases to build a smarter collaboration tool. By visualizing co-authorship networks and research trends, we wanted to make it easier for researchers to discover potential partners and accelerate innovation. CollabNet makes finding research partners at BU effortless — a data-driven platform mapping projects and people to spark smarter, faster, interdisciplinary collaboration.

Cognify

Your digital advisor: course planning made easy. As BU students, especially underclassmen trying to navigate BU’s vast range of courses and complex requirement system, we felt the current manner in which course planning was approached at BU was overcomplicated and sought to simplify it. Thus, we built Cognify to simplify and streamline this process for all BU undergraduates.

RhettSearch

At Boston University, we noticed something: many students are curious about research — they want to explore, create, and make an impact — but they don’t know where to start. Opportunities often feel hidden behind walls of information, unclear requirements, or scattered resources. At the same time, professors are looking for passionate students who align with their projects but struggle to find them efficiently. We wanted to bridge that gap — to turn curiosity into action. That’s why we built Research Dashboard, a platform that helps students discover their research style, connect with mentors, and explore real projects around BU. It’s not just a tool; it’s a launchpad for discovery — helping every student take the first confident step toward becoming a researcher. RhettSearch connects BU researchers, students, and opportunities in one smart platform—making it easy for beginners and experts to explore projects and resources efficiently.

PlanEdu

PlanEdu is an AI-powered planner for BU students. It creates your 4-year schedule, taking your major, prerequisites, and even RateMyProfessor ratings into account. Stop stressing and start planning. PlanEdu was inspired by the universal stress every Boston University student faces during registration. Planning a 4-year schedule involves juggling complex major requirements, Hub units, prerequisites, and endless RateMyProfessor tabs across a dozen different spreadsheets and websites. We knew we could build an AI-powered tool to simplify this entire chaotic process into a single, intelligent platform.

BU Smart Bus

Getting around BU shouldn’t feel like guesswork. Every student knows the pain — standing in the cold, refreshing the existing BU Bus app, wondering “Is the bus even coming?” We asked: What if navigating the BU bus felt as seamless as Google Maps or Uber? That’s how BU Smart Bus was born — a modern, data-driven, empathetic, and real-time transit companion made by students, for students. Built to reduce the daily uncertainty of waiting for the BU shuttle, BU Smart Bus helps students and staff plan confidently with real-time tracking, smart service alerts, and personalized favorites.

To view the complete list of projects submitted through the HackBU track at DS+X Hackathon, please visit this Devpost.