Community Committee
Another key aspect of our organization is our Community Committee that seeks to break down notions of CS as an ivory tower, and raise awareness to its ability to positively impact our communities - targeting both students and the general public. Fostering a space for creative dialogue and discussion, each academic quarter is themed with special topics (for which workshops, outreach, and speaker events are organized).
Our Mission
The Community Committee of Impact++ is dedicated to spreading awareness of the field of tech and social good by building a platform where the UW community can engage with ideas and efforts around the applications of computer science in society.
Projects
Winter 2022: Tech x Education Panel
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This quarter we are hosting a panel series with a theme of technology and education. Our three panelists will be Melanie Kong, Benjamin Xie, and Kevin Lin!
Melanie is the co-founder and CEO of Floop, the feedback literacy company that empowers learners with the lifelong skills of seeking, giving, and using feedback to learn. Benjamin is a postdoc at the Information School here at UW. And Kevin is an assistant teaching professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science at UW. Together they will share unique perspectives on the importance of tech + social good, and highlight how these themes intersect particularly with CSE education. Over 30 students across UW, both within and beyond Impact++, joined this virtual event! |
Spring 2021: Social Good Panel
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As part of our spring quarter events, the Community Committee aims to host a panel discussion featuring the various projects we have in our club by providing a space for student representatives from each project to share! Structured as an open event, over 40 members from industry, greater student community, and members of Impact++ joined this event!
Our goal is to showcase how Impact++ is helping the general Seattle community through tech for social good projects, specifically through innovation, education, and community engagement. We are hoping to give the attendees an idea of how they can be involved in the tech for social good space and start a discussion about how they can help make an impact in the community. We are also hoping to build connections with more organizations in the Seattle area for future Impact++ projects, workshops, etc. Click to learn more about this event (links to google document for anonymous public viewing) |
Winter 2021: Virtual Impact Innovation Challenge
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Impact++ was unable to assemble a formal team to host our annual Impact Innovation Challenge, so the Community Committee put its energy and resources together to host a virtual alternative - a multi-week hackathon focused on accessibility and health.
With dedicated weekend work times supported by mentors in industry, the hackathon took place from January 19th to February 12th of 2021. As a fun, rewarding experience, this Impact Innovation Challenge provided an opportunity for college students in the greater Seattle area to:
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Spring 2020: Spread the Impact
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Granted that this hectic quarter was online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we aimed to focus our efforts on illustrating the progress of our Impact++ development projects to our community. In doing so, we worked with our Project Managers and their teams to create detailed videos that highlight their projects’ missions, current progress, and most importantly their impacts. Each video can be found in the respective web pages for each project. We hope that these videos aid members within the University of Washington and beyond in learning more about our club’s commitments towards the intersectionality between tech and social good.
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Winter 2020: Teach 4 Impact
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Targeted towards recruiting UW students to visit high-schools, this workshop series served as a way to promote the use of computer science in social good within high school classrooms across the local Seattle Area.
Through the four-part series, UW students learned about computer science in social good and how they can promote diversity through education and outreach. The workshop series featured discussions led by distinguished educators at the University of Washington, representatives from notable organizations in this field, and even students who have championed computer science for social good. These meetings were held to prepare students to lead future classroom discussions about how computer science can be applied to positively impact our communities with topics ranging vastly from finding solutions to homelessness, climate change, education, and more. UPDATE: While we hoped to travel to high school classrooms at the start of spring quarter and create an impact in our communities, the COVID-19 outbreak has led us to cancel these field trips. |
