Engaging Engineering Students in Public Health Responses to Disease Outbreaks Through Hackathons

Contribution: Although engineering hackathon events are common, this is one of the first reports of such an event used for the purpose of teaching engineering students about public health concepts. Results from this study suggest that hackathons are an effective format for teaching topics that are not core to the engineering discipline in a short period of time. Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the essential role that computer scientists and engineers have in controlling disease outbreaks. However, engineering programs generally do not provide training on public health issues. Thus, there is a critical need to develop innovative and engaging ways to educate engineering students about public health without interfering with required discipline-specific content. Intended Outcomes: Hackathons, short-term events, held outside of the classroom, can provide an engaging and effective method for increasing the interest and knowledge of engineering students in disease outbreaks. In this article, the effectiveness of a hack day in increasing the interest and knowledge of engineering students in disease outbreaks is assessed. Application Design: One-hundred-six undergraduate students, 30 of whom were engineering majors, participated in a multidisciplinary disease focused hackathon. Student learning and engagement during the hackathon was assessed for the 30 engineering students that participated through pre- and post-event surveys. Findings: The results indicated that the hackathon increased both content knowledge and engagement of engineering students in public health issues. Additionally, students gained an increased understanding of public health professions and how they can contribute to disease tracking, prevention, and treatment. Therefore, hackathons are an effective and efficient tool for teaching engineering students about topics outside of their discipline.