About

hackNY's aim is to build a diverse and inclusive tech community to empower the next generation of responsible leaders in NYC.

Since 2010, hackNY has empowered a community of student-technologists in New York City through the annual hackNY Summer Fellowship program. hackNY is co-organized by hackNY alumNY along with faculty from NYU, and Columbia.

Board of Directors

  • Chris Wiggins

    Chris Wiggins

    Chris is an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and  the Chief Data Scientist at The New York Times. At Columbia he is a founding member of the executive committee of the Data Science Institute, and of the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics as well as the Department of Systems Biology.

    Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia he was a Courant Instructor at NYU and earned his PhD at Princeton University in theoretical physics.

  • Evan Korth

    Evan is a Clinical Associate Professor of Computer Science at NYU where he teaches foundational CS courses.

    Evan is also involved in the local NYC tech scene as a board member of New York Tech Meetup, VP of the Internet Society of NY, and a member of the investment committee for the NYU Innovation Venture Fund.

  • Andrea Dean

    Andrea is a technologist and leader based in Washington DC. She was previously a software developer and Manager at AWS where she worked on Just Walk Out (a type of AI surveillance system for convenience stores), and is now pursuing a Masters in Law and Technology and researching AI policy at Georgetown University Law Center.

    She has a degree in math and computer science from Lewis & Clark College. Andrea was a hackNY in 2017 and was an associate board co-chair 2021-22.

  • Randall Hunt

    Randall is a VP Cloud and Customer Innovation at Caylent and hackNY class of 2011 alumNY. Randall is a technologist and hands-on keyboard coder based in Los Angeles, CA. Previously, Randall led software teams at Facebook, SpaceX, AWS, MongoDB, and NASA. Randall spends most of his time listening to customers, building demos, writing blog posts, and mentoring junior engineers. Python and C++ are his favorite programming languages, but he begrudgingly admits that Javascript rules the world.

    Outside of work, Randall loves to read science fiction, advise startups, travel, and ski.

  • Alex Berke

    Alex is a creative computer scientist and engineer, and former hackNY fellow (2013) and mentor. After hackNY, she worked at the intersection of technology and social impact for a range of organizations in NYC, from small startups, to a presidential campaign, and a large company (Google).

    She is currently in academia at the MIT Media Lab. She has math and computer science degrees from Brown University and a Master's degree from MIT. Her recent side hacks include coding generative art for her coloring book about group theory, cryptography projects, and hardware hacks for bikes.

  • Sandile Keswa

    Sandile is a South African-American technologist and former hackNY fellow (‘14) currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Sandile, who graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science & Mathematics from Temple University in 2015, is passionate about education, community organizing, and the craftsmanship of software engineering.

    Today, Sandile works as a Software Engineer at Google in New York leading a team focused on improving learning outcomes for students who use technology in their classrooms.

Staff

  • Eric Wu

    Eric is the current Executive Director at hackNY. Eric is a business and strategy operations consultant focused on innovation, working with medium and large companies.

    He has also served as the GM of NYC’s #1 ice cream shop. Eric led Yahoo’s Hack program for years before moving to New York in 2011.

  • Shy Ruparel

    Shy is a proud alum from the class of 2014, and the Managing Director at hackNY. Building on a rich career that includes impactful roles at Docker, Contentful, and Major League Hacking, Shy has spent a decade dedicated to empowering developer communities. Shy combines technical expertise with a passion for teaching.

    Beyond his professional work, Shy spends his time building unconventional IoT projects, reading long science fiction and fantasy novels, hosting dinners for 10-30 friends every other week.

Legal

hackNY is a registered 501c3.
EIN: 27-3758609.
Address:
169 Madison Ave STE 11439
New York, NY 10016