Strickland Presents Zain Shariff as 2024 Congressional App Challenge Winner

Lacey, WA - Today, Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) announced Zain Shariff, as the winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for Washington's 10^th Congressional District.

"After considering many outstanding submissions, I am proud to announce Zain as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge," said Strickland. "Congratulations to all students who participated and thank you to our judges. I look forward to seeing the AICathDesigner cover art in the Capitol."

"It's exciting to win Congresswoman Strickland's Congressional App Challenge. AICathDesigner uses chest CT Scan images to design a customized catheter sheath. Due to varied anatomies of the coronary sinus, obtaining access could be challenging and may result in poor outcomes. My app aims to build catheters for individual patients. This would help clinicians perform cardiac procedures and surgeries safely and improve patient outcomes. I built this program out of my passion for cardiac sciences," said Shariff.

"The deep technical knowledge that Zain demonstrated in their app, AICathDesigner, is exceptionally impressive. Their ability to apply software development practices while integrating concepts from another industry, 3D printing from manufacturing, is a rare and highly sought-after skill. Developing this type of application as a solo developer is equally commendable," said Joseph Ortiz, Clover Park Technical College Computer Programming Instructor, and competition Judge.

"I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all the finalists and winner for their hard work and their courage to challenge themselves by embracingnew technologies. The winner leveraged AI tools to identify the best path and utilized a 3D printer to design a sheath to assist in the process. This project highlights that AI cannot solve problems it doesn't know exist-it's human creativity and ingenuity that bring these ideas to life and help make the world a better place. I would be delighted to offer all students a tour of SMA and a place in our Engineering School to study computer science," said Dr. Radana Dvorak, St. Martins University Chair of Computer Science and competition judge.

The winning app's cover photo will be featured in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year. The winner will also receive an invitation to the #HouseofCode celebration, where winners get the opportunity to present their apps to elected officials.

The first Congressional App Challenge was hosted in 2016, embarking a tradition for students in STEM-related fields to explore their passions and encourage creativity in the computer science field. To learn more about AICathDesigner, visit here.

U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She is Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus, a member of the New Democrat Coalition, and one of the first Korean-American women elected to Congress.

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