Project News

When you think about hackers, you might think of headlines about Russian hacking into the 2016 election or Facebook’s latest revelations about millions of its users’ information being hacked.

Discarded pizza boxes. Empty energy-drink cans. Dozens dancing. And hundreds of people cracking, hacking and tapping away on laptops during a 36-hour marathon binge. Sounds like the internet being broken, but it was a good thing. A very good thing.

Mention the word “hackathon,” and the people who don’t look puzzled probably think of a group of geeks locked in a room, huddling over computers and working on codes.

The annual Hacks for Humanity put on by Arizona State University’s Project Humanities is a 36-hour hackathon that challenges participants to come up with new technologies to help solve local and global problems.

The N-word is like no other in the English language. Hateful, toxic, dehumanizing — and enduring. And in recent weeks, its use has sparked controversy in Indiana, costing well-known people like Indianapolis Colts announcer Bob Lamey, Papa John’s founder John Schnatter and others their jobs and prestige even as it inflamed an already heated debate over whether such actions reflect justice or politically correct overreach.

Some call it the most inflammatory and shocking and historic word in the English language, and Doctor Lester came in to tell us where you can participate in a critical conversation about this.

If you happened to pass near a downtown Phoenix coffee house on an evening back in April of this year, you may have heard the voices of an impassioned discussion about the future of technology and society.

If you happened to pass near a downtown Phoenix coffee house on an evening back in April of this year, you may have heard the voices of an impassioned discussion about the future of technology and society.

If you happened to pass near a downtown Phoenix coffee house on an evening back in April of this year, you may have heard the voices of an impassioned discussion about the future of technology and society.

A Mountain Pointe High School senior has signed up with Ahwatukee professor Neal Lester as an intern at his Arizona State University program, Project Humanities.Lester, the Foundation Professor of English at ASU, founded Project Humanities, whose mission is bringing individuals and communities together through talking, listening and connecting.Senior Jayla Alston, an active leader in Mountain Pointe’s theater program, ”has her sights on a career that not only makes her happy but also ‘benefits the world,’” said Project Humanities spokeswoman Jocelyn Ohl