Together As Buckeyes

Faris Rehman felt he had to do something.

As he was employing social distancing at his parent's home in Hilliard, Ohio, the Ohio State computer science and engineering student wanted to do his part to help combat the growing COVID-19 outbreak. His idea? Create a website that enables people to track Ohio's cases on a county-by-county basis.

“From a purely scientific perspective, what I’m hoping is that the map helps whoever needs to track the disease is able to track it in an intuitive way," he said. 

"On a more human level, I hope it gives people peace of mind by eliminating the uncertainty of not knowing how the situation is evolving. You’re able to see what’s going on.”

Rehman got started on the project, eventually enlisting fellow student Lia Ferguson as well as two Ohio State alumni (his brother, Afnan, and their friend Faisal Baig) to create the site. It launched on March 19.

“Working as part of a team feels really important,” Faris Rehman said, “at a time that is so unprecedented when we’re all physically separated with very little face-to-face interaction. I think people are valuing the idea of coming together and trying to solve this problem. It’s really amazing.”

Read more about Faris's project here.

Published: March 30, 2020