CAC: How did participating in the Congressional App Challenge contribute to your personal journey, career path, and accomplishments so far?

AD: The Congressional App Challenge was my first experience using technology to solve a civic problem and I was hooked. Our original app helped patients access and share their own health data, and building it opened my eyes to how deeply technical systems shape people’s lives. The process taught me to think beyond writing code and ask: who will this help and how will they actually use it? That mindset now drives everything I build, including Legismaker.com. Legismaker builds custom software solutions for government and government-affiliated agencies. CAC gave me the confidence to take an idea from a whiteboard sketch to something that could affect the public good. That has shaped both my academic path in ORFE and my long-term goal of working at the intersection of law, technology, and public service.

CAC: Try to remember back to competing in the CAC – what was your app about and why did you create it?

AD: Our app, Medibound, initially focused on health data privacy, making it easier for patients to view, control, and share their own medical records securely. At the time, the problem felt urgent: data lived in silos, and patients often had no idea what information was being shared between providers. We wanted to put people back in control.

Building the app was the first time I worked on a team that had to think about real-world users, regulations, and design at the same time. That experience stuck with me and inspired me to keep working on civic tech projects.

CAC: What are you most proud of in your academic or professional career thus far?

AD: I’d say I’m most proud of building communities along my path, whether that’s leading the Princeton Mock Trial team or highlighting K-12 inventors for the Invention Convention. The moments that mean the most to me are when something I created or organized helped others succeed.

CAC: Let’s look into the future – where do you hope to be in 2035?

AD: I hope to be working at the intersection of law and technology, helping shape how governments and related organizations adopt software and regulate emerging tech.

CAC: What excites you most about the future of technology and innovation?

AD: I’m drawn to technology that reduces friction: fewer forms to fill out, fewer late-night data pulls, fewer missed opportunities because the information was buried.