The Pathfinders Challenge, launched this July by the academic platform Stellic in partnership with Anthropic and Lovable, tasked students across North America and Australia with building functional software to improve the college experience. Judges evaluated the entries based on scalability, design, and their potential to remove barriers to degree completion.

Nathan Wituk of the University of Kansas secured first place with Dormant, a map-based application designed to increase campus engagement while avoiding addictive social media mechanics. Finalist Flightplan, developed by a team from Carnegie Mellon, NYU, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, offers a personalized career-planning interface that includes specific resources for international students. Rachael Chung of Carnegie Mellon rounded out the finalists with Vivifi, a tool that converts static course syllabi into interactive planning dashboards. These projects earned their creators prizes ranging from $2,500 to $5,000, along with professional development opportunities with Stellic leadership.