AcadFinder

Inspiration

Research is one of the most valuable experiences a student can get. As undergraduate students pursuing our interests academically, we were overwhelmed by the unnecessarily lengthy process of finding research. We searched through inconsistent and incomplete school depositories, strained to understand the latest research, and struggled to synthesize everything into an email that busy professors would bother to read. While dealing with an already busy schedule, this made an already difficult task nearly impossible and dampened the passion for research that initially drove us. We wanted to create the tool that we wished were available for us when we began, and simplify the process for students after us.

What it does

Our platform hosts three main components. First, a single directory of professors sorted by university and department. Included are links to contact information and easy-to-read summaries of their most recent papers. It allows you to search for and quickly save your favorite professors. Second, an AI assistant trained to answer common questions like how to write emails, how to prepare for meetings, or how to choose a research area. Lastly, because many professors require a conversation or informal interview, we added a voice-based practice tool powered by ElevenLabs. Students can practice talking about research topics and answering questions, which helps them feel more confident before reaching out.

How we built it

We developed Acadfinder using a modern, modular stack tailored for rapid iteration and clean scalability. Key components include:

React + Bootstrap for a responsive, component-based frontend
Supabase for authentication, data storage, and real-time syncing
ElevenLabs API to power our voice-based interview practice
Manually curated datasets and email templates to ensure accuracy and meaningful guidance for students

Challenges we ran into

Our inexperience with GitHub and working collaboratively led to many setbacks when merging code. Many moments either team would become stalled as they were dependent upon another, and improper organization contributed to misprioritization of tasks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We have created a polished, full-stack application that surpassed our original vision for the project in a timely manner. Effectively working through first-time collaborative issues, we have learned to work as an efficient team, leveraging each of our unique strengths. Overall, we are proud to have created a product that we would personally use.

What we learned

Progress, although not linear and far more hazy than anticipated, is far more satisfying when working together. By relying on each other, we also push each other to achieve more than we believed we could. When under pressure, we are capable of growing tremendously in many different aspects of our technical and soft skills.

What's next for AcadFinder

Although we are satisfied with the core of our product, we believe our vision of creating a complete pipeline consolidating and simplifying resources for students can be expanded further. Immediate steps include creating a data pipeline to automatically scrape, combine and organize data froma va