Civic Tech · Social Innovation · Full-Stack
Access → Care → Dignity → Agency
I use technology to improve the conditions under which people get opportunities and support, and I use the humanities to ask how those systems should respect people's choices, allocate resources and take responsibility. Over the past few years I built or led four civic-tech projects. Three are live today: an accessibility-first transit algorithm, a fair-allocation engine based on Rawls' Theory of Justice, and a STEM education platform for left-behind children. The fourth, a visual-communication art installation for left-behind and migrant children, is in its final stages for the autumn-semester exhibition.
The essentials, at a glance.
A THREAD THROUGH THE WORK
From being able to arrive, to support that lasts, to being seen, to having the right to choose.
Access
通道
Represents my accessible-transit projects and related papers.
Accessible navigation: being able to arrive. Starting from platform, facility and transfer barriers, and putting overlooked travel conditions into the model; then asking whose purpose a route recommendation serves, and whether the traveler can change the criteria.
Care
照护
Represents the fair volunteer allocation system and related research.
Education and teacher allocation: making support sustainable. Qingban delivers educational support while the allocation research handles how limited teaching staff are scheduled; the concern extends past matching, to whether a course can keep running and how changes in need are answered.
Dignity
尊严
Represents my visual-communication art installation.
An art concept: how people answer being categorized. What Can Travel With You? lets a refusal of the label influence what the system does next, and keeps asking whether a person can correct how others understand them.
Agency
自主权
Represents part of the art installation and my philosophy papers and research.
Philosophy research: testing the grounds of decisions. Is low usage of an accessible facility a reason to cut its resources? When AI assists expression, who keeps control? This research turns questions from practice into arguments that can be reasoned about, challenged and revised.
Three of the four are real, live systems I built or led independently; the art installation is in production for its autumn-semester exhibition. Browse by what you care about:
💡 Demo accounts are pre-filled on each project's login page — feel free to explore.
PROJECTS
Four projects: three are live and in use today, and the art installation is preparing for its autumn-semester exhibition. Use each card's tabs to switch between Features, Tech Stack, and Impact.
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STEM lessons for left-behind and migrant children, taught online so location doesn't limit access.
Verifiable59 original video lessons · designed, built and operated end to end by me
59 self-produced lessons in total: 47 in the teen Python series, 6 on math fun graphics, and 6 on physics lab demos.
It pairs online courses (programming, physics, math) with offline events like a Tech Carnival and campus charity sales, and doubles as a social space for left-behind and migrant children.
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Getting around the city without barriers: an accessible navigation tool built on graph-based path planning.
VerifiableFeatured by China Youth Daily (2026-07-28) · liaised with Minhang District public-interest prosecutors to push for open accessibility data
The route planner weighs walking distance, transfers, accessible facilities (elevators, ramps), and congestion, applying secondary weighting to raw AMap data.
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Rawls' Theory of Justice, expressed as code: an education-resource matching engine built on algorithmic fairness.
VerifiableRawls' Theory of Justice written as runnable allocation code · 12,256 lines, four user roles
Traditional volunteer allocation struggles with low matching efficiency between volunteers and teaching sites, and rarely balances fairness with efficiency.
An automated matching engine that turns philosophical concepts into working code, with fairness as the goal.
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A visual-communication art installation around the lives of left-behind and migrant children, working through narrative, public expression and social advocacy.
VerifiableThe installation "What Can Travel With You?" is complete and scheduled for the autumn-semester exhibition
It asks what must be protected when a vulnerable child’s life is rearranged, and whether the systems that arrange these lives can be questioned, reviewed, and changed by the children they affect.
Using visual narrative to show the emotions and needs of vulnerable children, and starting public conversations about children’s rights through the exhibition.
HONORS & RESEARCH
Verified credentials across competitions, academic acceptances, and interdisciplinary research.
2025–2026
Gold2026
D1 2025 / D2 2026
Silver ×22026
Silver2025–2026
2026
One of only 4 projects nationwide
2026.08
3rd Prize2026.08.06
Bronze MedalTop 7.3%
EXPERIENCE
Algorithms, platforms, clubs, and public art: the full list.
An online education and support platform for left-behind and migrant children; PHP 8.2 + PbootCMS V3.2.16 + MySQL 5.7 + Nginx 1.28.0; 59 self-produced video lessons (47 teen Python series, 6 math fun graphics, 6 physics lab demos).
A wheelchair-friendly navigation system for Shanghai built on accessibility-first principles: station search, accessible route planning, station details, and user feedback. Stack: HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript, AMap Web SDK, Web Speech API, Python, MySQL. Covered by school media and China Youth Daily.
A self-built algorithmic fair-allocation engine inspired by Rawls' Theory of Justice, automating and fairly matching volunteer teachers, teaching sites, and classes; Vue 3 + Python 3 Flask 2 + MySQL 8.
A visual-communication art installation exploring what must be protected when a vulnerable child’s life is rearranged, and whether the systems that arrange these lives can be questioned, reviewed, and changed by the children they affect.
CTB Global Youth Research Innovation Conference and the International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IMMC), both as a deep participant and award winner. See the Awards section above.
School club president organizing physics experiments and critical-thinking activities.
School charity club supporting and accompanying children of migrant workers; partnered with Qingban in NGO charity sales to raise funds for public-interest organizations.
WELFARE & ART
Volunteering and art practice that respond to the needs of underserved groups.
Art installations designed around the emotions and needs of underserved groups, in preparation for exhibition during the fall semester.
ABOUT
I'm Hongxin Su (Steven Sue), working across technology, philosophy and public life. Through programming, mathematical modeling and field research, I take part in accessible navigation and civic education projects, trying to answer the concrete difficulties people meet when they travel and when they look for educational support.
I am willing to spend a long time on a single facility weight, and I care about what happens after the program returns a result: whether the recommended route suits this particular trip, whether a matched teacher can bring lasting support, whether a user's feedback can change the next decision.
That work keeps me asking how far a system's partial understanding of a person allows it to decide for that person. I want the systems I design to be reliable and useful, and also open to questioning and revision.
A person does not have to be fully understood by a model to deserve to be taken seriously. They should be able to state their own purpose, correct our judgement, and take part in deciding how help happens.
If you're an admissions officer, a partner, or a fellow builder, I'd like to hear from you.
Email me →