An Indelible Mark:
Graduating Seniors Honored for Developing Custom Widgets for USNH
An Indelible Mark:
Graduating Seniors Honored for Developing Custom Widgets for USNH
Most seniors in their final semester remain focused on graduation, leaning into campus traditions, connecting with friends and enjoying the last few weeks of school. For Abhinav “Abe” Sharma and Rahul Chalumuri, Computer Science seniors at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), senior year proved anything but lightweight.
Alongside three peers — Zach MacKenzie, Patrick O’Neil and Kaleb Crowther — Sharma and Chalumuri dove deeply into software development work with Pathify, creating four custom widgets in “myUSNH” — the University System of New Hampshire’s (USNH) student portal — serving over 27,000 students across five institutions. And, while many seniors were winding down, Sharma and Chalumuri presented their coding work, snagging an honorable mention award at the UNH Undergraduate Research Conference (URC).
Capstone Collaboration
As part of the University of New Hampshire’s Computer Science major requirements, Sharma and Chalumuri enrolled in a Senior Project Capstone course, where they worked in teams to complete a project culminating at the URC. The capstone project idea came naturally — they wanted to work on something widely impactful, improving the “myUSNH” portal experience. “Over the last year, we saw ‘myUSNH’ as the place for all students, for whatever they needed around campus,” said Chalumuri. “Developing these new widgets was bigger than just us,” Sharma added matter of factly. “We wanted to deliver products for students to use well into the future.”
Sharma and Chalumuri used their personal experiences to generate ideas for enhancing “myUSNH.” From there they scoped out four new widgets for the bus system, dining hall, athletic scores and student-run radio station. “I always Googled the dining hall menus, so I worked on developing the dining hall widget,” Chalumuri said, with Sharma taking the lead on athletic scores. “We developed widgets we wanted and believed other students would want.”
“The ‘myUSNH’ portal represents the campus community, with a big focus on students,” said David Blezard, USNH’s Senior Director of Enterprise Operations and Business Systems, who initially connected Sharma and Chalumuri with the Pathify team. “We had little experience with Flow and doing development for Pathify. We turned the students loose — they dug into it, worked hard and achieved impressive results.”
Navigating New Territory
Throughout the development process, Sharma, Chalumuri and team received strong support from the Pathify Engineering team. Mentored by Pathify’s Julie Gumerman, Senior Sales Engineer, and Tim Stewart, Staff Engineer, the group delved into the intricacies of Pathify’s Flow server. “Flow presented a whole new programming environment for us, especially on the back end,” Sharma reflected. “Adjusting to it was challenging at first but we worked hard to understand as much as possible.”
With regular learning sessions, Chalumuri and Sharma asked plenty of questions, absorbing Pathify’s philosophy. “Julie and Tim gave great Flow tutorials,” said Sharma. “We tried to get as much knowledge as possible, especially since Tim and Julie have such great experience.”
“Our Flow trainings were very productive — we walked through integration examples that connected to one of USNH’s source systems and how to debug when things didn’t work,” Gumerman reflected. “We rarely work with student developers on Flow due to its complexity but Abe and Rahul’s curiosity, willingness and enthusiasm made them successful.”
“They both showed patience and we all had a lot of fun,” Stewart added.
Intrepid Innovators
UNH’s Undergraduate Research Conference served as a perfect opportunity for Sharma, Chalumuri and peers to showcase their work. The conference stands as one of UNH’s most prestigious academic events, featuring presentations from over 2,000 undergraduate students across all disciplines and majors. Reflecting on the experience, Sharma shared presenting to judges, faculty and friends felt both nerve-wracking and rewarding. “There were so many good projects — seeing our time and effort pay off felt great,” he said. And the cherry on top? “Receiving honorable mention felt incredible,” Sharma added, noting the team competed against nearly 80 presentations.
The award validated close to a year of hard work. “Now, the ‘myUSNH’ portal truly centralizes everything — students see balances for dining dollars, email, calendars, bus schedules and more,” he said proudly. “It makes the user experience comfortable and easy.”
Lessons Learned & Advice Shared
As they reflected on their experience, Sharma and Chalumuri offered advice to future developers embarking on similar projects. “Flow is a learning experience so work closely with the development team, stay patient and ask questions,” Sharma advised. Chalumuri echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of creativity and teamwork. “Put yourself in the student’s shoes — ask ‘what would benefit them?’” he added.
As graduates, Sharma and Chalumuri acknowledge they won’t fully experience the results of their work — but they’re optimistic about the portal’s future. “I hope other students get the chance to work on widgets because it helps the institution more than anything,” Sharma said. “All we did was make the student experience better and more customizable.” This mentality — fueled by curiosity and collaboration — highlights the transformative power of student-driven learning and initiatives, leaving an indelible mark on campus life.
About the University System of New Hampshire
The University System of New Hampshire (USNH) enrolls 27,000 students and consists of three public institutions: Keene State College, Plymouth State University and the University of New Hampshire. USNH strives to ensure the availability of high-quality, affordable, and accessible higher educational opportunities throughout New Hampshire and addresses critical state workforce needs. A 28-member Board of Trustees is responsible for overseeing the University System. Learn more at usnh.edu.
“We developed widgets we wanted and believed other students would want.”
Rahul Chalumuri
Computer Science senior at the University of New Hampshire (UNH)