In the summer of 2017, Professor Marc Berman and then-incoming Ph.D. student Kate Schertz were among the 4 of 66 UChicago App Challenge submission groups to be awarded 100 programming hours from developers in UChicago’s IT Services. Since then, they worked to develop ReTUNE (which stands for “Restoring Through Urban Nature Experience”), the app which takes into account factors such as greenspace, noise, crime, and distance in order to give users directions while simultaneously creating optimally restorative walking routes. Now, after presenting ReTUNE to a panel of judges, they were awarded first place in the UChicago App Challenge, which includes a grand prize of $7,000. The App Challenge was sponsored by UChicago’s IT Services and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Click here to read the UChicago App Challenge’s announcement, and click here to read about the ReTUNE app.