Civic Tech · Social Innovation · Full-Stack
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. I start from the difficulties specific people face and use mathematics and computation to build practical tools that support them. At the same time, I study what actually helps, and how the people receiving support can take part in deciding what these tools are for and how they are used. Over the past few years I built or led four civic-tech projects. Three are live today: an accessibility-first transit algorithm, a fairness-first allocation engine that protects the worst-served sites, and a STEM education platform for left-behind children. The fourth, a visual-communication art installation for left-behind and migrant children, opens in the fall 2026 semester. In that work I try to build systems that understand and support people, and I want people to be able to change them in turn.
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 complete and on show in the fall 2026 semester. Browse by what you care about:
💡 The accessible navigation system needs no login — open it and go. Trial accounts for Qingban and the allocation system are pre-filled on their login pages.
PROJECTS
Four projects: three are live and in use today, and the art installation goes on show in the fall 2026 semester. Use each card's tabs to switch between Features, Tech Stack, and Impact.
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 walkthroughs.
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.
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.
Scarce teachers go to the hardest-to-staff sites first. The engine writes that priority order down and reports the classes it costs.
VerifiableLexicographic fairness model solved as a mixed-integer program · 12,256 lines, four user roles · in trial use at Shanghai Stepping Stones Youth Development Center, still on its existing matching rules
Traditional volunteer allocation struggles with low matching efficiency between volunteers and teaching sites, and rarely balances fairness with efficiency.
A matching engine that makes the fairness rule explicit, then reports what protecting the weakest sites costs.
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 fall 2026 semester
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.
2026International
2025–2026National
Gold Proof of award (PDF) ↗2025–2026National
2026National
Semifinalist Proof of award (PDF) ↗2026National
Top 1.2%
Proof of award (PDF) ↗2026.08.06International
Bronze MedalTop 7.4%
Proof of award (PDF) ↗D1 2025 / D2 2026National
Silver ×2 Proof of award (PDF) ↗2026National
Silver Proof of award (PDF) ↗2026.09National
3rd Prize Proof of award (PDF) ↗ICDM 2026
IEEE ITSC 2026
IMMC · SJTU Rongchang Cup · Kaggle
MTSR 2026
4TU · APA · NeurIPS
ICDM · MTSR · ITSC · NeurIPS · 4TU · APA
Read together, the six papers show one consistent method: turning a humanistic concern such as accessibility and fairness into a computable model, then translating the result back into the language of ethics and policy.
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 walkthroughs).
Domain https://www.qingban.org.cn/. The site runs on a mainland-China server, so it may not load outside mainland China. If the main address fails, use 8.153.199.66 (HTTP, so the browser marks it as not secure).
A wheelchair-friendly navigation system for Shanghai. Surveyed 42 bus stops and metro stations for accessibility barriers, then weighted routes by six accessibility factors; station search, station details and user feedback round it out. Stack: HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript, AMap Web SDK, Web Speech API, Python, MySQL. Covered by school media and China Youth Daily.
Domain https://accessgo.cn/. The system runs on a mainland-China server, so it may not load outside mainland China. If the main address fails, use 120.55.169.203 (HTTP, so the browser marks it as not secure).
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. Pilot-tested at Shanghai Stepping Stones Youth Development Center, still on its existing matching rules.
Domain https://fairallot.cn/. The system runs on a mainland-China server, so it may not load outside mainland China. If the main address fails, use 8.138.100.148 (self-signed certificate, so the browser warns first).
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. Fall 2026 semester exhibition.
Led the team through the 2025–2026 national conference; Best Community Impact Showcase and National Conference High Distinction.
Competed in the Greater China regional round and the international round: Greater China Regional Round Finalist and International Round Meritorious.
Founded the club and led five members through video coursework and experiments testing physics-philosophy ideas, including chaos in the double pendulum.
Partnered Qingban with the club, then co-planned charity events for migrant workers' children; recruited 24 volunteers for over 100 hours of service, and joined school charity sales under an NGO name.
Tutored Chinese, math and English for migrant workers' children in Guangzhou and Shanghai, and ran emotional-support activities alongside the lessons; about 137 hours in total.
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, on show in the fall 2026 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.