They're some of the brightest students in the country – a group of wunderkinds known for hacking their way through any problem thrown at them. So what could possibly stump a Stanford University student? [...] dozens of engineering, science and arts students were put through the bureaucratic wringer this year when they took Hacking 4 Defence and Hacking 4 Diplomacy. 

We are already past the midway mark in our new Hacking for Diplomacy course at Stanford [...] Having logged more than 550 interviews of potential beneficiaries, the teams have delved deep into understanding the problems sourced from the State Department. The challenges are tough - such as how to improve data on refugees who go missing or perish on their journeys, and how to better evaluate the effectiveness of peacekeeping forces.