For one first-year student, a pile of dirty laundry didn’t just lead to a spin cycle; it led to the creation of a digital solution to a long-term laundry problem.
Rising sophomore Ashish Ranjan ’28 created Rams Wash, a web-based application currently available in four residence halls, that lets students track washing machine usage on campus. No more running up and down flights of stairs only to see that nothing is available or you’re just a few minutes too early.
“I live on the third floor of the Pauley-Rorem Hall, and I had to constantly run down to the ground floor where our laundry room is, just to check if a machine or dryer is vacant for use,” Ranjan said. “Also, we have a whiteboard in the laundry rooms, which is meant to be a place where people can write their names on the machine they are using. But no one really writes on it.”
After being on campus for just a few weeks, Ranjan realized this problem could be solved through the use of technology and set about making it happen.
In October of 2025, the international student from India made a poll on YikYak to gauge interest. He got 200 votes
in favor of creating an app. Next, he created a prototype web application from scratch to show the residence life office.
After some discussion with Residence Life staff during late-night breakfast, Ranjan refined the prototype and launched the official application on Feb. 1, 2025—all within his first six months on the Hilltop. In the first hour after the website went live, it got 60 users from Pauley-Rorem alone.
While Ranjan is happy with his progress, he openly points out that the app isn’t its best self, yet.
“One of the ideas I have proposed is to add it to New Student Orientation so that the new students adopt it early on. This will help make it a civic responsibility to let each other know about the status of the machines through this app,” Ranjan said.
He also hopes to make the system automated during the upcoming year by incorporating smart plugs. These plugs would read the electrical consumption and update the status of a particular machine. This way, no one will have to do anything.
According to Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Daniel Chou, resident assistants in the halls with the app will introduce it to new students so that they can use it right away. While Residence Life is continuing to work with Ranjan on the project, they anticipate that it will stay in just the four test dorms for now.
“IT is helping us explore if we could integrate it with Cornell software versus the public site Ashish is using. This may come with its own bugs or learning curve, so we will expand in one area at a time,” Chou said.
To use the app, students can go to the website or scan the QR code on their chosen machine; no downloading is necessary. Once a student has entered the estimated time (displayed on the washer or dryer), the website will update availability automatically.
Ranjan is at Cornell on a scholarship from the Next Genius Program and plans to major in computer science.