Category: Hackathons

Posted on

Creativity Meets Technology: Inside &hacks XII at William & Mary


On September 26 and 27, William & Mary hosted &hacks XII, a 24-hour event where students team up to build software projects from scratch. Bringing together over 270 students from seven universities, this year’s event challenged participants to create new technologies based on the theme of “Imagination.”

Students spent the fast-paced weekend creating apps and tech solutions for real-world challenges while building AI and coding skills through hands-on workshops.

Washington and Lee students brought home multiple awards!

DiatoMeter (Aditya Thakur ’30, Menilik Deneke ’28, and Damir Syrlybayev ’29) earned Gold in the Nano Bio Lab track as a tool that helps analyze microscopic biological samples more quickly and accurately.

Lingo (Paula Yaniz Macia ’28, Anh Nhu’28, Danilo Sindric ’29, and Devin Upadhyay ’29) earned Silver and the Best Use of ElevenLabs award for building an AI-powered language-learning tool designed for ESL learners to master spoken English pronunciation and linguistics.

Psst (listed on Devpost as Accountability App), developed by Connor Sweeney ’27, earned Silver for developing an AI accountability app that helps users stay on track with goals and habits.

A big congratulations to all the W&L students on their impressive success at the hackathon!

Posted on

W&L’s Lakpa Sherpa ’25 and Ignas Volcokas ’25 – 2nd place winners at Hackathon

Lakpa and Ignas came in second for best education hack at Hoo Hacks 2023 with their EsyLearn project.

During the hackathon, Lakpa and Ignas  were inspired to produce a personal learning assistant that would accept and adjust to the learning needs of its user.   

Lapka and Ignas pose, smiling, in front of the Welcome to HooHacks sign.
Welcome to HooHacks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EsyLearn

EsyLearn communicates with users via a web interface where the users can easily speak and get responses back, just like talking to another human being. Through natural language processing, it provides responses both in text and audio for better understanding.  Within 24 hours, Lakpa and Ignas essentially created a virtual assistant that is as smart as Jarvis in the Iron Man Movies.

Congratulations, Lakpa and Ignas!

You can learn more in the W&L feature story and in the Hook Hacks project gallery.

Posted on

CSCI Major Janie Martin ’18 –Breakthrough Achievement at Hackathon!

Senior Janie Martin attended Rice University’s 7th annual Hackathon this past weekend in Houston with the goal of trying to solve some of the biggest problems in health care today.  The Hackathon competitors were in a 36 hour race against each other to develop new software and hardware to solve challenges identified by doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital. About 400 hackers competed for various prizes.

For Janie, the competition provided an opportunity to solve a medical problem that she herself once suffered from, encephalitis.  Janie and her teammates developed a product called Memory Eyes which is a device that uses image detection and facial recognition software to assist with cognitive disorders.  Cognitive impairment is a major component of encephalitis.  As Janie explains it, with encephalitis,  “You could be standing in a grocery store talking to someone when suddenly you have no idea where you are or who they are.” “With a press of a button, Memory Eyes will tell you who you’re talking to, where you are and remind you what you were there to get.”

Click on the link below to read more about Janie’s accomplishments and other cutting edge health care successes of Hackathon!

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Rice-University-s-Hackathon-work-to-solve-health-12225209.php