Newsroom

USF’s First National Hackathon Competition

March 29, 2018

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) successfully hosted USF's first national hackathon competition, Hack-A-Bull, March 24-25. SHPE is the first student chapter to host a national hackathon competition. SHPE USF partnered with Major League Hacking (MLH) to be a part of their 2017-2018 Season. Hackathons involve students from all over coming together to code, build and share their ideas, while also giving students the opportunity to connect with companies and grow as professionals. Carlos Perez, computer engineering undergraduate student and Hack-A-Bull founder said the motto of these events is, "You learn what you don't know and teach what you know."

A total of 398 students applied, over 150 students attended the event, and 28 teams demonstrated their projects. Judges included CSE faculty Ken Christensen, William Hendrix, Robert Karam, Schinnel Small and Hack-A-Bull sponsors MongoDB (a database company) and J.P. Morgan & Chase. The team projects were judged on usefulness, complexity, and creativity.

The Winners of the 2018 Hack-A-Bull are:

1st Place Overall
Project: Vibe Tutor
Team Members: Jason Nguyen (USF), Chad Cooper (USF), Daniel Heshmaty (USF)

2nd Place Overall
Project: Global Good
Team Members: Deyrel Diaz (FGCU), Edgar Meruvia Garron (FGCU), Jeffrey Fleurent (FGCU), Andrew Charles (FGCU)

Best Hardware
Project: Fix8
Team Members: Jim Mirzakhalov (USF), Willie McClinton (USF), Teresa Flaitz (USF), Mohammed Ameen (USF)

Best Mobile Application
Project: Disaster Relief Hack
Team Members: David Castaneda (FIU), Ashley Narcisse (FIU)

Best First-Timers
Project: Disaster Relief Hack
Team Members: Jason Nguyen (USF), Chad Cooper (USF), Daniel Heshmaty (USF)

Hack-A-Bull was a success thanks to these sponsors:

Department of Computer Science and Engineering (Herd Leader)
MongoDB (Toro Level)
J.P. Morgan & Chase (Toro Level)
Accusoft (Torito Level)
CAE (Torito Level)
Softwerx (Field Level 

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SHPE is one of the largest student organizations at USF. SHPE recognizes professionalism, academic excellence, community outreach, leadership and chapter development as the organization's pillars. To learn more about SHPE USF, visit their website.
 

 

Major League Hacking is the official student hackathon league and reaches more than 65,000 students around the world. To learn more about MLH, check out their website.