The Society of Professional Engineers and Stevens Women in Computer Science hosted DuckHacks on Saturday, the first ever hackathon to be held at Stevens. The event ran from 8 AM to 9 PM, occupied a number of rooms in the EAS building, and offered people the chance to compete to create the most useful software.
A number of large corporations, including financial services provider Morgan Stanley, had reached out to SHPE about hosting such an event at Stevens, since many of these corporations are working towards creating diversity in the computer science field. Although representatives from Morgan Stanley ended up unable to attend, SWiCS was able to co-sponsor the event and work out a partnership with Google.
After registering, the eight teams of between two and four students began working on their computer programs. The theme for the event was ‘Make the Stevens community better’. The competitors spent the afternoon working on computer programs that could be useful to Stevens students, as well as attending computer science workshops, which covered topics such as Github and front and back-end web development. By 6:30 PM, the contestants had finished their programs. The panel of judges, which included four Stevens professors and a computer science professional involved with SHPE, then went around see their programs and declare the winners. First place went to Sandra Herrera and Diana Galarza, two freshman computer science majors who created a website that compares different housing options in regards to distance from campus, cost, capacities, and utilities. Second place went to Benjamin Iofel, Andrew Afflitto, Aldin Llolla, and Nicolas Nuila, who wrote a Chrome extension that creates an academic schedule based on classes that the user wants to take. Third place went to Nesar Ahmed, Tyler Dingley, Martin Marshalek, and Christopher Hittner, who created an Android app that includes a bulletin board for campus announcements, a gallery for old quizzes, and a forum for users to ask questions and interact.
“In Spring 2017, we hope to have a bigger hackathon and invite students from nearby colleges, such as NJIT, NYU, and Rutgers, as well as have more company sponsors,” said Susana Restrepo, SHPE secretary and one of the organizers of the DuckHacks. Not only do SHPE and SWiCS hope to make next year’s DuckHacks more complete, but they also hope to bring a hackathon to Stevens for high school students during the fall semester. “Right now, what we’re focusing on is not only planning for next year’s DuckHacks, but also planning a hackathon for high school students in the fall,” said Restrepo.
With the first ever DuckHacks being such a success, SHPE and SWiCS are committed to making Stevens’ very own hackathon a well-known and more comprehensive event. “It’s great what the students who attended were capable of making,” said Restrepo. “For our first time, having such great attendance, I think all we need to do is grow from here.”
