More than 70 people attended ATLAS Institute's聽sixth annual T9Hacks on March 19-21, and more than 70 percent of them identified as female, meeting the organizers' goal聽of bringing in populations聽underrepresented in hackathons.
Typically held at the ATLAS Institute for 24 hours, this year鈥檚 hackathon had聽a virtual format and was extended to 36 hours.聽Participants聽from all over the United States and world took part聽in the event, with 25 institutions represented, including high schools, colleges and universities. Those partcipating came from diverse backgrounds spanning 34 different majors.
"The online format was a challenge especially for those with a huge time difference (from Mountain Daylight聽Time), but because of the online format we were able to meet people from different countries," said Oc茅ane Andr茅is, a first-year ATLAS graduate student (CTD-Social Impact) who聽co-organized聽the event with Neha Kunapuli, a junior majoring in computer science.聽"Being able to come together as creators and inventors with different backgrounds was really amazing."
T9Hacks promotes聽interest in creative technologies, coding, design and making, among college women, non-binary individuals, people of color, those with disabilities and others who are typically underrepresented during hackathons. Student organizers emphasize聽that no coding or other technical skills are required to participate in the "invention marathon," and that everyone is welcome.
Overall, 72 percent of T9Hacks' 2021 participants聽identified聽as female, and half聽were first-time hackathon participants.聽
ATLAS baby直播app, students and alumni were heavily involved in planning and running the聽event. Thirteen聽聽were submitted and nine winners selected by a panel of judges that included ATLAS baby直播app members Ellen Do,听Sheiva Rezvani,听厂丑补锄听窜补尘辞谤别,听Justin Gitlin听补苍诲 Aileen Pierce;聽TAM alumnae Cassandra Goodby,听Keren Megory-Cohen and Elsa Roeber; and Julia Uhr, PhD student, Aubrey Shick, ATLAS research affiliate, and Anna Cook, TAM alumna听补苍诲 MS-CTD student. Mentors聽included Matt Dickey, TAM and CTD MS alumus; Ari聽Klebanov, TAM alumus and engineer at ToolCASE, LLC听补苍诲 Chris Klette, ToolCASE, LLC聽engineer.
During the event,听Matt Dickey聽conducted聽a web development workshop. Assistant Professor Daniel Leithinger and PhD Student聽Julia Uhr gave a virtual reality/augmented reality聽 (VR/AR) workshop and Annie Margaret,聽ATLAS instructor, led the participants聽in meditation.
In addition, a team of ATLAS students, including graduate students聽Sam Herwig and Emma Petersen聽(both CTD-Creative Industries)听补苍诲 Fiona Bell,听PhD student, won the humanitarian award for their project,听"The Disaster Displacement Database."
The organizers would like to extend a big thank you to the聽event sponsors,听including the ATLAS Institute, Trimble, Tortuga AgTech, SparkFun Electronics,听ToolCASE, LLC, and echoAR, as well as聽our partner,听InVision.
Outstanding Social Impact听-听聽by Mahzabin Rashid Fariha and Humayra Rashid Safa
Outstanding Humanitarian听-听The Disaster Displacement Database聽by Fiona Bell, Sam Herwig, and Emma Petersen
Outstanding Maker听-听聽by Sahana Gokulakrishnan
Outstanding Entrepreneur听-听聽by Ann Marie, Gwen, Spencer, and Charlotte
Outstanding Developer听-听聽by Allison Palmer, Jenna Rothe, James Ryan, and Emma Wenzel
EchoAR Award听-听聽by Ahelee Bhattacharya
Fans鈥� Choice听-听聽by Audrey Viland, Spencer Bajcar, and Greg Gassen
Rookie Award听-听聽by Minso Kim and Catherine Xiao
Outstanding Artist听-听聽by Linh Nguyen & Dan L铆u