See a recap of the UA Innovate hackathon and innovation challenge in the above video.
UA Innovate hosted The University of Alabama’s first female-led hackathon and innovation challenge over the course of the weekend of April 2-3. During the 24-hour event, student teams strategized technology-based solutions addressing various scenarios in the in the cyber security, social impact, data analytics and prototype innovation space and competed for a chance to win $1,000. Throughout the challenge, students attended workshops, brain breaks, and mentorship sessions with representatives from the corporate sponsors of the event.
Over 250 participants spanning 27 different majors across five UA colleges and seven universities throughout the southeast participated in the inaugural event. 11 women made up the leadership team, six of which are Marillyn Hewson Cybersecurity Scholarship recipients. The event was made possible by the generosity of 13 corporate sponsors.
“I chose to participate in UA Innovate because I think it’s really amazing to see an all women-led event, especially for something as technical as this,” said Guadalupe Moncivais, a junior MIS major at UA. Moncivais’s team took first place in the social impact category.
Manderson MBA candidates Luke Kreutzer, Nick Doyle, Andrew Ravine, and Jack Tereck won the consulting category of the challenge.
“We spent 24 hours learning from industry experts and our peers from different academic disciplines while applying skills we’ve learned in the MBA program to design the best product,” said Tereck. “This was a lot of work in a short period, but the leadership team did an incredible job keeping us entertained, fed, and caffeinated. I’d recommend this event to any student that likes to learn outside of their major and meeting some really smart people!”
See below for a complete list of UA Innovate Hackathon and Innovation Challenge winners.
Consulting (Sponsored by Accenture):
First Place: Luke Kreutzer, Nick Doyle, Andrew Ravine, and Jack Tereck
Data Analytics (Sponsored by IBM):
First Place: Bethany Welty, Asit Singh, Kaitlyn Shelver
Social Impact (Sponsored by International Paper):
First Place: Guadalupe Moncivais, Chase Buford, Jalen Butler, Rachele Kern
Cyber Security (Sponsored by Walmart InfoSec):
First Place: Benjamin Fitzpatrick and Sahuj Mehta
Full-Stack Development (Sponsored by Capgemini):
First Place: Ben Reeves, Joseph May, Sam Ward
Prototype Innovation (Sponsored by Microsoft Azure):
First Place: Kate Sanborn