More than 150 people attended the fifth annual T9Hacks on February 7鈥�8, 2020, at the ATLAS Institute. Eighteen 听were submitted and eight听winners selected by a panel of judges that included ATLAS faculty members Sheiva Rezvani, 厂丑补锄听窜补尘辞谤别 and听Camilla Friedman-Gerlicz;听TAM alumnae Andrea Devore and Laney Winkler;听and engineers听from sponsors Strava, Splunk听and Twitter.听听
T9Hacks is a 24-hour hackathon aimed at听fostering a fun and creative environment where marginalized students鈥攑articularly women and non-binary students鈥攃an learn about computing and solve compelling problems. The event featured three tracks: Empowering Underrepresented Groups, Early Childhood Education听and Creative Technology.
Reflecting听the overarching mission of the event,听the first of these has been part of T9Hacks every year since it was established, and this year鈥檚 winning team was on message with a project that focused specifically on helping women establish themselves in technical careers. New to the hackathon this year, the track in Early Childhood Education鈥攕ponsored by Head Start鈥攈ighlights a market that has seen relatively few applications of digital technology. Perhaps that鈥檚 poised to change.
The two winning projects in these tracks are detailed below, with other winning projects listed and linked to their corresponding project pages.
Empowering Underrepresented Groups winner: woMENTOR
Developed by: Cooper Jones and Madi Heath (TAM majors)
is a platform that empowers young women in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) to pursue career paths that are typically male-dominated by introducing them to strong female role models.听By connecting women beginning their careers with those who are well-established听members of the female STEAM community, woMENTOR promotes opportunities for mentorship and guidance for those beginning their careers.听
The team used听React.js and the Material-UI Component library to develop a fast and responsive front-end design for desktops, with consideration for mobile. The two-person team听collaborated on the UX/UI design of the site, including wireframes and information architecture. After the interface was fleshed out, Madi Heath听worked mainly on the branding and aesthetics, while Cooper Jones听focused on the programming and technical implementation.
"We decided to create woMENTOR听because we haven鈥檛 seen a good platform for young professionals to find and make meaningful relationships with mentors in their field," Jones said.
Early Childhood Education听Track Winner: BrainBreak
Developed by: CTD MS students听Fiona Bell, Juliet Luna, Casey Hunt, Emma Peterson and Liza Tolkin; and Corbin Peters, a TAM major.
is a web plug-in and mobile application that encourages healthy digital habits by interspersing content consumption with fun, creative听and educational activities.
When the BrainBreak plug-in is installed, a small banner with a timer appears at听the top of the webpage, with a time limit set in parental controls. When the timer runs out, a pop-up blurs听the content being viewed. The pop-up, which stays up for the length of time designated by the parent, has six听different activities, including Yogi You, Breathing Buddy, Word Wizard, Painting Pal听and Memory Master.听While these activities are targeted towards 6-8 year olds, future iterations of BrainBreak can be designed to fit younger children. In addition to the plug-in and a mobile application, BrainBreak includes a corresponding online web portal that parents can access to set break-times and track their child's usage.
"We wanted to do something impactful,"听said Fiona Bell, a CTD master's student. "If you teach kids to cultivate healthy habits听early on,听they听will stick with them for the rest of their lives."
Creative Technology听track winners (tied):听
- 听developed by听Shruthi Sridharan, Preethi Vijai Lilly (computer science majors);听Hare Sudhan Muthusamy, (telecommunications major)
- 听developed by Harsh Deshpande, Joshua Franklin and Tiffany Phan (computer science majors); and Elizabeth Qiu (studio arts major)
Best Beginner Hack:
Developed by: Emma Wenzel, Allison Palmer听(computer science majors)
Best User Interface:
Developed by:听Nikhil Jain,听Nithin Kankanti, Vishwanath Kulkarni, Lokin Makkena听(computer science majors)
Best Use of the Color Purple:
Developed by: Brooke Stevens, TAM major
Best Use of Twitter API:
Developed by:听Swarnalatha Natarajan,听Aditi Prakash (computer science majors);听听Keerthika Rajvel (MS student, computer science)
