May 2, 2023
The School of Computing and Information (SCI) was pleased to host SheInnovates, an all-women’s hackathon, in partnership with the Big Idea Center and Women in Computer Science (WiCS). A hackathon is an event in which people come together and work collaboratively on technical projects like software. SheInnovates is hosted annually at the University of Pittsburgh, even predating the formation of the SCI in 2017. Both graduate and undergraduate students were invited to participate.
This year, SheInnovates was held from February 3 - 5, providing a weekend full of design, collaboration, and even prizes for the top performing student teams. PNC Bank, a SCI corporate partner, rounded out the programming with workshops facilitated by members of their Enterprise Innovation team. Two additional representatives from PNC Bank, Chris Johns, Chief Information Officer, and Anissa Gilbert, Senior Digital Product Manager, delivered an opening keynote address.
The event was held at Alumni Hall in the Connolly Ballroom. Participants in the competitive events were not permitted to submit any code that was written prior to the beginning of the hackathon, so teams had to maintain focus and work diligently to achieve their desired outcomes. Faculty from the SCI, along with representatives from PNC Bank, Aurora Innovation, and CGI, judged the projects presented by the teams. Student projects were evaluated according to several different criteria, such as the technical difficulty and originality of the delivered project, as well as how long it took for the team to complete it.
The first-place prize went to Jagr Krtanjek and Abby Zimmerman for their game The Cartomancer, which they describe as a “rogue-like, top-down dungeon crawler,” featuring “procedurally generated” maps that create a different experience for the player during each playthrough. The Student Choice Award went to a team of several students who developed a mobile application called Feline Good. The app curates pictures of “cute animals like cats, dogs, and foxes,” as well as “memes and jokes.” Feline Good utilizes an algorithm created by its team that is designed to serve users images similar to content that they have already liked. Users simply swipe right or left to indicate whether they like or dislike the image in front of them, and the app produces images that align with the user’s indicated preferences. The winners of the first-place prize both received a 24 oz. NutriBullet personal blender, whereas the members of the team that won the Student Choice Award each received a pair of Beats Solo3 wireless headphones.
--Daniel Beresheim