BigRed Hacks (BRH) drew over 400 students from across the country to its annual 36-hour student-run hackathon. For three days, teams of up to 4 students worked tirelessly to create computer applications for a variety of uses with a special emphasis on this year's theme of sustainability. BRH was created three years ago by two CS undergraduates, Junia George and Leon Zaruvinsky, in an effort to bring the hackathon culture to Cornell; since then, the planning committee has grown to a team of 22 students.The event was organized as part of the student hackathon league, Major League Hacking, and was sponsored by over 20 companies including Microsoft, Dell, Bloomberg, and Oracle with special support from the Cornell Computer Science Department, including Events Coordinator Jessie White and Professor Ross Tate. To kick off the event, Professor Carla Gomes, director of the Institute of Computational Sustainability, presented at the opening ceremony with a talk entitled, "Computational Methods for Balancing Environmental, Economic, and Societal Needs."
The hackathon itself ran for three days in the Physical Sciences Building with various networking opportunities, snacks, and of course, plenty of designing, coding, building, and iterating. After a 2-hour project expo on Sunday, the hackathon ended with a closing ceremony which presented multiple awards for the projects:
Main Prizes Winners
Best UI Design: Recycle Rampage
Best Business Prospect: Add.me
Best Technical Feat: Andreessen
Sustainability: BinGO
Best First-Time Hack: PuppetPlant
Best Hardware Hack: JankTank
Special Prize Winners
Best Use of Nessie API: GarbagemonGO, Cheddar
Best Use of Microsoft Technology: BinGO
Best Cornell-Related Hack: Cornell Course Advisor (CUCA)
Most Security Conscious App: HTTPS Security Demo
Best Data Privacy Hack: HTTPS Security Demo
#HackHarrassment: Kindernet
Further coverage on the event can be found at the Cornell Daily Sun.