Seventy college students, including students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, have signed up for HackDartmouth — Dartmouth’s first annual hackathon — since registration opened last week, student organizer Colby Ye ’16 said. The College-sponsored, student-run event, which will be held this coming April, is financially sponsored by Facebook, Google, Ionic Security, the Neukom Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation Lab, Palantir, Namecheap and Major League Hacking.
Ye said that a hackathon is an event in which a group of people work together for a period, usually 24 hours, to develop a piece of software or hardware.
“We’re trying to think of cool, original solutions to problems,” he said. He added that though technology corporations have been holding hackathons for years, university-supported hackathons have only started in the past few years.
In light of College President Phil Hanlon’s initiative to “move Dartmouth forward” in all aspects of life at the College, Ye said that he believes that this is an optimal time for Dartmouth to host its first hackathon.
“I think the vision for this event was to build on President Hanlon and the whole Dartmouth community’s dedication to ‘Moving Dartmouth Forward,’” he said.
He added that another goal of the event is to tap into the creativity of Dartmouth students.
Ye said that he hopes the hackathon will allow students to learn outside of the classroom.
“We want people to apply their ideas — things they’ve learned in the classroom — to build something real and tangible,” he said, adding that he hopes the event will bring together students with similar interests and expose them to various career paths in technology.
Kaya Thomas ’17 is another member of HackDartmouth’s organization board. She said that the board has been working together on the event since last summer. She hopes that the hackathon might improve Dartmouth’s reputation amongst the Ivy League.
“Dartmouth is kind of late to the game,” Thomas said. “We’re one of the last Ivies to hold a hackathon, so in the interest of Hanlon’s initiative to move Dartmouth forward, and since the College has all these new resources like DEN and [the Neukom Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation Lab], we thought it was important to hold one.”
All other Ivy League schools have already hosted hackathons.
Thomas’s experience with computer science at the College has been very positive. She hopes HackDartmouth will appeal to beginners in computer science who might not be sure whether or not they wish to pursue computer science as a major or a career.
“I think this event will help weaken the stigma associated with computer science,” Thomas said. “People have this idea that it’s really hard and that programming is something people do by themselves in their basements. The hackathon just shows that’s not true.”
Thomas said that she believes that the College is in a moment of innovation and creativity, which makes it the perfect time for Dartmouth to host this event.
“We want to capitalize on the recent dedication to experimental learning,” she said.
According to the event’s website, students can either sign up alone or as a team to create a website, mobile app or a program that will then be judged by a panel. The winning hacks will receive thousands of dollars and perks from the company sponsors, though the exact prizes are yet to be determined. The organization board encourages anybody to sign up, regardless of experience.
Jonathan Huang ’17, who will participate in HackDartmouth, said that though he has not declared a major right now, he plans on majoring in computer science. This will be his first hackathon and he heard about the event through his friends’ posts on Facebook.
“I’ve heard a lot about hackathons, so I’m really excited to participate in one,” he said. “It’ll be really cool to just work with other people on a special project and to combine all of our ideas into one.”
Any college-aged student, regardless of where they attend college, can register for the event online. High school students can apply and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Students can sign up as participants or apply to be mentors, who help guide less experienced participants through the hackathon process. The event is scheduled to take place on April 11 and 12.
