The Computer Science and Engineering Student Advisory Board will host its second annual CornHacks hackathon on Jan. 19 and 20. Student organizers hope to make it even bigger and better than last year’s event, which was the first official undergraduate hackathon held at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
“We’re shooting for a larger attendance count. We’ve opened it up to other students outside of UNL,” said hackathon lead planner Parker Segal. “We have different sponsors this year. We’re revamping and adding more money onto the prizes.”
CornHacks participants will spend from 10 a.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday building hardware and software creations of their choice in teams of four. At the end of the weekend, the projects will be presented at an expo event and judged by a panel of student organizers, faculty, and local industry members.
Not only will industry sponsors be supporting and judging the hackathon, but this year they’ll also be hosting tech talks and workshops throughout the event. Industry sponsors include BuilderTrend, TD Ameritrade, Talent Plus, TEAM Software, Spreetail, and Relentless Merch.
Students who are not participating in the hackathon are still invited to attend the tech talks and workshops at the following times in Avery Hall on Saturday, Jan. 19:
· 11:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.: "Like, Comment, and Smash That Merge Button" by Jimmy Lee (Spreetail)
· 2–2:30 p.m.: "How a Simple Chrome Extension Can Make You a Better Gamer" by Sam Kirkland (Buildertrend)
· 4–4:30 p.m.: "From Me to We" by Scott Spratlen and Tim Hartzog (TD Ameritrade)
If the educational and professional opportunities aren’t enough incentive, there will also be more than $2,500 worth of prizes given away to winning teams at the event. Participating students will have a chance to win Nintendo Switches, GPS 1080P HD wi-fi-enabled drones, and Bose Soundlink II speakers.
“We’ve made some adjustments and hopefully this year it will be a better work environment for the participants,” Segal said. “We’re excited to continue growing.”
Learn more and register on the CornHacks website: cornhacks.com
More details at: https://go.unl.edu/cornhacks