Tech-savvy industry leaders, facetime with Silicon Valley icons and an extended competition, were just a few of the highlights that made Hackfest 2020 more impactful to students at the University of the Virgin Islands. While the COVID-19 Pandemic caused the move to virtual, University organizers did their best to re-imagine Hackfest 2020. Typically, a one-day competition, Hackfest offers students an opportunity to innovate and come up with theme-based applications.
“This year was different. We did a virtual hackathon that extended over a week,” said Dr. Tim Faley, program coordinator and distinguished professor of entrepreneurship. “We also added a noon-hour seminar series each day of “Hackfest Week” that provided insights into all aspects of the tech industry,” added Faley “We were honored to have the president of Woz U, Mr. Chris Coleman. Woz U was founded by Silicon Valley icon and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.” This year’s event ran from Oct. 26 – Oct. 30.
Five teams comprising of 11 University of the Virgin Islands students participated and completed “Hack the Pandemic,” the challenge for HackFest 2020. In previous years, participants generated prototype phone apps in 24-hour marathon problem-solving sessions.
More information is available in a news release on the Media Section of the UVI Website-www.uvi.edu/ - and from this direct Link