Hackathon-2020

The Department of Mathematics and Computing of Mount Royal University and IEEE Women in Engineering of Southern Alberta Section are proud to host HackTogether: Alberta Virtual 2020 Hackathon. This virtual event hopes to bring together post-secondary students who are passionate about science and technology to develop meaningful insights pertaining to one of the two themes of the event: (1) the COVID-19 pandemic related challenges, (2) issues surrounding diversity in STEM fields.

As a participant, you will be able to leverage existing datasets or use other resources to bring your idea to life, and guidance from our community of mentors. During the course of this hackathon, you will have the chance to participate in talks and workshops from our academic and industry partners. We invite you to collaborate with others, hone your computing skills, and join us in this fun and educational experience!

Submissions can be in two formats. Accepted submission categories are:

Concept ideas and research: Prototypes, research papers
Technical solutions: Implementations, visualizations

Submissions in each category will be evaluated separately according to the criteria outlined in the evaluation section.

Who Can Participate?

This hackathon is geared towards Alberta post-secondary students pursuing an education in STEM fields in college, undergraduate, and also graduate students who are at their masters level at the time of registration. The goal is to give students a chance to work on real-world problems while practicing teamwork and collaboration. Participants will work together as a group in teams of 2-6 members.

We aim to create an inclusive environment where all parties, regardless of background, gender, religion, and sexual orientation can express their creativity and develop amazing technology solutions pertaining to hackathon themes.

Important Dates

- Registration: Nov. 25, 2020
- Kickoff meeting: Dec. 2, 2020
- Financial support request deadline: Dec. 10
- Submission deadline: Feb. 18, 2021
- Final ceremony: Mar. 12, 2021

Workshop sessions

- Ideation Workshop
  - Dec. 4, 5:00 - 6:30 PM (MT)
- Data Visualization with Data Studio
  - Jan. 7, 4:00 - 6:00 PM (MT)
- Data Visualization with Tableau
  - Jan. 12, 4:00 - 6:00 PM (MT)
- Amazon AWS Machine Learning APIs
  - Jan. 18, 4:30 - 5:45 PM
- AWS SageMaker for Machine Learning
  - Jan. 20, 4:30 - 6:00 PM
- Google AutoML for Machine Learning
  - Jan. 22, 4:00 - 5:00 PM
- Entrepreneurship Workshop
  - Feb. 1, 5:00 - 6:30 PM (MT)

More details about workshops will be added to our Events and Workshops page.

Registration is Closed Now!

Registration Instruction

Form a team and submit your team and project description in our registration page before the deadline and be sure to answer all of the questions on the submission form. A group can be registered by one of the group members. Submissions are editable until the submission deadline.

Submission

Prepare your project files:
- Technical solutions: Upload your code to a Github (or any other online) repository.
- Concept ideas: Prepare your concept idea report document according to the instructions provided by email.
Create a 2 to 5-minute video to walk-through your solution on YouTube. Your video must include:
- An explanation of why you chose the theme and the problem you picked.
- A compelling argument of why your idea is worthy.
Please go to the hackathon submission link. Submit your solution by clicking on the blue "Join Hackathon" button at the right side of the page and filling out the forms. Finalists might be invited to do a 10-minute online presentation before the winners are selected.

Please make sure to review the hackathon rules before your submission. By submitting a video, you are acknowledging that these materials may be used to promote the hackathon, without extra obligation to you.

Financial Assistance for Projects

We can financially support your projects! If you need to purchase equipment or services to complete your project, please let us know about the details by filling out this form by December 10. Examples include Cloud services, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, sensors, etc. We will review the submissions and if your request is eligible, we will support you in purchasing the items.

Evaluation

Submissions will be evaluated by a team of judges from different STEM backgrounds. Solutions will be judged based on the following criteria and weighted accordingly:

20% – User experience of the technical solution, quality of the report for concept ideas
20% – Innovation & creativity
20% – Impact & potential
20% – Quality of the implementation and/or research.
20% - Final presentation

Winners will be announced after the final presentations.

Prizes

There will be monetary prizes for the selected submissions of both categories:

Top solution: $ 500 CAD
Multiple runner up awards

All finalists invited to present their submission will receive honorable mention certificates and winners will be recognized via social media.

Mentor Registration is Closed Now!

Mentors are valuable part of this event. We welcome industry and academia professionals and PhD students from all STEM related fields to join HackTogether as a mentor. If you are interested in being a mentor, please fill out our mentor registration form. We will review the submitted forms and contact the mentors at the end of November 2020.

If you have any questions, please contact us at hacktogetheralberta@gmail.com.

Organizers

Department of Mathematics and Computing - Mount Royal University
IEEE Women in Engineering - Southern Alberta Section