{"326671":{"#nid":"326671","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Students Organize Tech\u0027s First National Hackathon","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESeeing students huddled around computers for weekends at a time is a regular sight at Tech \u2014 but it\u2019s not always for classwork. Sometimes, students are devoting the only two days (and nights) they have off each week to hack.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHacking has become part of campus computer science culture and has even permeated other areas of science and technology, but \u201chacking\u201d may not mean what you think. These students aren\u2019t trying to infiltrate a system or breach a security barrier. They are trying to come up with new and innovative ways to look at problems.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHacking means to build something that works quickly and efficiently,\u201d said Pavleen Thukral, a computer science major and co-director of HackGT, which will convene around 1,000 students on Tech\u2019s campus this weekend.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHackGT is Tech\u2019s first national hackathon, with a first prize bounty of $60,000 and sponsors that include both local startups and global leaders such as Microsoft, Apple, and AT\u0026amp;T.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s really going to be something amazing, because people will have the access to technology, mentors, and a room full of students who are likeminded to spend an entire weekend building something,\u201d Thukral said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe basic formula for a hackathon is simple: Give young scientists and engineers 36 hours, food, mentors, and some incentives, and they will spend the weekend creating and innovating.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHacking in this context is disrupting the flow of how things are traditionally done,\u201d said Yogi Patel, a graduate student in biomedical engineering and co-director of Forge, a medical technology incubator program co-founded by students at Tech and Emory University.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EForge hosted 150 attendees at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/atlanta\/news\/2014\/08\/25\/forge-wraps-up-first-health-care-hackathon-in.html\u0022\u003Eits first hackathon\u003C\/a\u003E in August. The event, like Forge, was geared toward the creation of medical devices. The winning team proposed an idea called Chatterbox that prints conversation topics on diapers as a way to guide and promote cognitive interaction between parents and children. Not only did the hackathon give students the chance to design something with a real-world application, it also brought together clinicians, students, engineers, and others from around the city.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe end result was pretty awesome, because we not only had teams that won prizes and are now working to turn these ideas into startups, but the event set Tech, Emory, and Atlanta on the map in terms of what we\u2019re able to do as a city for the medical technology world,\u201d Patel said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExternal companies are eager to partner with students and capitalize on their talents. In March, AT\u0026amp;T hosted a mobile app hackathon on campus. Last year, Intel sponsored a Code for Good hackathon with a theme of teaching healthy lifestyle choices to combat childhood obesity. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENo matter the theme, hackathons give students the chance to put their skills to the test and hone them even further.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re there to build projects, learn technology, and foster education in the best way we know how \u2014\u0026nbsp;through practice,\u201d Thukral said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough hacking has been gaining more attention in recent years, Tech has been hosting hacking events since at least 2010 with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.hungryhungryhackers.org\/\u0022\u003EHungry Hungry Hackers\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(H3), hosted annually by the Georgia Tech Research Institute.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETech\u2019s faculty regularly make national news for hacking of various sorts. In June, researchers in the College of Computing \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/georgia-tech-research-identifies-android-security-weaknesses-caused-performance-design\u0022\u003Eidentified a security weakness\u003C\/a\u003E in Android software. The same group also \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.wired.com\/2014\/08\/yes-hackers-could-build-an-iphone-botnetthanks-to-windows\/\u0022\u003Eidentified weaknesses in iOS devices\u003C\/a\u003E and presented on both findings at the Black Hat conference in August. Last year they proved that iPhones \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ajc.com\/weblogs\/biz-beat\/2013\/jun\/05\/georgia-tech-trio-hack-apple-devices-usb-charger\/\u0022\u003Ecould be hacked\u003C\/a\u003E with what looks like a benign USB charger. \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/people\/thad-starner\u0022\u003EThad Starner\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing and a technical lead for Google Glass, will provide a closing keynote at HackGT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHackGT will host students from around the country this weekend.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"HackGT will host students from around the country this weekend."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2014-09-19 11:21:08","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:07","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-09-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-09-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"326631":{"id":"326631","type":"image","title":"Forge Hackathon","body":null,"created":"1449245041","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:04:01","changed":"1475895037","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:37","alt":"Forge Hackathon","file":{"fid":"200231","name":"14887126890_b7e64ca786_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/14887126890_b7e64ca786_k_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/14887126890_b7e64ca786_k_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":864327,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/14887126890_b7e64ca786_k_0.jpg?itok=cB1cQUJj"}},"326611":{"id":"326611","type":"image","title":"Forge Hackathon","body":null,"created":"1449245041","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:04:01","changed":"1475895037","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:37","alt":"Forge Hackathon","file":{"fid":"200229","name":"15073370462_cb8e37e3c3_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/15073370462_cb8e37e3c3_k_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/15073370462_cb8e37e3c3_k_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1592396,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/15073370462_cb8e37e3c3_k_0.jpg?itok=lAiNRxBc"}},"326621":{"id":"326621","type":"image","title":"Forge Hackathon","body":null,"created":"1449245041","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:04:01","changed":"1475895037","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:37","alt":"Forge Hackathon","file":{"fid":"200230","name":"14887172738_2e56ec528e_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/14887172738_2e56ec528e_k_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/14887172738_2e56ec528e_k_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1168248,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/14887172738_2e56ec528e_k_0.jpg?itok=cZvER5Pi"}},"326531":{"id":"326531","type":"image","title":"HackGT Logo Image","body":null,"created":"1449245041","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:04:01","changed":"1475895037","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:37","alt":"HackGT Logo Image","file":{"fid":"200227","name":"hackgtnodate.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hackgtnodate_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hackgtnodate_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":148246,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/hackgtnodate_0.jpeg?itok=jMfZxBrN"}}},"media_ids":["326631","326611","326621","326531"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/startupexchange.gatech.edu\/","title":"Startup Exchange"},{"url":"http:\/\/hackgt.com\/","title":"HackGT"},{"url":"https:\/\/greyhat.gatech.edu\/","title":"Grey Hat"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/georgia-tech-sponsors-souths-largest-hackathon","title":"Georgia Tech Sponsors South\u0027s Largest Hackathon"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"103781","name":"hackathons"},{"id":"98591","name":"hackgt"},{"id":"98601","name":"hacking"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}