Computer Science Student Competes in Google Hackathon

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Anna Irwin

In October, Anna Irwin, a junior majoring in computer science, spent 21 hours creating an Android app as part of the Google Hackathon. The hackathon, which was organized through the Society of Women in Engineering conference, brought together around 50 computer science students, mostly women, to show off their creativity and programming skills. The students divided into teams and spent around 14 hours creating an app.

Irwin’s team built an app called GeoPics, which allows users to upload a picture onto a map of the world. The pictures would appear on the map for 24 hours, creating a real-time picture of current events. “The idea is that you could use it for news,” Irwin explained. “You could go to a part of the world and see what was happening through pictures that people put up.”

Irwin built the map and the user interface for the app. She explained that the biggest challenges were learning how to program an Android app, which uses a special language, and figuring out how to integrate all the parts that were created by different team members.

“My favorite thing was the experience of working with a team and creating something,” she said. “In class, you don’t get to do a lot of programming in teams. That experience will definitely be useful in job interviews.”

Another new experience for Irwin was participating in a computer science event that was dominated by female, rather than male, students. “There was more communication,” she remembered. “The room was a lot louder.”

Irwin is still connected to some of the team members from the hackathon, and she said the networking was helpful for learning about things like internships. Irwin will be interning with Lockheed Martin this summer.