Dual Major Undergrad Places First With Her Team in National Hackathon

Dual Major Undergrad Places First With Her Team in National Hackathon
Ananya Vangoor

Earlier this month, Computer Science and Computer Engineering and Mathematical Sciences student Ananya Vangoor had the honors in competing — and placing — in this year's national CodeForGood Hackathon hosted by JP Morgan Chase & Co.

After passing through prerequisite coding tests, an interview and a selection process of hundreds of other applicants, Vangoor was invited to JP Morgan Chase's campus in Plano, Texas, where she took part in two days of seminars, networking and problem solving in the company of other students from across the country.

Vangoor posted on her LinkedIn after the event, that "it was a weekend filled with productive coding, lots of food, and to cap it all off, we emerged as winners of our organization."

Leading up to the final day of the event, Vangoor was placed into a team of six other students and an expert mentor to tackle problem statements made by a panel of real-world organizations.

"Our [team's] mission was to lend our technical skills to aid a non-profit organization in overcoming a challenging issue," Vangoor said, "and we had the honor of working closely with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)."

Following 24 continuous hours of coding, back-to-back communications with MADD and seven rounds of judging, her team won first in their category.

CodeForGood is part of JP Morgan Chase & Co.'s Social Good Hackathons, where students are invited work alongside employees to apply their knowledge in building prototypes that "help social good organizations to better serve their constituents." Social Good Hackathons take place in person or virtually across multiple cities of Argentina, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Students enrolled in a bachelors degree programs are eligible to apply to be in the hackathon and can sign up for future communications of next year's competition on JP Morgan Chase & Co.'s website.

Headlines

PetSmart CEO J.K. Symancyk to Speak at Walton College Commencement

J.K. Symancyk is an alumnus of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and serves on the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board.

Faulkner Center, Arkansas PBS Partner to Screen Documentary 'Gospel'

The Faulkner Performing Arts Center will host a screening of Gospel, a documentary exploring the origin of Black spirituality through sermon and song, in partnership with Arkansas PBS at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2.

UAPD Officers Mills and Edwards Honored With New Roles

Veterans of the U of A Police Department, Matt Mills has been promoted to assistant chief, and Crandall Edwards has been promoted to administrative captain.

Community Design Center's Greenway Urbanism Project Wins LIV Hospitality Design Award

"Greenway Urbanism" is one of six urban strategies proposed under the Framework Plan for Cherokee Village, a project that received funding through an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Spring Bike Drive Refurbishes Old Bikes for New Students

All donated bikes will be given to Pedal It Forward, a local nonprofit that will refurbish your bike and return it to the U of A campus to be gifted to a student in need. Hundreds of students have already benefited.

News Daily