andreis

Spring 2022 ATLAS Student Awards

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 21:36:15 +0000

Spring 2022 ATLAS Student Awards Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/22/2022 - 15:36

Graduating in May 2022 with degrees in Creative Technology and Design, the graduate and undergraduate students listed below are recognized for exceptional accomplishments, having demonstrated initiative in their academic and extracurricular activities, completing outstanding research or creative projects, or contributing significantly to the ATLAS community.

Graduating in May 2022 with degrees in Creative Technology and Design, these graduate and undergraduate students listed are recognized for exceptional accomplishments, having demonstrated initiative in their academic and extracurricular activities, completing outstanding research or creative projects, or contributing significantly to the ATLAS community.

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ATLAS students take home HackCU's top awards

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 22:13:49 +0000

ATLAS students take home HackCU's top awards Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/04/2022 - 16:13

For the second year running, Creative Technology and Design students won first place at the largest university hackathon in the Rocky Mountain region, HackCU, held this year March 5-6 on the CU �鶹ӰԺ campus. Another student, whose two majors include CTD and computer science, took second place this year as the sole member of his team.

Océane Andreis (MS-CTD), Katherine Tran (BS-CTD), Sangati Shah (engineering and business, CTD minor) and Patricia Chin (computer science, minoring in CTD and business) together won first prize overall, as well as the social impact prize, for their project TL-DR, which helps users understand what they consent to when agreeing to data privacy terms and conditions. The team of four formed after working together as organizers of the ATLAS Institute’s 2022 T9Hacks, a hackathon that aims to attract women and other groups typically underrepresented at such events. Michał Bodzianowski (majoring in computer science and CTD, with a business minor) won second prize overall for his solo invention, Creatle, a web-based game engine/platform where technical novices can create their own remixes of the classic Wordle game. Creatle also won the Best Game and Entertainment Prize.

Last year, CTD undergraduate students Mason Moran and Colin Soguero, working alongside Colin's brother, Luke Soguero (computer science), took first prize at HackCU for their project, ChessLens, an augmented reality application that helps chess players improve their game.

HackCU is an annual invention marathon where participants build and share their creations in just 24 hours. This year there were 29 submissions from 96 participants. The TL-DR team and Bodzianowski won electronics and other prizes.

All of this year's ATLAS winners said that participating in T9Hacks was a key component of their success.

“We felt inspired by the T9Hacks participants who worked incredibly hard, and we wanted to work just as hard,” Andreis said.

Inspired by others

Bodzianowski said his Creatle invention was inspired by T9Hack’s winning entry, Complexify, a Worldle-like game platform.

“Creatle is my attempt to create a platform for people to create, share and play their own remixes of the classic Wordle format with minimum effort,” he said.

But things did not go well at first for Bodzianowski. First he arrived an hour late to the hackathon; then at 3 a.m. he decided to scrap the experimental technologies he was using and restart his project. He almost quit, he said, but then pivoted to the technologies he used during the 2022 T9Hacks hackathon.

“With the help of a copious amount of caffeine, I was able to get a working prototype of Creatle finished just in time for judging,” he said.

At that point the actual "create" part of Creatle wasn't working— instead Bodzianowski showed the judges how he made the games through a development database and focused on the technical and design aspects of the project.

TL-DR allows users to take control of their data by encouraging them to stay informed about their data privacy. The solution is two-pronged: first a Google Chrome extension displays the terms and conditions of a viewed platform in short digestible bullet points. There’s also a website that helps users visualize the data that they willingly provide when blindly agreeing to website terms and conditions.

All of TL-DR’s team members had completed ethics classes where data privacy was covered, such as the "Meaning of Information Technology." Those ATLAS classes helped inspire their project idea, Tran said.

“Most people accept the lack of data privacy as the price to pay for free services,” she said. “Having learned about the extensive information that huge technology companies collect and seeing how invasive and harmful it can be, we felt motivated to respond to this topic.”

Everyone on the TL-DR team played to their strengths, Shah said. Andreis coded the Chrome extension and worked alongside Tran on the website. Chin prototyped the team’s visuals while Shah pulled together the sample data and reviewed terms and conditions.

“In the midst of all the coding and designing, we had lots of fun eating the food, attending the side events, and, of course, just enjoying each others’ company—like any other team would,” Tran said.

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Confidence in coding: ATLAS PhD student recalls impact of T9Hacks

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 23:10:41 +0000

Confidence in coding: ATLAS PhD student recalls impact of T9Hacks Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/01/2022 - 16:10

At just 8 years old, Casey Hunt taught herself some basic web skills so she could help her father develop a website for his small business. As an adult, she developed software and managed data for a pharmaceutical company. But despite those experiences, she lacked confidence about her coding abilities, she said.

A turning point came when Hunt’s team won the 2020 T9Hacks, a hackathon at CU �鶹ӰԺ’s ATLAS Institute aimed at promoting interest in creative technologies, coding, design and making among college women, nonbinary individuals and other groups that are underrepresented in technical fields. This year, the seventh annual “invention marathon” happens Feb. 18-19 at the ATLAS Institute.

“I was undervaluing my skills because I didn’t know where I fell in the coding spectrum,” said Hunt, a Creative Technology and Design PhD student who builds web applications in the ATLAS THING Lab. “After winning T9, I was willing to take on more code-based projects; before T9 I would not have had the confidence to say to my advisor that coding was part of my skill set.”

At the 2020 event, Hunt and her team worked through the night to develop “Brain Break,'' an award-winning project that periodically encourages those using Google Chrome to take breaks from the Internet by switching to healthy exercises or brain games.

If you go

Who: Open to current college students and recent college graduates. Participants need not be CU �鶹ӰԺ students or graduates to attend.

What: Seventh annual T9Hacks, a hackathon designed for women and traditionally underrepresented students, but open to everyone.

When: Feb. 18, 4:30 p.m. – Feb. 19, 9 p.m.

Where: �鶹ӰԺ, Roser ATLAS Center, 1125 18th St.
Cost: Free

Etc.:

Also, in an effort to have a greener event, organizers ask that participants bring a reusable water bottle.

Additional ways to participate:

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T9Hacks creates new event for high school students

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 21:43:32 +0000

T9Hacks creates new event for high school students Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/13/2021 - 15:43

New this year, ATLAS Institute’s T9Hacks is partnering with STEMblazers to host Au{t9}umn Hacks, an eight-hour hackathon specially designed to promote interest in creative technologies, coding, design and making among high school students who identify as female and non-binary. The event takes place Nov. 7 in at the Roser ATLAS building on the CU �鶹ӰԺ campus.

The mini-hackathon is patterned after the institute’s highly successful, 36-hour T9Hacks, an invention marathon for college-age students. Traditionally women and nonbinary individuals often make up less than 25 percent of participants at mainstream hackathons; last year 74 percent of T9Hack’s participants were women and non-binary, and for 44 percent of the attendees, it was their first hackathon.

“I wish I could have attended a hackathon in high school so I could have explored coding in a more fun and less rigid environment,” said Océane Andréis, a second-year ATLAS graduate student (CTD-Social Impact), who along with Neha Kunapuli, a senior majoring in computer science, are co-organizing the event. “I almost gave up, but through events like T9Hacks, I fell in love with coding in college.”

T9 references the Title IX federal civil rights law that was passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibiting gender-based discrimination in education. Student organizers emphasize that no programming or other technical skills are required to participate in the free event, which includes workshops, meals, games and swag.

If you go

Who: Open to high school students
What: Au{t9}umn Hacks, a hackathon designed for individuals identifying as female or non-binary, and anyone belonging to a traditionally underrepresented group in tech, but open to everyone
When: Sunday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Where: Roser ATLAS Building, 1125 18th St., �鶹ӰԺ
Cost: FREE
Food: Provided

Registration Required

During Au{t9}umn Hacks, participants will choose one of two hour-long guided workshops–Pixel Art Animation or Web Development–intended to help kickstart their projects. Those taking the Pixel Art Animation workshop will learn how to create pixel art frames and use them for animation. In the Web Development workshop, participants will acquire website coding skills—HTML, CSS and Javascript.

Students can work individually or in groups on goals such as creating a website from scratch, authoring a simple video game, creating an animation, a design-based project or some other novel creation. The all-day event will wrap up on Sunday evening with a closing ceremony and celebration.

STEMblazers, based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, inspires girls to visualize themselves in science, technology, engineering and math professions.

T9Hacks has partnered with STEMblazers to host Au{t9}umn Hacks, a hackathon designed to promote interest in creative technologies, coding, design and making in high school students who identify as female, non-binary or from other groups underrepresented at mainstream hackathons.

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T9Hacks attracts more than 70 percent female participants

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 17:03:26 +0000

T9Hacks attracts more than 70 percent female participants Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/30/2021 - 11:03

More than 70 people attended ATLAS Institute's sixth annual T9Hacks on March 19-21, and more than 70 percent of them identified as female, meeting the organizers' goal of bringing in populations underrepresented in hackathons.

Typically held at the ATLAS Institute for 24 hours, this year’s hackathon had a virtual format and was extended to 36 hours. Participants from all over the United States and world took part in the event, with 25 institutions represented, including high schools, colleges and universities. Those partcipating came from diverse backgrounds spanning 34 different majors.

"The online format was a challenge especially for those with a huge time difference (from Mountain Daylight Time), but because of the online format we were able to meet people from different countries," said Océane Andréis, a first-year ATLAS graduate student (CTD-Social Impact) who co-organized the event with Neha Kunapuli, a junior majoring in computer science. "Being able to come together as creators and inventors with different backgrounds was really amazing."

T9Hacks promotes interest in creative technologies, coding, design and making, among college women, non-binary individuals, people of color, those with disabilities and others who are typically underrepresented during hackathons. Student organizers emphasize that no coding or other technical skills are required to participate in the "invention marathon," and that everyone is welcome.

Overall, 72 percent of T9Hacks' 2021 participants identified as female, and half were first-time hackathon participants.

ATLAS faculty, students and alumni were heavily involved in planning and running the event. Thirteen projects were submitted and nine winners selected by a panel of judges that included ATLAS faculty members Ellen Do, Sheiva Rezvani, Shaz Zamore, Justin Gitlin and Aileen Pierce; TAM alumnae Cassandra Goodby, Keren Megory-Cohen and Elsa Roeber; and Julia Uhr, PhD student, Aubrey Shick, ATLAS research affiliate, and Anna Cook, TAM alumna and MS-CTD student. Mentors included Matt Dickey, TAM and CTD MS alumus; Ari Klebanov, TAM alumus and engineer at ToolCASE, LLC and Chris Klette, ToolCASE, LLC engineer.

During the event, Matt Dickey conducted a web development workshop. Assistant Professor Daniel Leithinger and PhD Student Julia Uhr gave a virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) workshop and Annie Margaret, ATLAS instructor, led the participants in meditation.

In addition, a team of ATLAS students, including graduate students Sam Herwig and Emma Petersen (both CTD-Creative Industries) and Fiona Bell, PhD student, won the humanitarian award for their project, "The Disaster Displacement Database."

The organizers would like to extend a big thank you to the event sponsors, including the ATLAS Institute, Trimble, Tortuga AgTech, SparkFun Electronics, ToolCASE, LLC, and echoAR, as well as our partner, InVision.

T9Hacks 2021 Winners

Outstanding Social Impact - Project Global by Mahzabin Rashid Fariha and Humayra Rashid Safa

Outstanding Humanitarian - The Disaster Displacement Database by Fiona Bell, Sam Herwig, and Emma Petersen

Outstanding Maker - Foodie’s World! by Sahana Gokulakrishnan

Outstanding Entrepreneur - Change-My-Name (4 hour of sleep) by Ann Marie, Gwen, Spencer, and Charlotte

Outstanding Developer - Starcrossed Voyagers: The Perilous Planet by Allison Palmer, Jenna Rothe, James Ryan, and Emma Wenzel

EchoAR Award - Lesson mustAR by Ahelee Bhattacharya

Fans’ Choice - CSAG/The Invisible Line Project by Audrey Viland, Spencer Bajcar, and Greg Gassen

Rookie Award - Lively, Lovely (Li(o)vely) by Minso Kim and Catherine Xiao

Outstanding Artist - Poofy by Linh Nguyen & Dan Líu

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Q&A: Student organizers design inclusive hackathon to promote diversity

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 20:35:52 +0000

Q&A: Student organizers design inclusive hackathon to promote diversity Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/23/2021 - 13:35

Océane Andréis, (left) a first-year ATLAS graduate student (CTD-Social Impact), and Neha Kunapuli, (right) a junior majoring in computer science, stand in front of the ATLAS building. The two are co-organizers of this year’s T9Hacks.

ATLAS students will host the sixth annual T9Hacks the weekend of March 19-21, promoting interest in creative technologies, coding, design and making, among college women, non-binary individuals, people of color, those with disabilities and others who may have felt marginalized during hackathons or other technical activities. Student organizers emphasize that no coding or other technical skills are required to participate in the 36-hour invention marathon and that everyone is welcome.

Typically held at the ATLAS Institute, this year’s hackathon will have a virtual format.

Océane Andréis, a first-year ATLAS graduate student (CTD-Social Impact), and Neha Kunapuli, a junior majoring in computer science, are co-organizing this year’s event. “T9” refers to “Title IX,” an amendment to the Civil Rights Act prohibiting gender-based discrimination in education.

In the interview that follows, Andréis and Kunapuli discuss their involvement in the event.

ATLAS: What's new this year?

O: We really wanted to emphasize that we are including everyone, so that’s why the 2021 theme is “Everyone’s a Hacker.” Being a “hacker” doesn't just mean coding–it’s what cool things you can create, design and brainstorm in a set amount of time. Also, because of our inclusive theme, this year we will accept projects that aren’t code-based. We’re open to any solutions that participants can create in 36 hours.

N: It can be intimidating to attend hackathons, especially if you will be coding a lot. So we also changed T9’s tagline from being for “women and non-binaries” to being for “women and traditionally underrepresented students.” We hope to be more inclusive of people of color and those who may have felt marginalized. We want to create a safe space for everyone.

If you go

Who: Open to current college students and recent college graduates. Participants need not be CU �鶹ӰԺ students or graduates to attend.

What: T9Hacks, a hackathon designed for women and traditionally underrepresented students, but open to everyone.

Where: Online, via Zoom

When: Friday, March 19, 6p.m. MST, through Sunday, March 21, 9 a.m., MST

Cost: FREE

Register Now

Etc: Optional hardware checkout can be requested during event registration.

Additional ways to participate: Sign up to become a mentor and advise participants with their projects or teach workshops. Volunteer before or during the event and be part of an extraordinary team of students.

Another major change is that this year’s event will run virtually on two platforms, Zoom and gather.town. We’ll use Zoom for opening and closing ceremonies and announcements, as well as for breakout rooms for mentors and sponsors to meet with participants. On gather.town participants will interact with others as avatars. We hope the avatars will bump into each other and start conversations, as participants would during in-person hackathons.

There are also five new tracks this year: underserved populations; health; children and education; Earth protection and sustainable development; and equality. Seminars will be offered before the event so participants can learn about specific issues for each track to help them begin thinking about ideas that could help mitigate those problems.

Also, instead of the usual 24-hour hackathon, we spread the event over three days, so participants can get some sleep!

ATLAS: Tell me about your first experience with T9Hacks.

N: I first participated my freshman year, and my team coded a text-based adventure game. Until that point we had only completed one computer science class, but I felt comfortable because T9 was geared towards beginners. It was a great learning experience because company mentors showed us how to improve the game’s features.

Since I had such a great first experience, I became involved in planning T9 my sophomore year, taking charge of T9’s logistics, including the finances, catering and photography. I ran around during the event making sure mentors had what they needed and everyone was having a good time. It was definitely a busy day, but it was really fun.

ATLAS: You're very busy students. Why did you decide to organize the 2021 T9Hacks?

O: I really, really wanted to feel connected with ATLAS in a more profound way than just my classes, and I thought T9Hacks would be a great opportunity to connect with other CTD students and professors. Because this is my first year as a grad student, and because everything is remote, I didn’t know anyone. Through joining T9 Hacks, I met other grad students. Our T9 meetings are not like our usual Zoom class conversations about homework; it's about how we can make this experience more fun for everyone. I appreciate that it’s a different conversation. And I really like that T9 is for everyone.

N: I just loved running around last year talking to different people and helping where needed. I wanted that experience again, although this year it will be different because the event is virtual.

I was super-excited to get on board. Honestly, I just like the environment of T9Hacks. Everybody on our team is on top of things and passionate about what they are doing, which is really exciting.

ATLAS: What are your hopes for the 2021 T9Hacks?

N: Last year we had a great turnout, with more than 50 percent women and non-binary folks. I am hoping we get at least the same numbers this year, and that people of color, the LGBT community and other underrepresented groups participate.

O: I hope participants gain confidence from realizing they can create an awesome project in little time. I also hope they will have fun and learn new skills. And though it’s an online format, I still hope people make great connections with other participants.

ATLAS students will host the sixth annual T9Hacks the weekend of March 19-21, promoting interest in creative technologies, coding, design and making, among college women and others traditionally underrepresented in hackathons.

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