Capital One, COUNTRY Financial Capture Top Prizes in Research Park Summer Hackathon
Twelve teams of 69 total student interns competed in the second annual Research Park Hackathon on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. This 15-hour hackathon encouraged students to form cross-functional teams, build solutions, and showcase their projects.
Winners for six awards were announced at the “Fire At Five” Happy Hour on Thursday, June 27, 2024. Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Hackathon:
- 1st Place: Capital One, “Class Connect”
- 2nd Place: EnterpriseWorks/AbbVie/John Deere, “Wandertunes”
- 3rd Place: Kohler, “Refugee Haven Search”
- Notable Innovation: EnterpriseWorks/AbbVie/John Deere, “Wandertunes”
- Seamless Integration: Capital One, “Class Connect”
- Skillful Execution: COUNTRY Financial, “GeoGroove”
The winning project, “Class Connect,” is a browser extension that enhances learning by providing questions and answers for students watching lecture videos. “We wanted to create a project that was both applicable and useful to us as college students,” said team member Ishaan Bhandari during Capital One’s presentation on Thursday.
Watch Capital One demonstrate “Class Connect” below.
This year’s Hackathon prompt was “Bring Your Own Data,” requiring participants to leverage data from the source of their choice to create data-centric projects, including websites, applications, and extensions. “This prompt is accessible to students from all majors and academic backgrounds,” said Hackathon organizer James Kabbes. “I am always impressed with what the students build in such a short amount of time!”
Twelve companies participated in the Hackathon: AbbVie, AGCO Corporation, Ameren, Brunswick, Capital One, COUNTRY Financial, FrostDefense Envirotech, John Deere Technology Innovation Center, Kohler, Rivian, SeriesFarm, and State Farm.
Individuals from these companies formed twelve teams, six of which were named finalists and presented to a panel of judges on Thursday, June 27. Finalists included Kohler‘s “Refugee Haven Search,” COUNTRY Financial‘s “GeoGroove,” AGCO+Ameren‘s “OccuPi,” Capital One‘s “Class Connect,” Rivian‘s “EV Charger Location Optimization,” and UIRP/EW‘s “Wandertunes.”
Thank you to everyone who helped to organize and those who participated in this event, including judges Matt Ahrens (NVIDIA), Bryan Goode (Research Park), Dustin Mayfield-Jones (Research Park), and Jarai Carter (John Deere). A special thanks to John Deere software engineer James Kabbes for creating the event structure and developing the prompt.
View photos from the event on this media gallery, or learn more about past and future Research Park Hackathons on this website page.