2024 Hawaiʻi Annual Code Challenge 1st place winner Gabrielle Dang (Photo courtesy: State of Hawaiʻi Office of Enterprise Technology Services)
Students from the University of Hawaiʻi captured first and second place in the 2024 Hawaiʻi Annual Code Challenge (HACC), winning a combined $5,000.
HACC is an annual event that solicits challenges from state departments and community groups and asks student, amateur and professional coders to develop technology applications to help solve specific problems. This year's challenges ranged from improving the state's open data portal, better energy efficiency and creating a game to help identify bird species in Hawaiʻi. The 9th annual event was held November 16, at UH West Oʻahu.
Gabrielle Dang presenting her project (Photo courtesy: State of Hawaiʻi Office of Enterprise Technology Services)
Gabrielle Dang won first place in the college category and the "people's choice award" for her educational tool to help children learn about energy conservation and sustainability. The web application, developed for the Hawaiʻi Keiki Museum, allows children to manage household appliances on a virtual tropical island. Players must balance energy consumption strategically. Overuse causes the island to sink, therefore, it teaches environmental awareness through gameplay.
"I was quite shocked and in disbelief. This was my first time participating in a hackathon, especially as a solo participant who switched careers from being in the medical field about a year ago," Dang said. "I had gone through a lot of challenges throughout this process, and it was very rewarding to know that my solution had a positive impact and could potentially be put into production at the Hawaiʻi Keiki Museum in Kona."
Dang graduated from UH Mānoa with a degree in molecular cell biology. She is now pursuing a computer science career after completing the Adobe Digital Academy program---an initiative that allows underrepresented students from non-traditional backgrounds to pursue a career in the tech industry. Dang is at Leeward Community College completing her prerequisites to attend UH Mānoa's master's in computer science program.
Learn more about Dang's project.
2024 Hawaiʻi Annual Code Challenge 2nd place winner Haumāna Exchange (Photo courtesy: State of Hawaiʻi Office of Enterprise Technology Services)
Haumāna Exchange, created by a team of UH Mānoa computer science students, won second place in the college category. Haumāna Exchange aims to empower student entrepreneurs by providing a supportive platform that bridges academic learning and real-world experience, fostering innovation, developing professional skills, and creating opportunities for student-led business growth at UH Mānoa.
The team includes Jarell Ballesteros, Lionel Derrick Roxas, Ralph Ramos, Ellie Ishii and Victor Hoang. Learn more about their project.
UH President David Lassner told the competitors that the HACC is an opportunity to develop and share both their technical and soft skills.
"As the former VP for information technology and now president, I have spent a lot of time trying to help Hawaiʻi develop a stronger tech sector to diversify our economy," Lassner said. "The HACC is a way we bring together those who want to develop technology solutions with public service providers who have challenges to address. This event shows off both your development skills as well as everything else you need to thrive in any workplace including communication, collaboration, initiative, and grit."
