Cereal Killers hack their way to glory

Students of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMUQ) and Qatar University (QU) have taken part in a 24-hour Hackathon. This was an opportunity to demonstrate applications that have the promise of contributing to the next generation of innovations in this country and beyond. Games, a motivating grade-projector tool and an online bulletin board were some of the applications that students designed and created in just 24 hours. The event was organised by students of CMUQ. Going beyond the negative connotations of the term “hacking”, Carnegie Mellon defines it as using programming to build something cool. The Carnegie Mellon Hackathon required teams of students to develop a project or an application idea - be it a game, a mobile application or a web application - into a working application. Students who participated in the event - referred to as “hackers” - could use any technology to build their applications. This encouraged them to showcase their creativity, range of skills and potential. Forty students, including 34 from CMUQ and six from QU, had gathered for the inaugural Hackathon. Each team presented a project to a panel of industry judges. The panel included Sirraj Kara, senior engineer (embedded software), Williams F1; Dick Olsson, Drupal lead developer, Al Jazeera; and Zaid Haque, lead desktop publishing officer, Hamad International Airport. This also gave the students a chance to get first-hand experience of how industry professionals in Qatar use technology to further their business goals. While the event might appear to be geared to those with technical backgrounds, the Hackathon gave people from a variety of fields an opportunity to contribute. Sidra Alam, a senior in computer science at CMUQ and a member of the organising committee, was inspired to bring Hackathon to Qatar after participating in a similar event in Pittsburgh.“We were surprised at how many people here were inspired by the idea; we didn’t expect such an overwhelming response,” she said. “Our aim is to infuse a culture of building applications.” “This was such a great opportunity for students in Qatar. I was so impressed with all the teams and see a bright future for each of these students. I want to see an extension of all of the applications showcased and for them to be put into use in Qatar and the rest of the world,” said Haque, a Carnegie Mellon Qatar information systems graduate. “I learned so much from Carnegie Mellon. I learned about design principles and how people interacted with technology, as well as a strong work ethic.” Among the winners was Tronica, a web-based question-and-answer interface similar to Apple’s Siri product. Its creators, Cereal Killers, won the prize for the Best Hack. The application was able to answer questions asked by the audience and impressed the crowd when it answered a question regarding the projected opening date of Qatar’s new airport. Grade Project App, a mobile application that calculates students’ GPAs, won team IScotty the prize for Best Design. Team BalJEET was named the Best Freshman Team thanks to its creation, Baljeet Adventure, a three-layer brain-stimulating maze game. The Best Idea award went to team Brainiacs. “I am proud of the student organisers and the participants. This experience will help students in their careers as it teaches them how to work in a team and apply what they have learned in class to create new technology. The 24-hour deadline emphasises the need for the students to think logically about the best way to design and develop their applications,” said Thierry Sans, assistant teaching professor at CMUQ.