麻豆传媒

ESTEVAN – Southeast College students from the Computer Science Training Through Projects (CSTTP) course have earned an honourable mention at the University of Regina's first hackathon, organized by the Computer Science Student Society (CSSS).

The hackathon, held overnight from March 14-15 at the U of R, focused on sustainability while challenging participants to develop technical solutions inspired by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The Southeast College sent two teams of three members each to compete against full-time university students.

One of the teams, consisting of Allister Watson, Negin Marashi and Christian Quin, developed a gamified recycling application where users gain points for recycling. Their innovative project earned them an honourable mention, ranking them approximately third or fourth out of 17 teams.

Mika Leal, Zeke Smith and mentor Ryan Gustafson comprised the other team.

"I am extremely proud of these students who competed against full-time university computer science students and represented Estevan and Southeast College incredibly well. They really showed that our students are learning real-world valuable skills and experience in software design, computer programming and project development," said Gustafson, who is the instructor of the CSTTP class.

The hackathon also provided an excellent opportunity for Southeast College and the Centre of Sustainable Innovation to connect with the U of R and showcase the innovation, research and training happening within the community. A press release from the college said this event opens up opportunities for future collaboration and partnerships to solve real-world problems through applied research.

In addition to the hackathon, the students received a personal tour of the U of R's microgrid, including their solar panels, microgrid controller and battery energy storage system (BESS), led by Dr. Irfan Al-Anbagi, a professor at the University of Regina and director of their internet of things (IoT) and microgrid research labs.