Students also take first place in IBM sponsor prize

Kent State University students (from left to right) Paul
Dilyard, Robin Bonatesta, Matt Allen, Alfred Shaker and
Jack Kenyon earned accolades for developing technology
prototypes over a course of 36 hours at the University of
Michigan hackathon competition.

Kent State University was recognized at the fall 2014 University of Michigan MHacks competition where two student teams received accolades for developing technology prototypes over a course of 36 hours from Sept. 5-7. The hackathon attracted more than 1,000 participants from more than 100 colleges around the world. A hackathon brings together programmers, interface designers and other digital and graphics specialists over a specified period of time to collaborate and create innovative technologies.

Matthew Allen, a senior computer design animation and game design major in Kent State’s College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology; Alfred Shaker, a senior computer science major; and Jack Kenyon, a junior psychology major, both in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences, placed in the top 10 at the competition with their project LeapVR DJ, a virtual reality DJ experience that uses the LEAP Motion controller and Oculus Rift. The Oculus Rift allows a person to look around the venue and experience the crowd, lights and fog, while the LEAP Motion controller allows a person to control the music and be a virtual DJ.

“It was exciting for our team to be recognized in the top 10 at one of the two foremost leading hackathons in the nation,” says Allen, who serves as student director of technology at Kent State’s Blackstone LaunchPad.

“It was really amazing to see Matt model the set, and then for Alfred to write code that made the objects do things when you virtually touched them,” Kenyon says. “I contributed the music that the judges ‘DJ-ed’ to.”

“I plan on extending this into a full, virtual DJ gaming experience,” says Shaker.

Co-leaders of Kent State student organization Hacksu, Paul Dilyard, a senior digital science major, and Robin Bonatesta, a junior computer science and fashion merchandising major and Kent State Google Student Ambassador, took home a top-sponsored prize at the event for incorporating IBM Bluemix’s UX for their project Hackpot. Hackpot is a crowdsourcing Web app for hackathon sponsorship. Dilyard and Bonatesta won a two-day, all-expense paid trip to Austin, Texas, to tour the IBM Design Studio.

"We learned that the best ideas come from problems that we experience every day,” Dilyard says. “We found a problem with hackathon sponsorship that we personally face and fixed it with a simple crowdfunding solution.”

The five Kent State students, who are members of Hacksu, are involved in organizing the largest hackathon in the state of Ohio. The event, Kent Hack Enough, will take place this year from Oct. 24-26 at the University Library.

For more information about Hacksu or the upcoming hackathon, email hacksu@cs.kent.edu.