This past week, six Texas A&M University Computer Science and Engineering students, Coulton Vento, Eleni Mijalis, Bob Timm, Jose Manriquez, Christopher Nolan and Rafael Moreno were accepted to participate in the prestigious hackathon at the University of Pennsylvania called PennApps. The students were among 28 students from Texas that were accepted, and among a mere 700 out of approximately 2,500 that applied.
PennApps is the premier student-run college hackathon where students, who are the top high school and college developers in their area, are given the opportunity to work in teams to create a web, mobile or hardware application. This year PennApps is celebrating its tenth iteration, hence naming this year’s event PennApps X.
This year is also special for PennApps because, for the first time, participants will be hacking to solve health and medical problems. PennApps has partnered with Penn Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania Health System, to get medical professionals and programmers on the same page, giving them the ability to work side-by-side to fight the problems within the healthcare system.
“PennApps is holding a pre-event workshop to give out more information about the Health Hack, which I am hoping to attend," said Eleni Mijalis. “As a biology major and computer science minor, it is extremely beneficial when I can put the two subjects together. This is an opportunity for me to figure out what my future career might hold!”
PennApps X will start on Friday, September 12 and will continue through Sunday, September 14 with the closing ceremony and prize distribution.
“I think that networking is the most valuable part about this opportunity," said Jose Manriquez. “Many great people will be attending and it is also the perfect opportunity to talk to recruiters and sponsors. I am really looking forward to meeting new people and making new connections.”