Engineering Students Take Top Prize at eHacks Competition
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Engineering (SOE) hosted the eHacks competition March 3-5 at the T-REX Innovation Center in downtown St. Louis. The annual collegiate hackathon, organized by the Computer Association of SIUE (CAOS), made its return after a hiatus during the pandemic.
"eHacks was founded with the goals of learning, community building and fun,” said Dennis Bouvier, PhD, professor of computer science in the SOE. “The students certainly have fun at eHacks, but more importantly, they gain confidence in their abilities, experience teamwork, and discover they can learn on their own.”
Students from SIUE, Saint Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis, Lindenwood University and University of Missouri St. Louis formed teams to produce a product of their choosing in a 40-hour competition. The Best Game winner, “Goose, Gooose, Goooose,” created by a SIUE team of students, featured SIUE’s Eddie the Cougar as he fought to save the school from a goose apocalypse.
“Our game development was enjoyable, rewarding and insightful,” said David Shimkas, a SIUE graduate computer science student. “This was some of our teammate’s first experience with burnout/crunch. This helped me understand the importance of these types of hackathons for the personal growth of individuals as there is a lot of give-and-take in various regards."
SIUE alumni, representing various companies like Microsoft, AT&T, J.B. Hunt, ArchitectNOW, Slalom and First Bank supported the event.
“I absolutely love having the alumni mentors present and the connections that form between the students and alumni,” Bouvier added. “Most, if not all, alumni mentors are past participants and organizers of eHacks events.”
eHacks 2023 was presented by Object Computing, Inc (OCI). OCI speakers gave two informative talks during the weekend-long event. Other supporters include T-Rex, NISC, Starburst Data, ArchitectNOW, SIUE Graduate School, 1904 Labs and Spire Energy.
Photos: eHacks Winner of Best Game (L-R) Tyler Reinhardt, Sinan “Justin” Faruq, Gavin Witsken, Cole Warden, Emmorie Brown and David Shimkus.
SIUE’s Dennis Bouvier, PhD, professor of computer science talks to the eHacks participants.
