500 participants creating innovative software and hardware hacks in less than 36 hours.
HackUMass, powered by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, is the largest hackathon in the Pioneer Valley, attracting over 500 hackers from all over the country to one arena. In 36 hours, participants will bring innovative ideas to life through both software and hardware projects.
Prizes
$18,650 in prizes
Finalist (8)
Each member of the 8 finalist teams will receive one NVIDIA SHIELD, courtesy of NVIDIA.
Champion (3)
Each member of the 3 champion teams will receive a Myo and Pebble Steel, courtesy of the HackUMass Team.
IBM Bluemix Cloud Development Innovation Award
Win $12k in IBM Cloud Credits and be fastracked into MassChallenge. Students who register for and use IBM Bluemix for HackUMass, qualify for the IBM Bluemix Cloud Development Innovation Award. IBM will present one Cloud Development Innovation Award to a HackUMass team for the most innovative use of IBM Bluemix. Selected winning team will be awarded admission into the IBM Global Entrepreneur Cloud Start Up program, and receive $12K of IBM Cloud Credit. In collaboration with MassChallenge, the world's largest startup accelerator and competition, winners of the IBM Bluemix Cloud Development Innovation Award at HackUMass will also be fastracked into the 2nd round of judging at MassChallenge 2015. All prizes, or any prize components will be awarded to the winning team as a whole and not to each individual member of a wining team. IBM is not responsible for any disputes among team members concerning prize or prize components.
Communication Innovation Award
Each team member will receive a glass trophy and a $50 visa gift card, courtesy of Verizon Wireless.
Best Use of TripAdvisor API
TripAdvisor will award up to 4 Dell Chromebook to the team that best uses TripAdvisor API
Best UMass Dining Hack
UMass Dining will award their top prize to the best hack related to instant customer feedback and interaction, dining analytics, and/or location based promotions. Design, App UI/UX, and dashboard layout are all things that will be part of the hack, as people will aim to build complete apps around the features. $200 Visa gift card per team member
Best Hacks for Health Prize Category
Techspring will award 3 prizes in health related categories. Details: http://www.techspringhealth.org/hackumass
Best Use of Machine Learning
Indico will award Machine generated portraits and 1 million free API calls to the team that makes the best Machine Learning Hack
Best use of Google API, Hardware, or Tool
Google will award swag to the team with the best hack using Google API, Hardware or Tool (including cardboard)
Best use of Edison
Intel will award 2 Anki Drive & 2 Parrot Mini Drones for the best Edison hack!
Best use of Fusion 360 (2)
Autodesk will award a duffle bag full of swag to the team that has the best utilization Autodesk Fusion 360
HackUMass Popular Choice
MLH will award a Dell tablet to each member of the team that gets the most votes during public voting.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Eligibility
- Students (Undergraduate, Graduate, or High School)
- Individuals or teams of up to 4 members
Requirements
- Project description
- Team name
- Video demo (optional)
- Picture (optional)
Judges

John Cole
Long River Ventures

Aaron Soules
Angel Catalyst

Steve Willis

Bill Bither
MachineMetrics

Karen Utgoff
Utgoff Consulting

Daniel Smith
Raytheon BBN

Dave Waymouth
Raytheon BBN

Jessica Lau
IEEE

Chuck Malloch
UMass ECE - M5

Dave McLaughlin
UMass ECE - Professor

Martin Muthee
UMass ECE

Sandesh Virupaksha
UMass ECE

Sergio "The Surge" Cunha
Verizon Wireless
Judging Criteria
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HackUMass Finalist & Champions
HackUMass Judges will select 8 finalist and 3 final CHAMPIONS based on these technical and non-technical criteria. - Creativity / Originality - Presentation / Polish - Design Process - User Experience - Technical Depth -
Communication Innovation Award
*The Surge is the sole judge for this category* Create a project that allows users to communicate with one another in a unique way; it must be effective and have a potential societal impact.