N.C. PSI Hackathon

Innovate. Build. Execute.

The N.C. PSI Hackathon is an annual event that gives undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars the chance to demonstrate their skills in a 3-day competition to solve ag tech related challenges for prizes and, of course, bragging rights.

With the goal to accelerate agricultural research using data analytics, machine learning, and hardware fabrication, our annual Hackathons have multiple tracks and are inclusive to participants with various levels of experience.

Impactful ideation. Authentic collaboration. Innovative solutions. That’s the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative (PSI) Hackathon experience.

Get Inspired!
Hear from 2023 organizers about why the N.C. PSI Hackathon is a unique opportunity.

Experience

Hackathon participants enhance their technical skills through ideation, experimentation and innovation.

Advancement

Hackathon participants are offered unique opportunities, include industry networking and pre-event workshops.

Prizes

If bragging rights are not enough, Hackathon judges will award multiple prizes for each track at the end of the event.

2023 N.C. PSI Hackathon

The 2023 N.C. PSI Hackathon, co-hosted by the NC State Data Science Academy (DSA), offered 3 different tracks for participants with various levels of experience to collaboratively create a unique solution from scratch. Learn about the 2023 tracks and winners below!

Explored corn datasets in SAS Visual Analytics and applied machine learning to predict yield. This track was open to anyone and was designed to teach participants the basics of data analytics using a common platform. No previous knowledge required.

Track 1 First Place Winners: Susmita Gaire, Sudikshya Paudel, Nirwan Tandukar, Carolina Weldt — **First Place**: Susmita Gaire, Sudikshya Paudel, Nirwan Tandukar, Carolina Weldt

Track 1 Second Place Winners: Kibek Lee & Sneha Rani — **Second Place:** Kibek Lee & Sneha Rani

Tackled a real hardware engineering challenge by finding the most creative solution using 3D printing, beginner-level electronics and other maker tools. This track was open to anyone, but was best suited for engineering and design students.

Track 2 First Place Winners: Bhavya Jain, Raj Patel, Colt Nichols, Viacheslav Zhuralev — **First Place:** Bhavya Jain, Raj Patel, Colt Nichols, Viacheslav Zhuralev

Track 2 Second Place winners: Hadie Sabbah & Prem Gandhi — **Second Place:** Hadie Sabbah & Prem Gandhi

Created machine learning models in Python (or programming language of choice) to identify weather and genotypic factors important for predicting and/or optimizing yield. This track was best suited to engineering and sciences students. (Dataset provided by Bayer.)

Track 3 First Place Winners: Sushanth Chilla, Srija Movva, Ryan Garry — **First Place:** Sushanth Chilla, Srija Movva, Ryan Garry

Track 3 Second Place Winners: Vinicius Garnice, Devon Martin, Erin O'Connell — **Second Place:** Vinicius Garnice, Devon Martin, Erin O’Connell

View and download photos from the 2023 Hackathon here!

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N.C. PSI Hackathon Sponsors

Sponsoring the N.C. PSI Hackathon is a unique networking and recruitment tool for industry companies and a great opportunity to promote your organization!

We are grateful for the generous support for the 2023 N.C. PSI Hackathon provided by our sponsors!

Interested in sponsoring the N.C. PSI Hackathon?

Contact Dinah Schuster for details

Third Annual N.C. PSI Hackathon Brings in Record Numbers

The third annual N.C. PSI Hackathon brought in a record 74 student and postdoc participants to compete across three days and three tracks for prizes and bragging rights.

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