HackMIT

HackMIT is an annual student-run hackathon held in the fall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

HackMIT
HackMIT Logo 2016
GenreHackathon
Location(s)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Founded2012
Websitewww.hackmit.org

History

HackMIT

The first HackMIT had around 150 attendees and took place in February 2013 at the Stata Center as part of MIT's Techfair, a technology fair and corporate expo for MIT students. The event was open to college students of the Northeastern United States and had Techfair and Palantir as its title sponsors. [1][2]

HackMIT 2013

HackMIT was also held in the September of 2013 with 1000 attendees. The event featured Tom Lehman of Genius (formerly Rap Genius) as a keynote speaker and Sequoia Capital as the event's title sponsor.[3][4]

HackMIT 2014

In October, HackMIT 2014 invited 1000 undergraduates as well as Adora Cheung, then-CEO of Homejoy, and Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, as keynotes.[5] Highlighted sponsors of HackMIT 2014 were Amadeus, Google, and Uber.[6]

HackMIT 2015

HackMIT 2015's theme was experimentation, and teams built projects ranging from an Apple Watch air guitar to computer vision analysis tools for security camera footage. Keynote speakers this year included Liz Fosslien, author of webcomic Out of the Office, and Jack Conte, musician and co-founder of Patreon.[7]

HackMIT 2016

The 2016 event focused on inclusivity and featured a random lottery admissions process combined with selected application reading. Keynote speakers included Sanjit Biswas, co-founder of Samsara and Meraki, Inc., and Dina Katabi, MIT professor and director of the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing. [8]

HackMIT 2017

HackMIT was held in September of 2017, and over 1200 hackers came together from all around the world. Keynote speakers included Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO of Reddit and Kyle Vogt, Founder and CEO of Cruise Automation. [9]

Projects

Over the years, HackMIT has seen a wide variety of hacks, ranging from new web and mobile app concepts to novel hardware/software interfaces to machine learning and computer vision projects. In particular, HackMIT emphasizes building working prototypes rather than business plans or ideas, and participants are encouraged to be open about the technical challenges they faced in the judging process.

Some notable projects from past HackMIT events include:

  • Lean On Me, a mental health platform which matches users to peer supporters[10][11]
  • Controlio, an app that allows users to control their computer via SMS and voice control[12]
  • Project Naptha, a browser extension software for Google Chrome that allows users to highlight, copy, edit and translate text from within images.[13]

Blueprint

The HackMIT organizing team also hosts a high school hackathon, called Blueprint, on MIT's campus in the winter. In past years, this event has featured separate learning and hacking days, with students at MIT volunteering to teach classes on introductory web and mobile app development.[14][15]

Open Source

HackMIT has developed open-source software for the hackathon community, releasing all of their internal and external tools on code.hackmit.org. HackMIT software like HELPq and Gavel has been used by dozens of events.[16][17]

Puzzles

Since 2014, HackMIT has released an annual admissions puzzle, similar to an online puzzlehunt that guarantees admission to the first 50 teams.

References
  1. "HackMIT at Techfair 2013". Archived from the original on 2013-05-30. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
  2. "HackMIT: Sponsored by Techfair and Palantir". Archived from the original on 2013-01-26.
  3. Landry, Lauren (October 8, 2013). "1,000 Student Engineers Compete for $14K in Prizes at MIT's 30-Hour Hackathon". Boston, MA. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  4. Fox, Jeremy (October 7, 2013). "Students joust for MIT hacking title". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  5. Smith, Jennifer (October 5, 2014). "HackMIT kicks off coding marathon". The Boston Globe. Cambridge, MA. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  6. "HackMIT 2014". HackMIT.
  7. "HackMIT 2015". HackMIT.
  8. "HackMIT 2016". HackMIT.
  9. "HackMIT 2017". HackMIT.
  10. Gopinath, Divya (February 6, 2015). "Lean on Me to offer anonymous venue for student support". The MIT Tech. Cambridge, MA. Retrieved January 9, 2017..
  11. Tate, Allison (March 2, 2016). "MIT Students Use Their Coding Skills For Suicide Prevention". NBC News. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  12. Landry, Lauren. "The 3 Winners from MIT's Biggest Hackathon Created Apps You Never Knew You Needed". BostInno. Boston, MA. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  13. Stu, Robarts. "New Google Chrome extension lets you copy and delete text in images". Gizmag. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  14. "MIT Blueprint".
  15. Fisher, Sarah. "High Schoolers Learn to Hack While MIT Students Give Back". "BostInno". Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  16. "HELPq Usage Data". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  17. "Gavel Users". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
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