The University of Central Florida (UCF) announced recently that an 8-member team of business and computer science undergraduate students earned a $25,000 prize during the hackathon/business plan challenge at the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Battle of the Brains.
In 2020, UCF students won the Best Business Solution and a $5,000 scholarship from Dell in the inaugural competition, which was held virtually.
This year, UCF’s team was coached by Carlos Valdez, a lecturer in the Department of Integrated Business, and Johnathan Mell, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science. “The link between technology and business is well-represented at UCF,” Mell says. “I am happy that our students have been able to interact across disciplines.”
The HSI Battle of the Brains is a week-long event that focuses on matching students at HSIs to career opportunities. The event features a 24-hour hackathon/business plan competition with finalists presenting their solutions to a panel of industry leaders like KPMG, Amazon, Home Depot, Dell, and more.
The UCF team had 24 hours to respond to the question: What can KPMG and its employees/partners do to reduce their carbon footprint when engaging in in-city and metropolitan business travel?
They came up with the idea to create an app that would allow autonomous shuttles to transport KPMG employees from their work locations to meet with clients. The shuttles would feature soundproof booths and Wi-Fi so employees could work while en route to their meetings, thus reducing the need for employees to drive their own vehicles and reducing carbon emissions.
And @UCF wins it! Presenting the 2022 @HSIBotBrains Champions! Congratulations to our Knights! #hsibotbrains #unidosinbattle #NationalHSIChampions #VamosKnights 🖤💛👏🏾🎉🖤💛👏🏾🎉 @UCFBusiness @UCFCECS pic.twitter.com/QPmGLonTty
— UCF HSI (@hsi_ucf) March 12, 2022
“HSI Battle of the Brains provided me with several opportunities to meet professionals in the industry and participants from competing schools,” says Natalia Colmenares, a computer science major who also won a Dell Success Scholarship at the competition. “Being able to connect with many Hispanics like myself was truly an amazing experience. Ultimately, the events and the people attending made me feel special and celebrated in the tech industry.”
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