Cloudforce Announces Winners in 10th Annual Hoya Hacks Hackathon

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Jan. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloudforce, a leading innovator in cloud computing and generative AI, is proud to announce the successful conclusion of Hoya Hacks 2024, Georgetown University's prestigious annual hackathon, which was held from Friday, January 26th to Sunday, January 28th. This annual 36-hour competition brought together some of the nation's brightest minds in technology and innovation for an in-person, on-campus competition in our nation's capital.

Every year, Hoya Hacks welcomes students with diverse skills and backgrounds to collaborate, innovate, and build solutions for positive social change over three dynamic days. This year, in a powerful collaboration, Cloudforce served as the title sponsor and joined forces with Microsoft to lead an AI on Azure track, providing students with an incredible opportunity to showcase their creativity and technical skills in the world of artificial intelligence. "At Cloudforce, we are committed to nurturing the next generation of engineering talent, alongside our partners at Microsoft." said Cloudforce founder and CEO Husein Sharaf. "Our sponsorship of Hoya Hacks aligns perfectly with our mission to contribute to our community through educating and exposing bright young minds to the tools of tomorrow. This hackathon was not just a competition for bragging rights; it was a platform for budding tech leaders to prove they could solve practical real-world problems with generative AI. We are thrilled to have been a part of this inspiring event and are proud to announce the winners of our track in this year's competition."

The first-place prize was awarded to a team of four students (Annika Lin, Maggie Shen, Reed Uhlik and Sameer Tirumala) all from local host Georgetown University, who designed, deployed, and demonstrated their "HoyaHelper" solution which accurately answers students' questions about everything from the university's admissions process to upcoming events on campus, through the use of OpenAI on Azure. The second-place prize was awarded to a team of three students (Sami Alam, Jeffrey Schwartz and Emmett Cocke) from Drexel University and UCLA, who built an equally impressive bot and chose to embed their solution into mock copies of their university's websites. Both teams demonstrated unique technical approaches, adaptability under pressure, and the business acumen required to produce a functioning solution worthy of investment.

"Cloudforce aided Hoya Hacks to push the envelope this year in terms of complexity of project submissions. The usage of AI along with Microsoft Azure really shows students the future environment they will be working in." said Staff Chair of Hoya Hacks, Joshua Meredith. Over 270 hackathon attendees were supported by a number dedicated volunteer mentors, including Cloudforce's own Yayoi Vanzego, Kamal Cunningham, Ryland DeGregory, Jonathon Segars, Garrett Broady, and Don Mann.

About Cloudforce:  A Maryland-based consultancy focused on deploying, managing, and securing cloud infrastructure and driven by a spirited mission to give back and pay it forward, Cloudforce is a nationally acclaimed firm providing expertise in all things Microsoft cloud to some of the world's most notable brands, from migration through to AI.

Media Contact:
Leslie Bucher, Marketing Manager, Cloudforce
[email protected]
(202) 803- 6500

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SOURCE Cloudforce