SCCS students secure top honors at VandyHacks competition

Students from Augusta University’s School of Computer and Cyber Sciences recently proved that innovation knows no bounds, returning from Vanderbilt University’s annual VandyHacks event with major awards and a vision for expanding the university’s technology culture.

Two teams from AU made their debut appearances on the national stage, and during the 24-hour hackathon, both groups outperformed big competitors from institutions like Purdue University, Rice University and the University of Alabama.

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) team, consisting of third-year students George Dorton and Christopher Guzman, first-year Aden Kallery and fourth-year Viet Nguyen, earned the Best Financial Hack award, sponsored by Capital One.

From left, Viet Nguyen, Aden Kallery, George Dorton and Christopher Guzman pose together in a classroom while holding their project following the competition. — (From left) Viet Nguyen, Aden Kallery, George Dorton and Christopher Guzman hold their project.

Their project, OFFRes + OFFPay, is a disaster-ready digital survival system designed to operate without internet or reliable power. Built on a Raspberry Pi, the system features an offline large language model for medical and survival guidance, a static resource map identifying nearby emergency resources and a unique offline wallet.

“We wanted to build something that could help communities coordinate and transact during emergencies,” Dorton said.

The system allows users to preauthorize funds that vendors can scan via QR codes while offline. Transactions are logged locally and synchronized once connectivity is restored.

Four students stand behind a table displaying a project with a laptop, presentation board and materials in a classroom setting. — (From left) Jade Huynh, Carolina De Sousa, Ericka Tyndall and Reagan Crockett pose behind a table displaying their project during a classroom presentation.

In the health care track, Girls Who Code College Loop members Jade Huynh, Ericka Tyndall and Reagan Crockett, all third-year students, and Carolina De Sousa, a second-year, earned the Best Design award for Uvie, an AI-driven UV health companion. The group was also the only all-female team competing in the event.

Uvie provides users with local UV forecasts and tailors sunscreen reapplication schedules based on skin type and activity levels. The application stood out for its user-centered approach, featuring original hand-drawn animations by Crockett.

“I think our project drew attention because of how it looked,” Huynh said. “Reagan Crockett hand-drew the animations in the app, and that played a big role in why we won the Best Design award.”

“We wanted something personal and approachable, something that helps prevent skin cancer,” Huynh added.

The students credited their success to rigorous coursework, particularly lessons from data structures and systems analysis. They noted that clearly communicating their technical ideas was just as important as writing the code.

“In class you learn concepts; at a hackathon you actually build and present them,” Huynh said, noting that public speaking and presentation skills were critical during judging.

The demanding build period, followed by project demonstrations and evaluation, challenged teams to combine technical ability with clear communication.

“It felt great representing Augusta University and showing that we have talented students who can compete with universities like Purdue, Rice and the University of Alabama,” Dorton said.

The experience has already sparked new ideas back on campus as leaders from both ACM and Girls Who Code are exploring plans to host a competitive hackathon on campus next semester.

“We are very proud of our students and the organizations that they run,” said Alexander Schwarzmann, PhD, professor and dean of the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences. “The ACM and Girls Who Code clubs are very active, whose members include wonderful and talented students, such as those who humbled the competition at this recent event!”