Entrepreneurship On Display at #HackUMassV

Thirty-seven hours. Nine-hundred hackers. More than 100 projects. Talk about hustle.

HackUMass took over UMass’ Integrative Learning Center Nov. 3-5 for the fifth annual hack-a-thon. As a presenting partner, the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship was proud to award $1,500 in funding to outstanding ventures, as determined by Director of New Ventures Birton Cowden.

EasyLock, winner of $750 at Innovation Challenge: The Minute Pitch, was awarded $750. Developed by Peter Tao (biochemistry and molecular biology) and Mike Keegan (computer science), it’s premise is replacing keys to cars, homes or offices with facial recognition software.

LiveWaterMap, awarded $500 at HackUMass V, is an online system for crowdsourcing and mapping water quality data using GPS and time data for anyone, anytime, anywhere. Created by Bryan Chua (environmental science and chemical engineering), Leah Leshchinksy (mechanical and industrial engineering), Roy Chan (computer science), Dat Duong (computer science and pre-engineering) and Jonathan Royce (mathematics), the team is efforting towards a live and fully-operational website (LiveWaterMap.tech) by November 30 to be used in conjunction with a fundraising campaign for a Puerto Rico disaster relief and field testing trip scheduled for January.

Case-by-Face Basis, facial recognition software to assist crowdsourcing of human trafficking and abduction situations, and Scribe Buddy, a pen for digitizing class or meeting notes, were awarded $125 for developing their respective ventures.