鶹ýӳƷ Space Apps Hackathon announces winners of NASA challenge

 

A weekend of ample research and little sleep at 鶹ýӳƷ State’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) resulted in the selection of three NASA Space Apps Hackathon winners. 

One-man team Just Jacob, led by Jacob Workentine, a 鶹ýӳƷ State senior in communication, took first place for his submission to the On the Way to the Sun challenge. 

Workentine developed an illustrated children’s book and . The book and video focused on the story of the Parker Solar Probe’s record-breaking mission from Earth through the Sun’s upper atmosphere to sample particles and magnetic fields. 

“As the only non-STEM major in the competition and the only team of one, it kind of felt like the odds were stacked against me,” Workentine said. “I’m still in disbelief about this weekend and can’t wait to see where this idea will lead me.” 

The second place team, Space Jam, developed an app called Surreal that uses NASA data to illustrate the correlation between climate change and natural disasters. . Space Jam team members include Grant Johnson, Murphy Ownbey, Greg Heiman, Akim Niyonzima, Dimitri Seneviratne and Fernando Rubio Garcia. 

Heiman, Ownbey, Niyonzima and Seneviratne are 鶹ýӳƷ State seniors in engineering. Garcia is pursuing his Ph.D. in applied mathematics and Johnson is project manager for Invista.

The third place team of WSU engineering students Ami Goto, Kazune Tazawa, Aoi Ito, Fransiera Maldonado Mundo and Kubeshavarsha Kalithasan, . 

The challenge was open to the community including all ages, backgrounds and skill levels. All teams used NASA’s open-source data to complete their project solutions. 

The event was hosted by NIAR’s Advanced Technologies Lab for Aerospace Systems Oct. 1-2. 

“We hosted the challenge to provide an opportunity to put the talent of 鶹ýӳƷns on the map in a global challenge,” said Waruna Seneviratne, research scientist and director of NIAR ATLAS. “It was a fun and challenging experience for all involved, and we hope to build a bigger and better Space Apps hackathon for 鶹ýӳƷ next year.”

The first and second place teams received $500 and a trip to visit Dassault Systèmes, a sponsor of the 鶹ýӳƷ Space Apps competition. Additional sponsors included NIAR ATLAS and Solvay. These sponsors helped fund program materials, meals and additional prizes for the participants. 


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