Produced by the Office of Marketing and Communications
Technica, the world’s largest hackathon for women and people from underrepresented genders, returns tomorrow at the University of Maryland as an in-person experience following 2020’s virtual version, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 24-hour coding event, sponsored by the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, the Department of Computer Science and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), as well as private companies, will be a hybrid hackathon. In-person hacking, workshops, presentations and activities will take place at Reckord Armory and the Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center, while those who prefer to stay home can participate digitally.
The weekend will include speeches from Robyn Exton, CEO and founder of the women- and non-binary-focused dating app Her, and Shelly Bell, CEO and founder of Black Girl Ventures, which works with Black and brown women founders. Technica will also include workshops like “Invisibly Trans in Tech” and opportunities to let loose, as with karaoke.
Utsa Santhosh ’22, co-executive director of Technica, said that some 6,000 people have registered to participate. “It’s one of the greatest experiences,” she said. “It’s exciting to see how many people come, how they learn so much, how they find friends and community.”
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