FemmeHacks 2019 [event recap]

All day Saturday, February 9th, the Pennovation Center was thrilled to host FemmeHacks for the 3rd year running! FemmeHacks is a beginner-friendly, collegiate hackathon for women-identifying individuals in Philly/NY/NJ, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania's Women in Computer Science. Just under 200 women* got an early start over breakfast at 8am and then worked diligently throughout the day on various coding projects. University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and School of Engineering Dean Vijay Kumar visited in the morning to engage in the atmosphere!

Over the course of the day, FemmeHacks offered workshops, a career panel featuring event sponsors, and even a talent show. Each group was able to showcase their project at the end of the day. The hack that won the Judges’ Choice award was an app that used computer vision to allow users to take a photo of their workout machine console and automatically sync the data to FitBit. Overall, there were many great hacks directed towards young women to encourage them to pursue technology! 

 

Photos by Avi Steinhardt, University of Pennsylvania Communications

 

FemmeHacks 2019