Event Recap — Cypher

Cypher is The College of William & Mary’s chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery’s Annual Hackathon. This was Cypher’s sixth year holding an event, and it was hosted entirely online due to COVID restrictions. However, as with many online hackathons, it allowed for more participants outside of the Williamsburg, Virginia area to attend. This year, more than 120 participants attended the event to learn from each other, build new skills, and create interesting projects.

Earth Hacks student organizers partnered with Cypher team to create an Earth Hacks track at the event. The Earth Hacks track at Cypher VI addressed the wonderful world of water, with two challenges:

Ocean Plastics: Oceans are vital for all life on Earth, but plastic pollution threatens our great seas. You will develop a solution related to cleanup efforts, international diplomacy and accountability, or sustainable business development.

Stormwater Management: Flooding is often caused by simple mismanagement and substandard infrastructure. In this challenge, you will develop a solution regarding local stormwater management on the William & Mary campus, water quality monitoring, and municipal flood resilience.

Similar to previous hackathons, participants were given access to mentors and trainings so that they could familiarize themselves with this year’s world of water theme. Some of the mentors who participated and spoke to support the Earth Hacks track were:

Dr. Jeffrey Shields — Professor of Marine Science at Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who specializes in Parasite and microbial diseases invertebrates and fishes.

Dr. Molly Mitchell — Professor of Marine Science at Virginia Institute of Marine Science who specializes in coastal resilience and management.

Dr. Raha Hakimdavar — Director of Space Sciences at Ball Aerospace. She is a Hydrologist, remote sensing scientist, and science policy expert.

All of the projects from Cypher VI can be found on our project database, or on the event’s Devpost page.