Yashi, the leader in Location Focused Video Advertising, Sponsors HackNJIT, New Jersey Institute of Technology's 24-Hour Hackathon
TOMS RIVER, N.J., Nov. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 100 undergraduate students registered to take part in HackNJIT, a 24-hour hackathon hosted by the College of Computing Sciences at NJIT.
On November 8-9, 2014, students from New Jersey's top colleges camped out at NJIT's Campus Center Ballroom to participate in HackNJIT, a 24-hour hackathon open to undergraduate students all across New Jersey. Yashi, the leading location focused video advertising platform, sponsored the event, alongside AT&T, Major League Hacking, Audible, eMazzanti, GENBAND, FDM Group and ADDTEQ.
The opening ceremony kicked off at 1PM on Saturday, and the hacking commenced shortly after. Students worked alone or in small teams to develop their own technology-driven projects from scratch. Hackers competed for cash prizes: $1,500 for first place; $1,000 for second place; and $500 for third place.
At 2:30pm on Sunday, the hacking was halted and the completed projects were presented. The judges, including Yashi's VP of Platform Engineering, Mark Paone, exited the Campus Center Ballroom to deliberate. At 4pm, the winners were announced at the closing ceremony.
"As a graduate of NJIT, I am thrilled that Yashi had the opportunity to give back to my alma mater in such a fun and interesting way," said Paone, who acted as both a judge and a mentor for the event. "There is a huge pool of talent here that Yashi is interested in tapping into. HackNJIT is a great way for students to gain exposure and experience while putting their skills to the test."
In addition to the official 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards, Yashi awarded an additional prize for the most innovative idea.David Awad, a junior at Rutgers University, was presented a Phantom Drone and a GoPro camera by Yashi for his project, BitCloud.
"We felt that BitCloud was a great concept that fit our criteria of thinking outside the box. The execution, which touted a slick web interface and real-time output was certainly award-worthy." reported Paone.
"I competed in my first hackathon when I was a freshman," Awad said. "I teamed up with a junior who was much more experienced than I was, but he loved my idea so we worked together and ended up winning third place. To have won on my own two years later is an amazing feeling. I am restless with excitement to build something new."
In addition to winning Yashi's award of excellence, Awad placed second overall, finishing behind the 1st place team, Factory Fresh Food, who created a product that would water plants remotely.
"HackNJIT bridges the gap between New Jersey's elite technology companies and the state's most promising young talent," said William McDermott, Director of Development at NJIT. "Events like HackNJIT help foster the community that is building a brighter tomorrow for New Jersey. We're thankful for our sponsors who made it all possible."
About Yashi
Yashi is a privately held location-focused video advertising platform that analyzes tens of billions of video ad opportunities each month for thousands of websites. The company is a three time Inc. 5000 award recipient and located on the Jersey Shore. To learn more about Yashi and the company's leadership role in the real-time video advertising revolution, please visit www.yashi.com.
About NJIT
One of the nation's leading public technological universities, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a top-tier research university that prepares students to become leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century. NJIT's multidisciplinary curriculum and computing-intensive approach to education provide technological proficiency, business acumen and leadership skills. With an enrollment of more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students, NJIT offers small-campus intimacy with the resources of a major public research university. NJIT is a global leader in such fields as solar research, nanotechnology, resilient design, tissue engineering, and cyber-security, in addition to others. NJIT ranks fifth among U.S. polytechnic universities in research expenditures, topping $110 million, and is among the top 1 percent of public colleges and universities in return on educational investment, according to Payscale.com.
SOURCE Yashi
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