The University of Waterloo’s Women in Engineering (WiE) program recently hosted 76 students at its Mini Hackathon on campus.
Established in 2017 to provide a safe and welcoming ‘hack’ environment for women and non-binary students, the WiE Mini Hackathon gave participants the full experience of a full hackathon on a smaller scale, with no prior experience required.
The event was organized in partnership with Food4Kids Waterloo Region to create a generalized problem statement for the hackers to tackle — how to improve operations in the Waterloo Region to feed more youth more effectively.
“Chronic hunger is a complex problem that tragically many children in the Waterloo Region face every single day,” said recent Waterloo Engineering alum and product designer Arden White (BASc ‘23, systems design engineering) who sits on the Food4Kids Waterloo Region board.
“To solve this huge problem, we need to come together as a community and use our wide array of skills to create effective solutions. The WiE Mini Hackathon was a perfect opportunity for Food4Kids Waterloo Region to partner with Waterloo’s Women in Engineering program and connect with talented and innovative engineering students.”
Over 13 fun, caffeine-fueled hours, hackers got to practice fast code iterating, rapid prototyping and teamwork under pressure. They also benefitted from training and development workshops with recent Waterloo Engineering alum Rachel Pautler (BASc ‘15, nanotechnology engineering), product lead at Looka and Velocity startup coach; Waterloo Engineering student team UW Orbital; and Greenhouse, United College’s Social Impact Incubator.
"I had an amazing time at the WiE Hackathon!” said electrical engineering student Wani Gupta. “The collaborative atmosphere among fellow women in my field, the skills sharing and networking opportunities with industry professionals were truly invaluable. Events like these remind me why I'm passionate about growth and innovation in engineering.”
Through its initiatives and events such as the Mini Hackathon, the WiE program supports and encourages women and non-binary engineering students and alumni in their studies and careers to improve gender representation within the engineering field.
“The Women in Engineering Undergraduate Committee’s goal is to cultivate an empowering environment where women can feel confident and grow in their engineering careers,” said Denny Lee, computer engineering student and president of the WiE Undergraduate Student Committee.
“The WiE Mini Hackathon achieves just that. I love seeing how our initiatives provide long-term benefits to students and our community.”
Participants pitched a range of impressive solutions including a delivery route optimizer and a robotic assembly arm. The winning team, FeedForward, created a cohesive client management platform that simplifies food distribution, data management and application screening. At the end of November, the WiE Mini Hackathon’s first, second, and third place teams will present their solutions to the Food4Kids Waterloo Region board.
Thanks to financial support from two Kitchener-based companies Fidus, an engineering consultancy, and Deep Trekker, a manufacturer of underwater remotely operated vehicles, WiE hosted the Mini Hackathon at no cost to the participants or to Food4Kids.
Get in touch with Jill Kennedy, Associate Director, Engineering Advancement at the University of Waterloo, to find out how you can support the Women in Engineering, as a sponsor or through a donation.
Winning team FeedForward from left to right: Safia Ahmed, Irene Boby, Wani Gupta and Ankiti Aggarwal.
Members of the Food4Kids Waterloo Region (F4KWR) team (L to R): Cameron Redmond, F4KWR chair & executive vice president of sales at Fidus Systems, Waterloo Engineering alum Arden White, Lorri Detta, F4KWR executive director, Jessica Nurse, F4KWR vice chair and Colin Woodsworth, F4KWR treasurer & head of finance at Deep Trekker.
Hackers hard at work at the WiE Mini Hackathon 2023.