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Lobo Hackathon seeking participants from School of Engineering

February 22, 2024 - by Kim Delker

Registration is open for the 2024 Lobo Hackathon, an annual event that brings together collaborative teams charged with improving or developing a new idea that addresses societal or technological challenges.

The Lobo Hackathon will be held April 11-12 and the Lobo Rainforest Building, 101 Broadway Blvd. NE, Albuquerque.

The event is open to students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and others in the community. During the two days, teams will form, develop their idea, work on prototypes and pitches, then finally present their ideas to a panel of judges to win cash prizes, with the top prize being $5,000.

The event attracts a wide range of participants from various backgrounds, but Christina Salas, who has been involved with the Hackathon from when it began several years ago as a collaboration with the School of Medicine, said she would like to see as many engineers as possible participate.

In the past, many students and faculty from the School of Engineering have been on teams.

“Now that the competition has moved to the UNM Rainforest, we want to make sure to engage those on campus with entrepreneurial ideas they are interested in developing,” said Salas, who is an associate professor of the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation, special assistant in the School of Engineering for Health Sciences Center relations, and director of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program.

The schedule for the event is as follows:

  • Thursday, April 11, 6-9 p.m.: Introductions, pitch an idea, and team formation
  • Friday, April 12, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Prototype development and business model development
  • Friday, April 12, 5-7 p.m.: Final pitches (five-minute pitches) to a panel of judges and prizes awarded ranging from $500 to $5,000.

Sponsors of this year’s event are UNM Rainforest Innovations, UNM Health Sciences and the Clinical and Translational Science Center, Anderson School of Management and the School of Engineering.

More information and how to register is online. Those who are interested in attending the final pitches can register here.