Announcements

Information

A 36-hour weekend jampacked with awesome

Where

Hack Western takes place at the University Community Centre on the Western University campus

When

Check-in starts at 6:30PM on Friday, March 27th

Why

Hack Western is an accelerated learning and development experience where students have 36 hours to make their project idea come alive. Food, mentorship, hardware, and swag are all provided.

Schedule

Friday, March 27

Time Event
6:30 PM Registration Opens
7:00 PM Dinner sponsored sponsored by CarProof
9:30 PM Opening Ceremonies
11:30 PM Hacking Begins

Saturday, March 28

Time Event
12:00 AM

Hardware 101: Hardware Cortex (37)

Git With The Program: Workshop Cortex (59)
1:00 AM

Hardware 101: Hardware Cortex (37)

Microsoft Intro To the Cloud: Workshop Cortex (59) Rescheduled

From Canada To Africa And Back: Everything Cortex (146)
6:30 AM - 7:30 AM A Secret Journey
8:00 AM Breakfast sponsored sponsored by Big Blue Bubble
10:30 AM

CDK Making an Impact on Legacy Systems: Everything Cortex (146)

Facebook - Making yourself hirable: Web Cortex (56)

Hacking with Kobo: Mobile Cortex (41)
11:15 AM

Linux Shell Hacks: Everything Cortex (146)

Hacking with Yahoo Search SDK: Web Cortex (56)

Epic - UX for Patient Safety: Mobile Cortex (41)
12:00 PM Lunch sponsored sponsored by CDK
1:30 PM

Personal Branding: Who doesn't want to be a rock star developer?: Everything Cortex (146)

Info-Tech - Rapid Prototyping: Workshop Cortex (59)

Microsoft Intro To the Cloud: Web Cortex (56)
2:15 PM Yahoo - Hacking Your Pitch: Everything Cortex (146)

Networking 101: Workshop Cortex (59)

Creating a Shipping Culture, Removing Barriers to Success: Web Cortex (56)
4:00 PM Ice Cream Sandwiches Sponsored by Big Viking Games
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM An Epic Tournament
7:00 PM Dinner sponsored sponsored by Yahoo
9:00 PM A Climb Towards Greatness

Sunday, March 29

Time Event
1:00 AM Snacks
1:00 AM - 3:00 AM Activities
5:00 AM Snacks Refilled
7:00 AM Breakfast sponsored by Flipp
10:00 AM Hacking Ends
10:30 AM - 1:00 PM Judging
1:00 PM Lunch sponsored by Info-Tech
2:00 PM Closing Ceremonies
3:30 PM End of the Event

Rooms

Hack Western will take place in parts of the basement, ground floor, and 2nd floor of the University Community Centre.

Basement

Hardware, Mobile, and Web Cortex:

Hacking space

Mentor Lounge:

We have many kind mentors available to help if you get stuck or don't know how to make your project.

Hacker Lounge:

Need a break? We have video games and board games.

Sponsor Lounge:

Sponsors can go here to rest.

Organizer Lounge:

Come here if you have any issues with the event.

Ground floor

Registration / Help Desk:

We can help you with check-in, WiFi, and any questions you may have

Everything Cortex:

Hacking space

Hardware Booth:

Major League Hacking Hardware Lab and UnLondon Soldering Iron Lab - get your hardware devices and advice here!

Sponsor Booths:

Browse tech and network with potential employers in swag city

Tech Fair:

Projects will be demoed here on Sunday, science fair style

Second floor

Ceremonies:

Opening and closing ceremonies happen here

Meals:

Meals (except for dinner on Saturday) are served at the Wave Restaurant.

Saturday Dinner:

Saturday's dinner is served here.

Achievements

At Hack Western, you can win extra swag by completing achievements!

Hacker Achievements

Put a Hack Western sticker on your laptop

Take a picture with a sponsor rep, volunteer, or organizer (redeemable up to 3 times)

Selfie Master: Got all three selfie achievements!

Go to a workshop (redeemable up to 6 times)

Workshop Master: Went to at least 3 workshops!

Attend the midnight hike

Find the Beryl Ivey Garden

Mentor Achievements

First Hacker Helped

Tweet Master: submit the most tweets about Hack Western!

Mentor Master: Mentor the most hackers at Hack Western

Fell asleep at Hack Western

Completed a mini-hack

Prizes

First Place

For each member of the team:

Automatic entry into Global Hackathon Seoul + Dell tablet + Moto 360 + GitHub premium accounts + Graphic Stock accounts

Second Place

For each member of the team:

Sennheiser headphones + Graphic Stock accounts + GitHub premium accounts

Third Place

For each member of the team:

Google Chromecast + Graphic Stock accounts + GitHub premium accounts

Featured Beginner

For each member of the team:

Google Chromecast + Graphic Stock accounts + GitHub premium accounts

Team members must have attended two or fewer hackathons cumulatively.

They Should Have Won Too

Presented by the Hack Western 2015 organizers:

One amazing Pusheen plushie for each team member.

Best App That Saves People Money

Presented by Flipp:

One Nintendo 3DS for each team member.

Best Azure Hack

Presented by Microsoft:

(1) Xbox One for the best use of Microsoft Azure

Most Creative App

Presented by Big Blue Bubble:

TBD!

The Best Thing

Presented by Kik:

$100 Futureshop Gift card + Kik swag bags for each member of the team

Best Designed App

Presented by Kids Code Jeneusse:

Fancy notebook + graphic design pencil per team member

Reinvent the Reading Experience

Presented by Kobo:

Kobo eReader for each member of the team

Best Use of Mashape APIs

Presented by Mashape:

One Quadcopter for each team member

Best Use of AI

Presented by Ivey Entrepreneurship:

$500 for the team with the app that best uses Artificial Intelligence

Best Mobile App

Presented by Yahoo:

1 iPhone 6 for the team to share plus $100 in Flickr Photobook Credits for each team member

Best Domain Name Registered

Presented by Namecheap:

$150 CAD Namecheap credit

Best Hardware Prize

Presented by Spark:

Maker Kit + Spark notebooks for each member of the team

Best Thalmic Hack

Presented by Thalmic:

One Myo armband for each member of the team

Best Muse Hack

Presented by Interaxon:

One Muse EEG headband for each team member

Best Pebble Hack

Presented by Pebble:

One original Pebble watch for each team member

Best Social Impact Hack

Presented by Magnet Forensics:

One Raspberry Pi Kit for each team member

Best Use of AWS

Presented by MLH:

Team that best uses Amazon Web Services will receive one external hard drive for each member of the team.

Panel Judges

Shenglong

Yahoo

Shenglong is the Associate Product Manager on Yahoo Weather, and a Western alumnus. Frictionless UX flows really get him going, and there's little detests more than poor kerning. He can also throw a sewing needle through a pane of glass.

Kevin Eaves

Carproof

As chief technology officer, Kevin Eaves is responsible for the network/systems infrastructure at CarProof as well as the development of CarProof’s software and products. Kevin previously spent nine years with iCONECT, LLC as director of product development where he led the programming teams developing software used by Fortune 500 and U.S. government agencies.

Albert Lai

Big Viking Games

Albert is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder/CEO of Big Viking Games, a disruptive social and mobile HTML5 games company. This marks his 6th company to date. Big Viking Games have reached millions of players around the world and was also recently awarded and profiled as a Top 100 Employer in the Globe and Mail, the fastest company to have receive this recognition in just its second year of operations. While in his teens, Albert sold his first Internet company, the MyDesktop Network in a cash transaction to JupiterMedia (JUPM) for seven-figures. More recently he was the founder/CEO of BubbleShare, a photo-sharing company sold to Kaboose/Disney in 2007. He is a co-founder of Kontagent, an analytics platform tracking 1 out of every 4 dollars spent in social games, where he also served as a member of the executive team as CEO or President in the company’s first four years. Kontagent has raised from the Facebook Fund, Altos Ventures, Maverick Capital and Battery Ventures.

Mentors

Nick Crook

CarProof

My strongest skills are (With additional associated skills) C# (MVC and Linq) Javascript (Jquery and assorted libraries, Raphael) T‐SQL (nHibernate, LinqToSql and Stored Procedures) Other skills C++ and OpenGL Google‐Fu

Marc Russell

CarProof

My strong skills include Windows Forms, ASP.NET, WCF, WPF, and T‐SQL.

Neil Stokes

CarProof

Patryk Skwarko

CarProof

C#, MVC apps, Web development

Razi Khami

CarProof

Skills: C# .Net : Windows Service, Web Service, Windows App, MVC, Sitefinity, CRM and GP Dynamics, Javascript, jquery

Nick Morrison

CarProof

I have a solid background in front end development such as JS, CSS and HTML as well as a good understanding of C# and SQL development.

Dominik Gorecki

CarProof

Mostly I use Microsoft technologies (ASP.NET C#, MVC, MS‐SQL, etc.) for coding now, but I have experience with Java EE, PHP\MySQL, node.js, Flash ActionScript, Silverlight\WPF, Python, and more.

Minny Gu

CarProof

Alexander Shi

Kobo

Mobile Devices QA, Electronics Prototyping, Android Development

Alessandro Minali

Kobo

Automation, API, Web Apps, Prototyping

Suraj Vijayakumar

Kobo

Java, Ruby, C#, Python, SQL

Rachel Park

Kobo

Basic Front End Development, QA, Prototyping, Usability Testing

Cory Taylor

Kobo

Web, APIs, Azure/AWS, Debugging,

John Kolokotronis

Kobo

Ruby, Ruby-on-Rails, Python, Perl, Selenium/WebDriver, Selenium GRID, C#, Test:Unit, Rspec, BDD tools

Kieran Lafferty

Facebook

Matt Sterner

Big Blue Bubble

C++, Java, Actionscript, PHP, Lua, MySQL, Visual Studio, Android Studio, Flash, Photoshop

Jamie Boylan

Big Blue Bubble

Photoshop, After Effects, 3ds Max, Mudbox

Frédéric Harper

Mashape

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Mashape, APIs, and anything else, seriously, I can help debug anything if needed

Janet Campbell

Epic

C# / .NET, Web development, Javascript, HTML/CSS, User experience design, Java / Android

Mike Emery

Yahoo

Node, Rails, and Java. Can handle basic iOS and Android

Ashley Schneider

Yahoo

iOS, basic Java, machine learning, data mining

Victor Zhang

Yahoo

Photoshop, Sketch, Design

Chris Chan

Yahoo

PHP, HTML, CSS, MySQL, Photoshop

Clarence Leung

Yahoo

Python, Node, iOS, almost every JavaScript framework in existence. Bonus: Hardware and biology!

Jesse Chor

Yahoo

Backend Architecture and high scaling systems. Amazon EC2/AWS Expert.

Everett Yip

Yahoo

iOS and Android. Some Ruby/Rails, Java, HTML/CSS/JS.

Helen Tse

Yahoo

Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Presentation skills

Josiah Mahon

CDK

IBM iSeries, web‐based applications, and SQL database systems

Jennifer Boswell

CDK

iSeries databases, web applications, and Java

Jacob Americano

CDK

C#, C++, Javascript, HTML, C, Java, SQL, CSS, PHP, .Net 4.5 & 4.6, Spring MVC, jQuery and tools: Boost, JDBC, ODBC and OLEDB, Visual Studio, Spring Tool Suite and Eclipse.

Ken Madlener

CDK

functional programming, compilers, cryptography and frequently uses: C, C++, Java, JavaScript and Microsoft Visual Studio

Michael Irwin

CDK

Angular JS, and the Spring Framework, and is interested in Web and Game development

Craig Green

CDK

Chris Sippel

Magnet Forensics

C# (strongest), WPF, HTML, Javascript, PHP, Java

Joshua Ernewein

Magnet Forensics

C# (strongest), WPF, HTML, Javascript, PHP, JavaC#, SQL, ASP.NET, Javascript, HTML, WPF, WinForms, WCF

Christie Felker

Magnet Forensics

Software Testing (Manual, Automated), some experience with C#, Python, C, C++

Cam Sapp

Magnet Forensics

C#, Python, Functional programming, Git

Samantha McIlveen

Magnet Forensics

C#, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, Angular

Vinit Kudva

Magnet Forensics

C++, C#, Java, Perl, Ruby, PHP

Michael Strauss

Magnet Forensics

C#, .net, git, SQL, C, C++, Unity

Nick Cosentino

Magnet Forensics

C#, .NET, MyoSharp, TCP Sockets, PInvokes, (Early) Android Development, Code Design & Architecture, Unity, Java

Nathan Lutz

Big Viking Games

Java, JavaScript, C++, AS3, PHP, SQL, HTML - many others.

Don Chapman

Big Viking Games

Flash / AS3, PHP, Java, C++, HTML5

Dave Koschman

Big Viking Games

AS3, PHP, SQL, C++, Java, Javascript, HTML

Tom Gwozdz

Big Viking Games

C, C++, Java, JavaScript, various Assembly languages, PHP, AS3, HTML, CSS, digital electronics / hardware, + many other things.

Sean Watson

Google

Languages: python, C/C++, Java, HTML/CSS/Javascript Skills: web applications, audio/video, networking, security, embedded/real-time systems, hardware design

David Li

Communitech

iOS and Android application development including dev environment setup and algorithm design, creative mobile development cycle, user experience testing.

Dakota St. Laurent

Namecheap (student ambassador)

Python, JavaScript + Node.js, MongoDB, Angular, HTML/CSS

Adarsha Datta

Microsoft

Cloud technologies

Darek Magusiak

Race Roster

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), (X)HTML

Mike Almond

Race Roster

PHP, MySQL, server administration, nginx config, Apache config, contributor to the HTML5 Boilerplate

Maurice Fonk

Race Roster

Node.js, PHP, Anything Web, High Performance Publishing

Kyle Smith

Race Roster

PHP, MySQL, javascript, HTML, CSS

Brendan Cone

Flipp

MySQL, Infrastructure, Amazon Web Services, Ruby on Rails, Back-end Development, Scalability, Data Processing, Automation, Web Scraping/Data Acquisition, Server Interaction, API Development/Integration, Image Processing, PDF Expert

Thisal De Silva

Flipp

iOS app development, Client/server interaction, API development/Integration, Object oriented design patterns.

Thuvarakan Ruban

Flipp

Javascript, HTML, CSS, Ruby on Rails, C++, Front-end Development, 2D/3D-graphics, + arbitrary knowledge of many things.

Ben Vischschraper

Info-Tech

Ruby on Rails, Backbone.js, MySQL, and C++

Brian Garside

Info-Tech

Ruby, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, jQuery, Javascript, HTML 5, CSS 3, Bootstrap, Git, Github, Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, Amazon S3, Wordpress, PHP, WooCommerce, Marketo, Salesforce.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Basecamp, Adobe CS Suite, Microsoft Office

Chris O’Connor

Info-Tech

Emily Wyss

Info-Tech

HTML, CSS, Sass, OOCSS, jQuery, Javascript, Bootstrap, Adobe Creative Suite, User-Testing, Prototyping and UX/UI

Kathleen MacAinsh

Info-Tech

HTML, CSS (Sass), Bootstrap, Adobe Creative Cloud, Visual Design, Interface Layout and Design, User-Testing, Usability, Prototyping, Persona Creation, Interactive Design, Information Architecture.

Liam Nediger

Info-Tech

Ruby on Rails, MySQL, JQuery & Bootstrap, with some AngularJS and AWS

Michael Brawn

Info-Tech

Ruby, Rails, Javascript, MySQL, Git, Java, Python, OS X, Linux, Web Applications and Pebble

Mitchell Ras

Info-Tech

Ruby, Rails, Javascript, C++, Windows, OS X, Linux, Backbone.js and mySQL

Steffan Carlos

Info-Tech

Ruby on Rails, .Net, PHP Code Ignitor, Javascript, OSX, Linus, Windows, AWS, Redis, SQL/mySQL

Jason Gonçalves

Info-Tech

User-Testing, Scrum methodologies, Persona Creation, Stats analysis and Data manipulation.

Steven Salter

Phoenix Interactive

Procedural and Object-oriented programming, particularly C++; Design

David Kong

N/A

Tesla guru

Lawrence Cushman

N/A

JS, MEAN stack, HTML, Java, C#, Azure, Designing, some unity

Hardware Mentors

Tom Hobson

Muse

Electronics design, testing, fabrication, and manufacturing, Python, C/C++, MATLAB, embedded programming, Processing, Muse Development

Matt Farough

Muse

MATLAB, Python, C/C++, XCode, Microcontrollers, Electronics, Digital Signal Processing and Muse Development

Chris Goodine

Thalmic

Anything and everything Myo related

Philip Beausoleil

UnLondon

Autodesk CAD, Cura, sketchup, Autodesk 123D, Arduino, Soldering Iron, Hot Air Reflowing, 3d Printers, Any construction tool.

Māris Fogels

UnLondon

Software Engineering, Open Source, Python, Linux, Web Application Development

Sam Dougherty

UnLondon

Foam carving/ sculpting, wood fabrication including drum and instrument making. aircraft design, vertical axis turbine design, Soldering, lighting design, Lamp housing/ reflector design, demonstration laser design

Tech Fair Judges

Matt Sterner

Big Blue Bubble

Matt is a recent graduate of Fanshawe College who originally joined the Big Blue Bubble team as a high school co-op student. It was then that he discovered his passion for programming and has since worked on games such as Burn the Rope, Fling a Thing and Finder's Keep. He enjoys participating in 72 hour game jams as well as mentoring high school robotics teams.

Tyler Childerhose

Big Blue Bubble

Tyler has been a gameplay and tool programmer at Big Blue Bubble for 4 years. He graduated from Western with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Game Development. He is also a Sagittarius.

Blake Farquharson

TechAlliance

Business Analyst at TechAlliance focused on youth. Assist entrepreneurs through the business planning process, supporting start ups in creating sustainable business models, providing market research, access to funding and advising on growth strategies. Work closely with the new youth entrepreneurship centres at Western University (Propel) and Fanshawe College (LEAP Junction) on their tech-related clients.

Deniz Temelli

TechAlliance

Deniz is a Biomedical Engineer who gained industry experience by working as an R&D Engineer at Baylis Medical, a medical device company, for 4 years. Deniz graduated with an MBA from the Ivey School of Business in 2012 and since then has been mentoring entrepreneurs as a Business Analyst at TechAlliance. She has recently transitioned into the role of Manager, Measured Innovation and Business Services with TechAlliance.

Blake Stone

TechAlliance

Digital Media Business Analyst at TechAlliance, providing one-on-one advice to technology companies covering all aspects of the business planning process. Help clients conduct market research, perform a competitive analysis, create a sales and marketing plan, develop operational strategies, financial models and statements. When a business is ready, provide assistance with pitch decks and grant applications to secure funding/investment.

Ashley Schneider

Yahoo

iOS, basic Java, machine learning, data mining

Chris Chan

Yahoo

PHP, HTML, CSS, MySQL, Photoshop

Helen Tse

Yahoo

Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Presentation skills

Tom Gwozdz

Big Viking Games

C, C++, Java, JavaScript, various Assembly languages, PHP, AS3, HTML, CSS, digital electronics / hardware, + many other things.

Josiah Mahon

CDK

IBM iSeries, web‐based applications, and SQL database systems

Jennifer Boswell

CDK

iSeries databases, web applications, and Java

Jacob Americano

CDK

C#, C++, Javascript, HTML, C, Java, SQL, CSS, PHP, .Net 4.5 & 4.6, Spring MVC, jQuery and tools: Boost, JDBC, ODBC and OLEDB, Visual Studio, Spring Tool Suite and Eclipse.

Ken Madlener

CDK

functional programming, compilers, cryptography and frequently uses: C, C++, Java, JavaScript and Microsoft Visual Studio

William Russell

Info-Tech

William Russell has 22 years of experience in the IT industry. Currently he is the VP of Information Technology at Info-Tech Research Group. Previous experience includes Database Application Developer for PublicWorks Canada and Senior Manager of IT and Broadcast Operations for Sirius XM Canada.

Ian Black

Kobo

Titus Ferguson

UnLondon

Philip Beausoleil

UnLondon

I am a maker at heart; will build and design anything given the opportunity. Have worked with many peers with their designs and drafting.

Samantha

Propel

Samantha Laliberte is the Coordinator for Western's new Entrepreneurship Centre, Propel. Samantha's background is within e-commerce and bringing innovative products to market. She is the Co-founder of Ezzy Lynn, an online fashion venture, and is responsible for initiating Seed Your Startup, a plan and pitch competition awarding $5,000 annually to a local, student venture.

Brittany Medeiros

LEDC

Brittany provides business development support for small- Medium companies on their expansion journeys with special emphasis on the digital creative sector.