Welcome, Hackers!

Prepare to dive into IslanderHack 2026, where artificial intelligence meets the deep sea! Join us for a 24-hour hackathon to chart unexplored waters, solve environmental and coastal challenges facing our South Texas community, and compete for top-tier prizes.

Your mission is to leverage modern AI technologies (spanning lightweight machine learning, computer vision, sensor and edge computing, predictive data models, and beyond) to build smart, resource-efficient prototypes built for real-world impact.

Goals of the Hackathon:

  • Innovation: Explore uncharted territory with novel applications of efficient AI.

  • Impact: Build practical solutions that address coastal conservation and local community needs.

  • Technical Depth: Showcase smart software architecture, efficient data usage, or hardware integration.

Ready to dive into the abyss? 

Requirements

Theme & Challenge Statement

  • Theme: Green AI & Resource Efficiency

  • Challenge Topic: Coastal Conservation

  • Challenge Goal: Build sustainable, efficient, or low-power tech solutions to address real-world challenges in Coastal Conservation.

Official Rules & Requirements

  • Open-Source Guidelines: All code developed must be hosted in a public GitHub repository created after the official hacking start time.

  • AI Use:  AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot) are allowed for debugging, syntax, and drafting. "Vibe coding" or auto-generating full apps without understanding the underlying logic is strongly discouraged.

  • Acceptable Tools & Libraries: You may use any publicly available open-source libraries, frameworks, APIs, and AI models. Proprietary internal code written prior to the event is strictly prohibited.

  • Submission Requirements:

    • Final project submissions must include a link to the public repository, a live demo URL, a comprehensive README file, a 3-minute video demo, a project slide deck, and a completed Devpost submission.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

5 non-cash prizes
First Place
1 winner

Creality Ender 3

Second Place
1 winner

8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard

Third Place
1 winner

Beat Solo Buds

Pip's Choice Award
1 winner

Elgato Stream Deck

Raffle Prizes
1 winner

Raspberry Pi Pico Starter Kit

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Dr. Carlos Rubio-Medrano

Dr. Carlos Rubio-Medrano
Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Katie Walker

Katie Walker
Associate Clinical Professor of Literacy Education

Bozhen Liu

Bozhen Liu
Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Leobardo Diosdado

Leobardo Diosdado
Assistant Professor of Finance

Oliver Cruz-Milan

Oliver Cruz-Milan
Associate Professor of Marketing

Jeremy Dean

Jeremy Dean
Application Systems Administrator IV

Lauren Denver-Potter

Lauren Denver-Potter
Associate Professional Professor of Psychology

Huyen Le

Huyen Le
Assistant Professional Professor of Computer Science

Tianxing Chu

Tianxing Chu
Associate Professor of Computer Science

Shreyash Chede

Shreyash Chede
Business Administration Project Manager

Amanda D'Avria

Amanda D'Avria
Major League Hacking

Judging Criteria

  • Technical Execution
    Build a reliable, working end-to-end demo (stable code/hardware, smooth API handling, crash-free).
  • Innovation & Criteria
    Bring a unique twist, novel approach, or inventive thinking to set your project apart.
  • Problem Relevance
    Solve a genuine, practical problem for a real target audience with clear alignment to the theme.
  • Design & Usability
    Keep it intuitive with clean UI with sensible navigation for software, or neat wiring and clear feedback for hardware.
  • Presentation
    Tell a clear, compelling story about what you built and why, show a smooth live demo, and involve the whole team.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

Invite others to compete

Hackathon sponsors

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