Nayda Santiago and Ellen Rios de Acaron
October 17-21, 2018
Pasadena, California

Thirty-two students represented UPRM at the Great Minds in STEM/HENAAC Conference at the Pasadena Convention Center. The HENAAC conference was held in conjunction with the Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) annual conference. Twelve of the UPRM participants were CAHSI students. During the last night of the conference, as student awards were called, the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez was mentioned many times.

At the Annual CAHSI Cybersecurity “Hackathon”, the team composed of Roberto Guzmán, Jose Maldonado and Onix Tarrats competed as “The Pandahat” team, obtaining first place in the expert level competition. Roberto and Onix are undergraduate students in Computer Engineering, while José is an undergraduate student in Software Engineering. A group of six students competed in the Google Coding Challenge where two teams form UPRM obtained a tie in second place. The team players in the first group were Lianne Sanchez (ICOM), Sujeily Fonseca (ICOM) and Cristian Garzón (ICOM). The second group was formed by Carlos Rivera (ICOM), Pedro Fernandez (ICOM) y Gil Reyes (ICOM).

A group of 14 students received an invitation to be mentors or “College Captains” at the Viva Technology event sponsored for middle and high school. This opportunity permits them to be “college Captains” at the Viva Technology event to be held in Puerto Rico next semester.

The College Bowl competition is also an important part of the conference. The HENAAC College Bowl™ is a two-day, high energy competition in which teams of college students, coached and judged by industry and government representatives, focus on showcasing their talents, teamwork and leadership skills. The event is both a rewarding opportunity for students to interact and compete with their peers and a chance to interact with STEM professionals. Ten of our UPRM students were given the opportunity to participate in the College Bowl and were part of the second and third place winning team. The students in the Northrop Grumman team (second place) were Juleika Villarubia (INQU) and in the Lockheed Martin team (third place) were Keyshlan Aybar (INQU) and Gionelle Pérez (INQU). These students are currently members of the A.S.E.E. UPRM chapter.

To be able to participate was an enriching and professional development which motivated the students to network, think out of the box and develop communication skills.

Congratulations to all!!