April 5 th and 6 th saw the return of BlossomHack, Ohio University’s premiere Hackathon, coinciding with the blooming of our Japanese Cherry trees. BlossomHack had 60 attendees this year representing 6 different universities, including our first international participant from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Other participants included: Iowa State University, Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, and Kent State University.
BlossomHack is organized by a consortium of other Ohio University student organizations including student chapters of the Association of Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Ohio Game Development Association.
This year, BlossomHack was sponsored by Major League Hacking (MLH) an international student hackathon league which played a pivotal role in attracting attendees from other universities. Chad Mourning, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, served as the group’s advisor, and spoke on the importance of Hackathons and Capture the Flag Contests (CTFs), “I’m a big believer that what you do outside the classroom is just as important as what you do inside of it. Hackathons are a great way to learn a new skills while surrounded by like-minded people, and usually include an opportunity to win some prizes, get swag, and free food.”
This year co-located events included: the 3 rd Annual Bobcat CTF, workshops, and even a literal Easter Egg Hunt. Mourning added, “Formal coursework doesn’t always keep up with rapidly evolving industry trends, and Capture the Flag contests have emerged as a leading way to develop your ethical hacking skills.”
Two of last year’s organizers returned to help judge this year’s competition. Alex Williams graduated from the Computer Science program in 2023 and took a job with Boeing as a Cybersecurity Analyst and returned to judge and deliver a workshop on resume development for Cybersecurity. Justin Garey, another Computer Science alumnus works for MTI Systems in Kent, Ohio. Other judges included Dr. Shawn Ostermann and Dr. Chang Liu from Computer Science, former Dean of the Russ College of Engineering Dennis Irwin, and Avionics Engineering Center Research Engineer Adam Schultz as well as Blossom Hack organizer, Electrical Engineering junior Drew Mullet.
The “Best in Show” went to “OpenWeb AY” an open-source plug-in to improve website accessibility developed by Brady Phelps, a junior in the Honors Tutorial College Advanced Computing program.
