Hacking to Innovate @ MSU

March 4, 2016

Categories: Thought Leadership

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Last week, CNSI sponsored SpartaHack at Michigan State University. Despite the ominous name, this wasn’t a group of scantily clad Greek soldiers attacking Michigan State’s mainframe. No, this was a group of 500 white-hat student hackers getting together to collaborate, innovate and learn.

The student-organized event was a smashing success, full to the brim with computer science students at every level. For 36 straight hours, CNSI joined 550 of MSU’s brightest and most ambitious students to experience, design and dream. Teams of one to four students spent the weekend competing for a variety of awards.  Congratulations to Sir-Mix-A-Drink, for their Amazon Alexa-enabled Bartender, which took home first place in the competition.

CNSI was honored to be a corporate sponsor, but we were equally excited to contribute our expertise through a Tech Talk about software-as-a-service and our cloud-based solutions. In total, 15 CNSI team members attended the event, participating in activities from registration to mentorship to the closing ceremony.

SpartaHack is the perfect storm for CNSI. We have deep roots in Michigan through our design and implementation of the state’s cloud-based MMIS, the first in the nation. So naturally, we wanted to inspire the next generation of innovators. Throw in the fact that the event is run by a group of students with unparalleled enthusiasm and ambition (and a seemingly endless supply of Red Bull) – what more could you ask for? Here’s looking to SpartaHack 2017.

 For now, check out SpartaHack’s website and Twitter feed and remember to #LiveByTheCode.

 Did you participate in #SpartaHack? Tell us about your experience by joining the conversation on Twitter. Find us @CNSICorp.