IslanderHack 2025: Innovation, Creativity, and Community Impact

Innovation, creativity, and competition flowed through Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi’s (TAMU-CC) campus during the inaugural IslanderHack, held Nov. 1-2. The event, sponsored by Citgo and Tesla, brought together Islander students from various majors for a weekend of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation focused on developing smart solutions for real-world community and industry challenges. 

Hosted by the College of Engineering and Computer Science (COECS) and the Career and Professional Development Center (CPDC), the first IslanderHack welcomed 40 student participants who spent 24 hours straight in teams creating an app, website, or game addressing healthcare, housing, disaster response, education, or governmental issues. By the end of the event, teams had spent a combined total of 1,200 hours hacking and produced functioning prototypes that addressed the social-economic issues they had chosen.  

The team that took first place was an unexpected group made up of three electrical engineering students — Ethan Hughes ’26, Davia Lead ’26, and Parker Schroader ’26. After 6 hours of trial and error on multiple project ideas, the team finally landed on creating a flood warning system — something that hit close to home after flooding claimed homes and lives in Kerrville over the summer. 

The team chose this project because they saw a gap in the way local citizens were warned about oncoming floods. To fill this gap, the team created a deployable disaster system that could be used by local governments to gather and store environmental data. Based on that data, an AI machine learning algorithm would predict when a disaster might occur and send out alerts to subscribers of the system within a 0–60-minute timeframe, giving residents time to evacuate when needed.  

Hughes, Leal, and Schroader decided to join Islanderhack because they love competitions, especially those that challenge them to create something in a limited amount of time. As a team of only engineering majors in a computer science competition, they did not have high expectations of winning due to their limited knowledge of full stack development and other computer science skills.  

“We knew we were outmatched, but we decided that as long as we were learning something, then it would be 100% worth participating,” Schroader said. 

They proved it was indeed worth participating when their team was announced as the champions of the very first IslanderHack at TAMU-CC.  

“More than anything, they walked away with confidence — the realization that, given a challenge and a weekend, they can build something that matters,” said Lewis Heuermann, professor of cybersecurity at TAMU-CC, IslanderHack organizer, and member of the Expert Advisory Board. 

Other projects that caught the eyes of the judges were the projects that came in second and third place: bAI Watch and Ready Corpus Christi. The second-place team, made up of Vishakan Umapathy Sundharambal ’26, Malaka Sudhakara Bava Sukruth Reddy ’25, and Sainadth Pagadala ’26, produced bAI Watch, an AI-powered public service platform designed to enhance community safety during disasters. This project created a Dual AI Agent System, including The Action Plan Agent and The SOS AI Voice Agent. These tools help individuals in emergency situations to create personalized emergency plans by analyzing household and medical needs, and the Voice Agent enables users to call for help hands-free during a crisis.  

The third-place team — Voss Purkey ’26, Misha Stegall ’27, Grace Williams ’27, and Noah Wilborn ’26 — created Ready Corpus Christi, an interactive map that helps users by creating personalized evacuation plans for disasters such as hurricanes. The site also updates construction zones, flood risk zones, and high traffic areas in real-time so users can safely and efficiently evacuate during an emergency. 

A key organizer who brought the idea of IslanderHack to life was Jennifer Mondragon ’21,’23, ’27, a Ph.D. student of computer science here at TAMU-CC. Mondragon has a passion for helping students prepare for life after college by giving them the tools they will need to succeed in the workforce. This passion inspired her to bring a hackathon to life here at TAMU-CC.  

“The main goal of a hackathon is to give students hands-on experiences that they won’t get in the classroom in a fun, low pressure environment,” said Mondragon. “A lot of entry level computer science classes are based on theory, and not practical uses. Through events like this, students can learn tools that are being used in the real world, so they have a better chance of succeeding after graduation.” 

With over 500 hours of prep work and the help of Mondragon and the organizers from the CEOCS and the CPDC, the event came together. IslanderHack created a space for creative innovation and growth for each of the participants by providing team building activities and workshops led by industry professionals, professors, and TAMU-CC upperclassmen.  

The event also would not have been possible without the Expert Advisory Board, a group of nine faculty, staff, and industry professionals who served as mentors and judges throughout the event. The head of the Expert Advisory Board, organizer of IslanderHack, and professor at TAMU-CC, Dr. Carlos Rubio-Medrano, was very proud of how the event went and where it is headed in the future.  

“You could feel the momentum from the start; students were excited, mentors were engaged, and things ran smoothly from kickoff to final demos,” said Rubio-Medrano. “This event showed that not only our students are technically capable of conceiving, developing, and deploying amazing new ideas, but also our faculty is capable of influencing the development of AI technology for years to come through mentoring and teaching.”  

The inaugural IslanderHack at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi marked more than just a weekend of fun — it showcased the innovation, determination, and collaborative spirit that defines Islander students. Through long hours of teamwork and creative problem-solving, participants demonstrated how technology and imagination can unite to address real-world challenges. The event proved that even in just 24 hours, students can build ideas that have a lasting impact on the community. With dedicated organizers, supportive sponsors, and passionate mentors, IslanderHack has set a powerful precedent for future hackathons at TAMU-CC, inspiring a new generation of innovators ready to turn challenges into opportunities.