SU Team Places Third in HackUMBC Competition

By SU Public Relations

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University students, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), hacked their way to third place at the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s (UMBC’s) 2023 hackUMBC computer programming competition. 

The SU team included junior Isaac Dugan, of Thurmont, MD, and seniors James Montebell, of Seaford, DE, Brian Bowers, of Damascus, MD, and John Meyers, of Parkville, MD. All are computer science majors.

“I’m incredibly proud of our computer science students,” said Dr. Xiaohong (Sophie) Wang, chair of SU’s Computer Science Department. “They took great initiative to want to test their skills and embark on this competition outside of their heavy course load and busy study schedule. I’m confident this accolade is only the beginning of their impressive futures as top-tier software developers. Our computer science majors have a long history of excelling in programming competitions and this time was no different.” 

The team programmed through the night during the competition’s 24-hour challenge to build the most innovative, creative and functional program. 

Their winning program, Finder_, is an opt-in web application for private cameras to help identify and locate missing persons and wanted individuals using facial comparison. 

“I think the multifaceted components and complexities we included helped our program stand out,” said Dugan. “From building the facial recognition software and incorporating AI, to the interface capabilities for logging-in, the search and view functions, and storage for all the AI images — it’s a lot to take on in such a small timeframe.” 

Bowers also took home an individual award for his logo design. 

“To place top three in a competition of this scale with so many other top-notch schools is a testament to how our SU courses have prepared us, for not only learning computer science, but going beyond the textbook and having the foundational knowledge to add our own creativity,” said Dugan.

“At the end of the day, no one sat us down and taught us how to make this program. We assimilated all of our previous knowledge, brainstormed an idea, troubleshot any complexities and ultimately brought our vision to life together.” 

Learn more about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours at the SU website.