The technical and creative work by students in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Information and Computer Sciences Department (ICS) was showcased to the campus community, capstone project sponsors, industry professionals and defense sector representatives in December.
The ICS project day, hosted at the Campus Center Ballroom, featured 24 poster presentations. Among the projects included 23 capstone students working in teams to build 10 software systems for their sponsors (U.S. Army, Hawaiʻi Digital Health Lab and more). Students who were part of the CyberSecurity Service Provider Internship Program showcased their work, as well as the three winning teams from the 2023 Hawaiʻi Annual Code Challenge.
“We love to show off our students’ work. This is the culmination of their experience with the ICS department,” said Department Chair and Professor Scott Robertson. “I think it shows outreach, that they are working with the Department of Defense, with other companies, and there are many possibilities for them as they move forward.”
Solving real world problems
One project by students Mahie Crabbe, Christine Nakano, Kristine Rivera and Taryn Takebayashi helped the Army Reserve create a centralized talent marketplace to efficiently advertise critical job vacancies. They worked with Lt. Col. Mark Lee, 9th Mission Support Command talent manager, and created a web application featuring a secure login, role-based access and databases for users, job vacancies and resumés.
“I believe it was a great experience for our whole team,” Takebayashi said. “We learned a lot of different technologies that we utilized to put together this project.”
“My interaction with students has been phenomenal. This is our first semester that we’ve had interns as part of our hānai program,” Lee said. “We are very pleased to have two teams that are presenting their problem sets. It was very nice to be able to have a positive experience working with the students helping to solve real world problems in the Army Reserve.”
Possible future opportunities
Greg Hester is the chief technology officer for software technology company Ulu HI-Tech, which does a variety of work including running the HOLO Card program for the City and County of Honolulu. He is also president of CIO Council of Hawaiʻi. One of the goals of the council is to improve the IT workforce in the state.
“I’ve definitely been inspired today and I’ve also made some connections that I think I can leverage for what we’re doing in the CIO Council, and also maybe push for internships for some of those students,” Hester said.
Showcase student-led groups
At the ICS project day, representatives from ICS-affiliated student clubs were also present to showcase their work.
“All software engineers know that to get a job you have to practice technical interview questions, basically they want to see if you have the technical skills to do the job. Those can be very rigorous,” said Alyssia Chen, ICS graduate student and PANDA (Programming and Algorithms) organization president. “At PANDA, we help students prepare for them.”
Roma Malasarte, junior computer science major, is part of SWITCH (Supporting Women in Information Technology Computing Hawaiʻi).
“We encourage students to join our club so that we can support women in tech,” Malasarte said.
For a list of the ICS student organizations, visit this website.
The event concluded with special awards: best poster presentation, certificates of recognition to the Hawaiʻi Annual Code Challenge winners and certificates of recognition to student club members. There were also hula and ballroom dance performances by ICS students.
The ICS department is housed in the UH Mānoa College of Natural Sciences.
