Banks of the Boneyard 18.1.1
Hey again! We’re back with our mid-semester update.
ACM Spring Open House
In the beginning of the semester, we opened our doors for new and old members to walk in and see what we are all about! ACM Spring Open House Sponsored by Granular was a great way for everyone to not only stay on the same page on what is happening throughout all the SIGs (special interest groups) and ACM committees, but it got us all excited on what is yet to come! After the presentation in 1404, students filed into smaller rooms in which they were able to personally interact with leaders of any SIG they were interested in.
HackIllinois 2018
More than a thousand students from right here in Illinois to all the way from Florida explored their dreamscape at HackIllinois 2018! Students were able to contribute to projects such as PrairieLearn, an online problem-driven learning system for creating homeworks and tests used at the University of Illinois, and learn from leading open source contributors. HackIllinois also had many incredible keynote speakers such as Katie Huff and Travis Oliphant, as well as exciting panels and workshops!
Being the first Open Source Hackathon came with many challenges, but HackIllinois 2018 Director, Kevin Hong, believes that this year students and mentors came in with a clear understanding of what HackIllinois is about. He explains, “people came in with different expectations than a regular hackathon” and “staff were not wandering into uncharted territory.”
When I was walking around the expo rooms, talking to proud teams displaying the fruit of 36 hours of labor, I asked them why they decided to come and what they thought about HackIllinois. The answers, not surprisingly, all revolved around the “positive and collaborative environment” that HackIllinois creates! More than anything, they felt like the purpose extended beyond just winning a prize but rather to gaining knowledge and contributing to the Free and Open Source Community. Every participant had the opportunity to walk out with more knowledge than when they came in.
GPU Cluster
ACM Projects has been and still is working hard to connect students with an easy way to get access to a GPU. In the last post we updated you about our progress on the GPU Cluster and now it is in open beta! Students are welcomed to try it out but since we are still in the testing phase, we aren’t guaranteeing uptime or data integrity. For more information visit gpu.acm.illinois.edu.
Concert
ACM has a new music system for the office in open beta! Anyone with an ACM account can liven up the front room with music at any time. If want to see more about visit this repo: https://github.com/acm-uiuc/concert
Our SIGs at Engineering Open House!
SIGGraph
SIGGraph has been working on making a short animation film about a new alarm clock of a college student. In the last two semesters, they wrote a script, drew storyboard pictures, created concept art, and built models of the characters and the environment. This semester, they worked on animating the models and producing videos. Here are some pictures from the behind-the-scenes video that they shared at Engineering Open House (EOH).
GameBuilders
GameBuilders supports various game-related projects of their members and helps them develop their professional skills for a career in the game industry. Their members form small teams and develop projects with the club’s support. One of their most popular exhibits was the VR game:
SIGMusic
SIGMusic has been working on hard on a Kinect Game which they proudly displayed in the ACM Office during Engineering Open House!
We all had a lot of fun playing the game!
Corporate Events
Amazon Workshop
Amazon brought in puzzles, prizes, and pizza for students for a fun night in 2405! Students were able to hear more about the different opportunities provided at Amazon, work on coding challenges, and hear from Illinois Alumni about their experience with the company.
Facebook Puzzle Hunt
ACM hosted Facebook’s Puzzle Hunt, an exciting 2 hours of logic game puzzles. Students cracked their heads over challenging puzzles ranging from unscrambling Pokemon to searching through Shakespearean Sonnets, all designed by Facebook’s engineers! Winners left with Facebook swag and gift cards. The event was a great chance for ACM members and students from around campus to take their mind off midterms for a few hours and work together on fun puzzles!
Thanks!
The semester hasn’t ended just yet so stay tuned for more updates!
Interested in learning more? Click here to learn more about ACM@UIUC.
Soumya Kuruvila CS@Illinois ’21
