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The big winners of a two-month-long competition to create innovative ways to combat counterfeiting were Mason students and alumni—and the world at large. See who won the thousands in prize money in the Bring Down Counterfeiting Hackathon 2023 and who helped sponsor it.

More than 500 students, nine sponsors, and 50 volunteers gathered on George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú’s Fairfax Campus for the fifth annual PatriotHacks hackathon from October 6-8. After working for 36 hours straight, student teams presented 70 projects to a panel of judges from the tech industry. 

Registration is open to those who want to win $20,000 for finding a way to curtail counterfeit goods trafficking. It’s Hackathon Time again!

The Mason Nation’s strength was undeniable at several hackathons in spring 2023. Computer science, cybersecurity engineering, information technology, and mechanical engineering students won challenges on March 25 at the Â鶹¹ú²ú of Virginia, on April 7-9 at the Â鶹¹ú²ú of Maryland, and on April 29-30 at Drexel Â鶹¹ú²ú.

As a sophomore, electrical engineering major Sai Srivatsav Gutala started a student club called the Inventors and Innovations Team (IIT) with one of his classmates, computer engineering major Nicholas Paschke.

On October 1, Honors College Connects (HCC) held its second annual Hackathon. The Hackathon is an opportunity for students to come up with creative solutions to issues that various local nonprofit organizations face. Participants spent the day going through the brainstorming and development process, giving peer reviews, and presenting their final ideas to each nonprofit.

George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center and Amazon have joined forces to help combat counterfeiting and its criminal supply chain networks.

There’s no shortage of creativity at George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú, and from March 11-13, students will accelerate innovation at the university’s annual hackathon. This year, two events will take place simultaneously: PatriotHacks, the signature hackathon focused on software programming, and HackOverFlow, a new hackathon with a focus on hardware engineering.

The Honors College Connects Hackathon gathered students in George Mason Â鶹¹ú²ú’s MIX at Horizon to solve problems faced by local nonprofits.