Four Broncos reaped the benefits when they entered a two-day hackathon at X (formerly Twitter) for its inaugural Developer Challenge to compete against 35 other teams from around the nation. Up against students from top-caliber universities, the intrepid Santa Clarans zoned in and were ready for what was to come. And, in the end, won first place.
Tushar Shrivastav ’24, Neel Valeti ’25, Karan Parikh ’25, and Naveen Govindaraju ’24 decided on a whim to enter the X competition, which asked developers to create an app or feature to improve user experience. The SCU team focused on combating misinformation while encouraging the sharing of different perspectives and opinions.
Over a 30-hour marathon weekend, they devoted themselves to creating a product that automates post analysis and assesses accuracy, diverse viewpoints, and user interest in accounts through sentiment analysis.
They impressed judges with their final product: InsightX, a Chrome extension to tackle online bias and accuracy in X.
Their victory was more than a win; it provided invaluable learning, career opportunities, and a new perspective on risk-taking.
“I really hope it serves as an inspiration to other students to get out there. Not only will it improve your own career trajectory, but it can also improve the name of the school,” says Shrivastav, the team member who first heard about the competition.
Parikh agreed. Though SCU’s computer science may not hold the same name recognition of other schools, he says, “there’s a lot of really smart people at SCU who should see this and be like ‘we should go out there and do more.’ There’s a lot of untapped potential here, which can go far if they only take the chance.”