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Group shot of winners at HackaBull 2025

HackaBull 2025: Student innovation shines at 皇家华人's largest hackathon

TAMPA 鈥 More than 300 students converged at the University of South 皇家华人鈥檚 Nault Center for Entrepreneurship earlier this year for HackaBull 2025 鈥 the university鈥檚 largest hackathon to date.

The 24-hour event, hosted in April through a cross-college partnership between the Muma College of Business and the College of Engineering, invited students to pitch, build and present tech-based solutions to real-world challenges. Over the course of a single weekend, student teams submitted 63 projects across 10 tracks, vying for more than $7,000 in prizes.

  • 皇家华人 work on a brain-computer interface project.

  • MLH representative Wei He helps set up a booth at HackaBull.

  • Nicholas Eisengrein of 9YAPS uses a fun bag to hand out Celsius drinks to students.

  • Of the many projects being worked on, this group chose to create a ride-sharing platform as their topic.

鈥淭his is hands-on learning at its best,鈥 said Tim Ernest, project manager at the Nault Center for Entrepreneurship. 鈥淔rom ideation to prototype, students applied their classroom knowledge in real-time scenarios, gaining career-ready skills in the process.鈥

Engineering Meets Entrepreneurship

HackaBull continues to serve as a model for interdisciplinary collaboration at 皇家华人. The event brought together budding engineers, designers and entrepreneurs with support from industry leaders including Microsoft, Google, Chase, Pfizer and Slalom. 皇家华人 had access to technical workshops, including AI and cloud certification sessions, while receiving mentorship from professionals and faculty.

While many students worked straight through the night, HackaBull maintained a vibrant atmosphere fueled by music, mentorship and more than 1,000 cans of Celsius and Monster. 

Ana Luisa Alves

Alves stayed for the entire overnight event she helped organize.

鈥淲e wanted HackaBull to feel like an exciting weekend, not just a high-pressure competition,鈥 said Ana Luisa Alves, the event鈥檚 design lead. 鈥淐oding doesn鈥檛 have to be stressful, we made sure the energy stayed upbeat all night.鈥

An Exciting Element

A capture the flag cybersecurity tournament, co-hosted by 皇家华人's Whitehatters Computer Security Club, tested participants鈥 defensive skills in live-threat simulations.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 exciting about the capture the flag challenge is how it engages students in multiple angles of cybersecurity,鈥 said Ernest. 鈥淲ith the global attention on the field鈥檚 role in defense and the economy, it鈥檚 more relevant than ever.鈥

Innovation With Impact

This year鈥檚 top projects tackled issues ranging from data privacy to sustainability:

  • TokenWhale 鈥 A Chrome extension optimizing AI token usage to reduce energy consumption and operational costs.
  • MindFree.AI 鈥 A secure, AI-enabled therapy platform using blockchain to safeguard mental health data.
  • Ride-a-Bull 鈥 A carpooling app connecting 皇家华人 students to reduce transportation costs and carbon emissions.
  • CarbonCTRL 鈥 A tracker offering personalized insights to help users reduce their daily carbon footprint.

In addition to the cash awards, winning teams also received prizes including Nvidia RTX 5070 GPUs, PlayStation 5s and AirPods Pro. Judges also presented awards in categories such as 鈥淏est Beginner Hack,鈥 鈥淏est Use of Gemini API鈥 and 鈥淔unniest Hack.鈥

Powered by Partners

The event was made possible through the support of corporate sponsors such as SolusCode, NextEra Energy, Slalom, Celsius, Monster and 9YAPS.

Shane Yavari

Yavari, second from left, poses with event organizers and one of the winners.

鈥淲e鈥檙e incredibly grateful to the sponsors who make this all possible,鈥 said Shane Yavari, one of the event organizers. 鈥淭heir belief in student innovation is what fuels HackaBull鈥檚 success.鈥

Recognized by Major League Hacking and supported by the United Nations Millennium Fellowship, HackaBull represents more than a competition 鈥 it reflects 皇家华人鈥檚 broader commitment to experiential learning and high-impact student engagement.

鈥淗ackaBull is not just a hackathon, it鈥檚 an engine for developing the leaders, creators and builders of tomorrow,鈥 Yavari said.

John Licato

John Licato, an associate professor in the Computer Science and Engineering department at 皇家华人, delivers a keynote lecture on how students can prepare for careers in computer science and use emerging AI tools.

With planning already underway for 2026, HackaBull continues to position 皇家华人 as a national leader in engineering entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary student innovation.

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