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Hacksu, a 5X���� student organization, will be holding a 40-hour hackathon in the University Library over the weekend of Oct. 18-20. The event is expected to be the largest hackathon in the state of Ohio with up to 15 universities participating and more than 150 students expected to attend. Kent State faculty and staff members are invited to attend the event.

“A hackathon is an event where programmers, interface designers and other digital and graphics specialists come together over a specified period of time to create innovative technologies,” says Hacksu member, Jake Tobin. “Hackathons are also great collaborative opportunities for students to learn from others and to develop new networking relationships.” 

Products developed out of hackathons often have the potential to be turned into businesses. At the University of Pennsylvania PennApps 48-hour hackathon this past January, Hacksu leaders Camden Fullmer, David Steinberg and Daniel Gur created SimpleWash, an app that “washes” any obscenities from Facebook or Twitter accounts.

The Hacksu hackathon will take place on the fourth floor of the University Library, beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday night and will continue until Sunday afternoon with project presentations and the awarding of prizes for best products developed by teams. 

The event is being underwritten with the support from the Knight Foundation, Hyland Software, Progressive Insurance, ImprovElectronics, Google, Amazon Web Services, Kent State’s Blackstone LaunchPad and University Libraries.

For more information on how to attend, visit .