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MARIETTA, Ohio (WTAP) -The PioSolve Hackathon at Marietta College took place this weekend. Four teams were tasked with developing solutions for how to handle wood by-products in Appalachian Ohio. Marietta College said the hackathon is designed to let students develop ideas in a single day that can be put into action.
According to the event page on Marietta College’s website, the top three teams will receive prizes of $500, $400 and $100. According to the event page, the project selected as the audience favorite will also receive a $100 award. The Center for Appalachian Innovation helped sponsor this year’s event.
Michelle Jeitler with the center said the sponsorship ties into the group’s recent work on forestry and timber issues in the region. “This is the first time we’ve been a sponsor of this event,” Jeitler said. “We’re really excited to sort of springboard off of the timber symposium we had and then help the students at Marietta College see the problems in Appalachia.”
Jeitler said the hackathon gives students experience solving real-world problems.
“It gives them a feel for what real world is going to be like,” Jeitler said. “There’s academics where you’re learning things in the classroom, and then there’s real world applications of problem solving. It helps them build communication. It helps them build team building skills. It helps them just learn to think outside of the box, and gives them the opportunity to work with other people that they’re not used to working with.”
Student Lacey Frame said the event gave participants a chance to collaborate with industry leaders.
“So it’s really cool to be able to actually work with real business owners,” Frame said. “We can see how the collaboration of our ideas will actually benefit the industry.”
Frame said her team researched ways to break down wood by-products into chemicals that could be used in other products.
“We have found out that you can kind of break down wood byproducts to get like ethanol and methanol and other substances,” Frame said. “We were going to try to use that to make fuel, medical, like cleaning products or even like for burials.”
Student Alex Schaffer said his team developed a flood-response product that uses sawdust to absorb water.
“We came up with a product that kind of helps and solves the flooding and influx of rain within the Appalachian region,” Schaffer said. “We’ve come up with sawdust-filled sandbags, essentially, and the sawdust will soak up the water.”
Schaffer said the hackathon environment pushed students to work quickly and creatively.
“It’s really cool to just have the chance to take on a problem,” Schaffer said. “Just tackle it and try to come up with things.”