RoseHack is UC Riverside’s minority focused, 24-hour hackathon, and one of the few women-centric hackathons in California. RoseHack is hosted yearly by Women in Computing (WinC), a student organization on campus centered around supporting, celebrating, and advocating for women and other underrepresented groups in all aspects of the computing field.

RoseHack is open to all undergrad and graduate students across the country.

RoseHack’s mission is to encourage individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM to gain experience, create strong networks, and build amazing projects through their shared passions in Science and Technology.

RoseHack offers support and feedback to our participants through industry and academia partnerships, affording us the privilege of providing expert mentors and judging by experienced industry professionals. Many projects completed at RoseHack follow industry guidelines and best practices, resulting in participants’ engagement with industry as well as an opportunity for resume-level innovation.

Our Platforms

Website: rosehack.com
LinkedIn: RoseHack
Instagram: rosehackucr
Email: rosehackucr@gmail.com
Discord: in participant acceptance email after applying at rosehack.com

Keynote Speech

Nidhi Sharma

Senior Manager, Software Engineering – Cox Automotive

Vice Second Chair, IEEE Long Island Section (NY)

SAS Eminent Fellow | IEEE Senior Member

AI Researcher | Published Author | Global Speaker | Mentor

10+ Certifications Including Agentforce specialist and Data Cloud Consultant

Breaking Barriers: Women Leading in AI/ML traces a 15-year journey from developer to senior engineering leader driving AI innovation at enterprise scale. This keynote bridges academic AI research with real-world deployment, drawing on published work in privacy-preserving machine learning (IEEE, IJCA) and hands-on experience leading global engineering teams.

The session addresses how women and underrepresented minorities can build technical credibility, strategic influence, and authentic leadership in AI/ML. Beyond motivation, attendees receive actionable strategies: the three career-transforming mindset shifts, how to maintain technical depth while growing into leadership, and a concrete week-by-week roadmap for career acceleration.

Whether you're a first-year student or graduate researcher, you'll leave with specific next steps for building the technical excellence and leadership presence needed to shape the future of artificial intelligence.

Requirements

Registration: Must be registered at rosehack.com and this Devpost.
Teams: Teams can have 1-4 members.
Project: See prizes section (below) and rules tab (above) for full information. Teams are free to build a project aimed at one or multiple prize tracks, with an additional 1st, 2nd, and 3rd team overall being awarded.

Judging Presentation! (things to discuss)

Introduction: Members and Tracks
Project Overview
Tech Stack
Challenges Encountered (how it was resolved)
Next Steps (outside of this hackathon)

Prize track(s) that submission is aimed to satisfy must be tagged and included in submission description.

What to Build!

Specialized prize tracks that focus on female hackers:

Best Female Hacker (Top female contributor)

Women’s Issues Track (Team that best tackles a female-focused issue)

General tracks:

Social Impact (in partnership with Engineers for Good: internship prize)

Hardware

Cash-Cow (in partnership with UCR School of Business)

UI/UX

Most Innovative

Beginner (Must be the first hackathon for at least half of your team)

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

12 non-cash prizes

1st Place Overall

1 winner

HHKB PROFESSIONAL HYBRID (Charcoal): Topre electrostatic capacitive switches
UCR Donkey Hat

2nd Place Overall

1 winner

JBL Vibe Beam True Wireless Earbuds- Black
Logitech Wave Keys Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard- Off White
Hydro Flask 32oz Wide Flex Cap Indigo
Hydroflask 32 Oz Travel Tumbler Black
Hydro Flask 32 oz. Wide Mouth with Flex Cap White
Hydroflask 32 Oz Travel Tumbler Birch

3rd Place Overall

1 winner

Logitech POP Icon Keys Keyboard- Lilac
LED Lights
Dormify Charging Catchall Lamp
iHome Powerclock Glow Bluetooth Color Changing FM Alarm Clock Radio

Best Female Hacker

1 winner

HHKB PROFESSIONAL HYBRID (Charcoal): Topre electrostatic capacitive switches

Women's Issues Track

1 winner

Hydroflask Tumbler
iHome PowerLight Flex Foldable LED Lamp with USB Charging & Alarm Clock
iHome Alarm Clock with Qi Wireless Charging and USB Charging
Lasko Breeze Machine

Social Impact Track (Partner: UCR Engineers for Good)

1 winner

Engineers for Good Internship (to be introduced in the opening ceremony)

Hardware Track

1 winner

3Dconnexion: SpaceMouse Enterprise, SpaceMouse Pro Wireless, SpaceMouse Wireless

Cash-Cow Track (Partner: UCR School of Business)

1 winner

School of Business Package

UI/UX Track

1 winner

Univ of California - Riverside Julia Gash Weekend Tote

Most Innovative Track

1 winner

UC RIVERSIDE HIGHLANDERS Lil Stubbies Elephant Plush
OnHand Portable Power Pack 10,000 mAh w/LED Indicator, Black
LED 25ft RGB LED Peel & Stick Light Strip w/ Remote
Multiport Charging Wall Adapter

Beginner Track

1 winner

Assorted Warmies plushies

Wolfram Award (Significant use of Wolfram Language)

3 winners

This Wolfram Award contains a year of WolframOne, with a retail value of $1,660/year per user.

Wolfram|One includes both Desktop and Cloud access, full access to the Wolfram Language and Knowledgebase, FreeCDF Deployment, 5000 Wolfram|Alpha API calls, 5000 Cloud Credits, 2 installations per user and 2 GB of Cloud Storage.

In addition, any student who submits a project utilizing Wolfram Language is eligible for a $500 scholarship to one of our summer programs if they apply and are accepted.