CSChE proudly hosted its first-ever hackathon, Hack the Case 2026, a week-long environmental sustainability case competition that brought together chemical engineering students across all years. The case was released on Monday, March 9th, followed by a mid-week Q&A session to support teams as they developed their solutions. The competition concluded on Sunday, March 15th, where teams presented to a panel of industry and faculty judges.
A total of 11 teams, with over 40 participants ranging from first-year to PEY students, took part in the event. Final presentations were evaluated by industry professionals Sahar Ayaz, P.Eng, PMP, and Sunday Owolabi, MBA, CMRP, CQE, alongside faculty judge Prof. Daniela Galatro.
The event was led by CSChE Outreach Directors Milena Gega and Abiya Susan Eapen, with support from Basma Elsabban (Chair), Jeslyn Lorraine Winoto (Vice Chair), and team members Ryan Xu, Audrey Jacinto, and Jason Zhou He.
“Hack the Case was a great opportunity for students to apply their learning to real sustainability challenges and collaborate across all years. It also highlighted the value of more chemical engineering focused case competitions, which are found to be less common compared to those in other disciplines,” says Elsabban.
And the winners are…
First Place Winners:
- Team 7: Ryan Gill and Eleanora Melkonian
Second Place Winners:
- Team 9: Solomun Guish Asfaha, Ishu Sarker and Nabila Preema
Third Place Winners:
- Team 6: Ziena Elsabban, Karveyan Ponniah and Han Hsu Eain
- Team 1: Aadil Challawala, Diego Geloso, Matteo Martin-Lo and Emi Rioja Kuri Kassis
Congratulations to everyone involved!
Building on the success of its inaugural year, Hack the Case is poised to become a flagship initiative for fostering innovation, collaboration, and sustainability-focused problem solving, helping to prepare the next generation of chemical engineering students to address complex global challenges!