2022 UCLA HAcK Supporting Engineering Transfers

2023-09-29 | By Aditya Mishra

In July 2022, I had the opportunity to attend the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering's Summer "HAcK", a hackathon designed only for incoming engineering transfer students to 'get their hands dirty' with a technical design project.

DigiKey has been a proud partner of UCLA HaCK for the last two years and will support the eTransfer Mission for many more.

It was the first time in over 2 years that any Hackathon had taken place in the UCLA Engineering Makerspace, a 9,000 square foot room of possibility, with every tool for creation at your disposal.

Me (Aditya Mishra) excited to return to UCLA HAcK (in the much less stressful role of ambassador instead of mentor😉)

The UCLA Engineering Makerspace - the location of HAcK, my favorite spot-on campus (slightly biased since I work here 😉)

Despite being the middle of summer, there were 50 students racing to complete their projects and become immortalized in UCLA Samueli Engineering history.

In 2022, I had the pleasure of being DigiKey’s Ambassador for the UCLA Engineering Transfer Center’s (ETC) HaCK. HaCK is a weekend-long hackathon that gives Engineering Transfer Students, ‘eTransfers’, the opportunity to gain hands-on technical experience.

Students working on their projects.

Before I delve deeper into the Hackathon, let’s rewind a little.

The reality is, transitioning from community college to an institution can be really daunting.

UCLA understands the challenging burden transfer students face and thus created the “Transfer Bridge to UCLA Engineering” Program. Wesley Uehara, UCLA’s Transfer Center Director, was thrilled with DigiKey’s excitement for supporting transfer students.

“The students’ decision to spend the entirety of their summer, investing in preparing themselves as Bruin Engineers is a testament to their commitment to their journey in becoming professional engineers and future leaders of our community.” Wesley Uehara - creator of HAcK and UCLA Director of Engineering Transfers

This is a 14-week summer program that gives participants the opportunity to meet other transfers before the school year begins; experience the rigor of classes at UCLA; but most importantly, gain crucial hands-on experience that wouldn’t have been possible at their transfer institution.

In 2021, I was one of the mentors of the Transfer-Bridge program and helped organize the ETC HaCK. It was exhilarating to see the eTransfers gain confidence as they worked through each bug of their project.

The 2022 HAcK Mentors having as much fun as they can with no sleep.

In 2022, I was thrilled to return with DigiKey’s encouragement.

I met the new mentors for the Hackathon, one being Warnakulasuriya Fernando, “Yogi” (like the bear) for short. Yogi had broken his leg in three places, was wheelchair bound, and still came to support and help the transfers. Because of the high tables in the Makerspace, Yogi would have to hop around on one leg when he helped debug hardware issues.

Yogi understood the importance of what he was doing as the year before he was one of the participants in HaCK. The experience he gained through transfer bridge gave him the opportunity to be one of the few undergraduates in RoMeLa, a renowned robotics lab.

Warnakulasuriya Fernando, “Yogi” - 2021 HAcK Participant who returned as a mentor for 2022 (this time with broken foot as well)

In the past, ETC HaCK participants have never had “swag” (arguably the best part of any Hackathon) because it takes place in the summer, which is typically the “off-season.”

DigiKey came through and supplied awesome shirts (which were actually designed by last year’s DigiKey Ambassador from UCLA), solderable breadboards, screwdrivers, fancier prizes, and so much more.

DigiKey Swag desk post participant plunder ;)

I held soldering workshops for the participants as only six students had soldered prior to this Hackathon. Some even used the solderable breadboards DigiKey provided for their final projects.

Setting up for the extremely popular soldering workshops

The excitement that resulted from DigiKey’s support was palpable as students volunteered for interviews, worked through technical problems, and explained their unique transfer experience.

The transfer experience is one with lots of obstacles. Transfer students are normally a forgotten cohort that often come from an indirect path and DigiKey is committed to helping them as much as they can.

Returning to the UCLA Engineering Makerspace with DigiKey’s Support for the ETC HaCK was incredibly rewarding. Through this experience, I had the opportunity to meet and help some truly amazing people through their engineering journey.

The 2022 HaCK Participants posing with their completed projects - ready to celebrate.

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