Penn College Information Technology Students Excel at ‘Hackathon’

Published 10.21.2014

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Information technology majors from Pennsylvania College of Technology proved their prowess at a recent cybersecurity competition. A five-member Penn College contingent finished second at the Altamira Hackathon in Fairfax, Virginia.

Conducted at George Mason University, the competition required participants to test their skills around the Atari game Scram. Team members controlled various aspects of a nuclear reactor while protecting their computer network and attacking the computing resources of other teams.

“Events such as the Altamira Hackathon give students an opportunity to exercise their skills in a competitive environment,” said Sandra Gorka, associate professor of computer information technology, who accompanied the students with Jacob R. Miller, associate professor of computer information technology. “We are very impressed with the performance of our second-place team and all the Penn College students who participated. They did an outstanding job representing the college.”

Penn College IT majors had a strong showing at the recent Altamira Hackathon in Fairfax, Virginia. College participants were (front row, from left) Evelyn E. Hill, of Muncy; Madelyn M. Lanoue, of Dallastown; David M. Mossop, of Newark, Delaware; Zachary L. Lundberg, of Warren; Donald E. McCoy, of Watsontown (2014 graduate); and Brian S. Stringer, of McVeytown. Back row, from left: Derek E. Teay, of Northampton; Tucker J. Harner, of Leesport; Drew Pacell, of Ottsville; Jeremy W. Rennicks, of Williamsport; Jerome T. Czachor, of Dickson City; and Adam T. Check, of Great Falls, Virginia. (Photo by Sandra Gorka, associate professor of computer information technology)Penn College’s competition included teams consisting of Cisco Systems employees, cybersecurity organization members and graduate students.

Members of the college’s second-place team were information assurance and security concentration majors Jeremy W. Rennicks, of Williamsport; David M. Mossop, of Newark, Delaware; Adam T. Check, of Great Falls, Virginia; Benjamin S. Welch, of State College; and software development and information management major Derek E. Teay, of Northampton.

Other Penn College participants included information assurance and security concentration majors Evelyn E. Hill, of Muncy; Drew Pacell, of Ottsville; Zachary L. Lundberg, of Warren; Brian S. Stringer, of McVeytown; Madelyn M. Lanoue, of Dallastown; Jerome T. Czachor, of Dickson City; technical support technology emphasis major Tucker J. Harner, of Leesport; and Donald E. McCoy, of Watsontown, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in the network specialist concentration.

Altamira Technologies Corp. sponsored the hackathon. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Altamira provides engineering and analytic services to defense, intelligence and homeland security communities.

Penn College offers four information technology bachelor’s degrees and one associate degree. A national security telecommunications and systems security competency credential is also available. For information on the Penn College IT majors and other degrees from the School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies, call 570-327-4520.

For more about Penn College, which is celebrating its Centennial throughout 2014, visit www.pct.edu, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.