UT PGE to Host 2nd Annual Energy AI Hackathon
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February 21, 2022
The Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering has announced plans to host its second annual Energy AI Hackathon March 25–27 on the Forty Acres. During the three-day in-person event, teams of 3 to 4 students from across UT Austin’s schools and departments will work together to solve an energy challenge using data analytics with machine learning in Python.
UT PGE’s resident AI experts, Dr. John Foster and Dr. Michael Pyrcz, will once again host the event. All UT Austin students are encouraged to participate, though each team must have at least one UT PGE student and at least one undergraduate to ensure the required domain knowledge. Registration ends March 11.
After a half-day workshop the evening of March 25 led by Associate Professors Pyrcz and Foster on the fundamentals of probability, data analytics, machine learning and more, teams will begin developing and testing initial prototypes with guidance from expert mentors representing Chevron, ComboCurve, ExxonMobil, Oxy, Pioneer, SparkCognition and others. On March 27, teams will present their solutions to a panel of machine learning experts from Amazon, BP, Dell Technologies, Energy Analytics, Expero and IBM. The top four groups will earn bragging rights as well as $9,000 in prize money.
Events like UT PGE’s Energy AI Hackathon provide students with opportunities to enhance their academic experience, augment career preparation outside the classroom, and facilitate both student-faculty and student-alumni networking, says Pyrcz. “As we continue to add new digital technologies in our course offerings and research programs, we know that our students are ready to take on this challenge. We feel validated by their strong performance last year and very positive feedback from our expert mentors and judges,” he says. “Every subsurface-oriented company that I visit is interested in growing these new operational capabilities, and we’re preparing students to bring that, in addition to excellent engineering and geoscience domain knowledge.”
More than 100 students on 21 interdisciplinary teams from across UT Austin participated in last year’s hackathon.
Learn More and Register
- Read more about this year’s Energy AI Hackathon.
- Attend a virtual info session on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at 4 p.m.
- Attend a mixer with Dr. Foster, Dr. Pyrcz and potential team members on Thursday, March 10, at 4:30 p.m.
- Register your team for the Energy AI Hackathon by March 11.
Thank You to Our 2022 Energy AI Hackathon Sponsors:
Underwriter
Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992
Gold
ComboCurve
Silver
Pioneer Natural Resources
Bronze
BakerHughes
