DataHacks 2026

DataHacks 2026 is a 36-hour, MLH-certified student hackathon hosted by the Data Science Student Society (DS3) at UC San Diego that brings together 400+ students to build solutions at the intersection of AI, data, and real-world challenges. The 2026 theme centers on Environment, Climate & Energy Sciences and projects must align with this theme and use at least one provided dataset for most tracks. The event includes hands-on workshops, mentorship from industry professionals and researchers, and an expo-style judging session where teams present to judges and sponsors. Submissions require a Devpost project page with a description, 3-minute demo video, and (for code tracks) a public GitHub repository or equivalent artifacts for hardware projects.

Prizes across tracks including electronics (Mac Mini, Nintendo Switch, Meta Quest, iPad, Arduino kits), gift cards, trips for certain prizes, swag, sponsor-specific awards and recruiting/ networking opportunities with sponsors.

Students may participate; teams may form or individuals may participate solo.

Form a team or participate solo, select track(s), build over the 36-hour event and submit a Devpost project with name, description, 3-minute demo video, required code or visuals, tech stack, and presentation materials for judging.