About the challenge

SCU Hack-a-Stack's Endurance Track will feature 5 submission tracks. The following tracks will leverage the tech-stack or functionality of the following sponsors:

Cisco:

1. AI App Performance Advisor
   Given traffic, latency, error, and GPU usage data, recommend actions such as adding capacity, reducing load, rerouting traffic, or investigating errors. Example outcomes: lower latency, fewer failed requests, and better GPU usage.
2. GPU Job Placement Challenge
   Given AI jobs that need different numbers of GPUs and a set of available GPU nodes, decide where jobs should run. Example outcomes: lower wait time, fewer idle GPUs, and fewer blocked large jobs.
3. AI Job Failure Detective
   Given alerts, logs, metrics, and short runbooks, rank likely causes and recommend recovery actions such as retry, restart, move job, reduce load, or escalate. Example outcomes: better root-cause matching, faster recovery, and fewer wasted GPU hours.

SCU Ciocca Center

Adal

VoiceOS/HypeScribe

Future Unicorn

• Best Overall: Idea Originality
  Does the project tackle a problem in a fresh or unexpected way? Does it go beyond obvious solutions or existing tools?
• Best Overall: Technical Complexity
  Did the team demonstrate strong engineering skill? Consider the difficulty of implementation, use of APIs/tools, and how much was built within the hackathon timeframe.
• Best Overall - User Experience & Design
  Is the product intuitive, polished, and easy to use? Does the interface reflect thoughtful design choices that serve the end user?
• Best Overall: Impact Potential & Value
  Does this solve a meaningful problem or create real value? Consider the breadth of people it could benefit and the significance of the pain point addressed.
• Best Overall: Presentation & Demo
  Did the team clearly communicate what they built, why it matters, and how it works? Was the video demo compelling and easy to follow?
• Best Overall: Sponsor Integration Breadth
  Does the project genuinely use multiple sponsors, or does it feel forced? Judges should ask: would this product be meaningfully worse without each sponsor's tool?
• Ciocca: Identified a Real Opportunity
  Did the team spot a clear gap, inefficiency, or user pain point worth solving?
• Ciocca: Value Creation
  Does the extension deliver real value to users? (Time-saving, boosting creativity, etc.)
• Ciocca: Entrepreneurial Mindset
  Did the team demonstrate initiative, creative thinking, and user-first design?
• Ciocca: Scalability Potential
  Could this idea be expanded or monetized with further development?
• Ciocca: Business Communication
  Did they pitch their idea clearly and persuasively like real entrepreneurs?
• Ciocca: User Insight
  Did they talk to users, show personas, or consider real needs?
• Ciocca: Unique Positioning (BONUS)
  Is there something that makes this stand out from other solutions?