On October 18, the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship hosted the first-ever CUA AI × MCP Hackathon at the Busch School of Business. It was an exciting day as Catholic University students designed and pitched AI-powered ideas to address real-world problems.
The event was led by Taylor Black, Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in Microsoft’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer and founding director of Catholic University’s new Interdisciplinary Institute on A.I. and Emerging Technologies, alongside Dr. H. Joseph Yost, Senior Vice Provost for Research; Dr. Steve Brown, Dean of Engineering; Prof. Andreas Widmer, Director of the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship; Dr. Gregorio Toscano, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; and Prof. Lucas Wall, Assistant Professor of Finance and creator of the almma.AI marketplace.
The energy in Maloney Hall lasted all day as students brainstormed, built, and presented their ideas. More than 20 students worked together to code and create innovative prototypes using MCP tools, LLMs, and GitHub Classroom. Each team turned its ideas into working AI-driven products, practiced new workflows, tested AI applications, and explored research grant opportunities for the CUA community.
Projects were evaluated based on their impact, creativity, technical skill, and feasibility. The final presentations impressed the entire panel and highlighted the students’ hard work.
Hackathon Winners:
First Place – Cardinal Concordia
Luke Gilfillan, Ansar Ali, Meti Wakwoyya, Titilope Olowoyo
Second Place – VectorGrants
Grace Connors, Anthony Ozog, Aidan Williams
Third Place – Guardians of the Grant Galaxy
Nigel Amos Funguriro, Daniel Dake, Teresa Suarez
The hackathon provided students with an opportunity to explore AI, experiment with new technologies, and understand the meaning of building with purpose. Thank you to our faculty mentors, operations team, and everyone who made this day possible.