Computer Science Students Take Third Place in HP Bot-a-Thon

Bowie State Teams Competed Against Top Students in IT Design Challenge

MEDIA CONTACT: Damita Chambers, dchambers@bowiestate.edu, 301-832-2628 mobile

(BOWIE, Md.) – Three Bowie State University computer science majors took third place in the inaugural Hewlett-Packard (HP) University Bot-a-thon, where they used the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform to virtually compete against more than 20 teams of top students this month.

Hosted from Jan. 12-13 by the multinational information technology enterprise, HP, the bot design challenge engaged student teams from select historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and universities in Texas in developing real-world business solutions. The other schools include Prairie View A&M University, the University of Houston, the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of St. Thomas (Texas).

Two teams represented Bowie State. The third-place winners are junior Cherrie Espineda (captain), sophomore Dejai Brown and sophomore Airrund Woolen, all computer science majors. For taking third place, the students won HP and AWS prizes, including an HP Backpack and Echo Buds. The second Bowie State team’s members are senior Tesema Erkihun, junior Daisy Nairuba, freshman Clarence Ray III and senior Taijah Shiles, all computer technology majors.

“I am so proud of our students because they were able to work together and exhibited the skills which they acquired through the courses they have taken,” said Dr. Rose Shumba, chair of the Department of Computer Science. “Our students take courses that include data structures, analysis of algorithms and computation. Such courses equip students with critical thinking and analytical skills required to be problem solvers. I am happy that the students applied those skills to this project. They embraced the technology that they had never worked with, and they were very successful.”

As part of the competition, the students learned to leverage AWS tools to design a bot that automates business processes, using advanced cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools. Working with an HP or AWS mentor, students developed their unique solutions and demonstrated them to a panel of judges.

“We all worked together and shared all of our ideas... from building a bot to creating a webpage to debugging and analyzing our program solution,” said Espineda, the third-place team’s captain. “Overall, it was a great and fun experience. I am happy and thankful that we were able to reach the third place.”

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About Bowie State University
Bowie State University (BSU) is an important higher education access portal for qualified persons from diverse academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, seeking a high-quality and affordable public comprehensive university. The university places special emphasis on the science, technology, cybersecurity, teacher education, business, and nursing disciplines within the context of a liberal arts education. For more information about BSU, visit bowiestate.edu.