Press Release

BU Aims to Attract High School Girls to Computer Science by Hosting The Country’s Largest All-Female, Non-Binary Hackathon

Boston University, a private, nonprofit, research university, is the host partner for TechTogether Boston as part of a three-year partnership agreement. Through this partnership, Boston University aims to increase the number of women enrolling in computer science and engineering degree programs. BU has committed to providing significant financial and programmatic support to TechTogether Boston for the purpose of engaging high school students in this year’s hackathon. TechTogether Boston will bring around 1,000 female and non-binary individuals, including 150 high school students, to Boston University this year and hopes to continue to grow this number over the next 3 years.  

Photo Credit: TechTogether Boston

TechTogether was incubated as a student initiative with support from innovation programs: BU Spark! at the Hariri Institute for Computing, and Innovate@BU. The organization has since been established as an independent nonprofit led by a team of students representing universities nationwide.  As the host university, BU shares TechTogether’s mission of increasing female and femme non-binary participation at hackathons to aid in closing the gender gap in tech. SheHacks Boston (now known as TechTogether Boston) was held from January 26-28 in 2018 at the Metcalf Ballroom on BU’s campus last year.

“TechTogether is thrilled to be working with Boston University again and looks forward to the opportunities that will emerge from this partnership. We thank Boston University for being our host sponsor for our event over the next three years,”  said TechTogether Founder and BU Senior, Fiona Whittington.

BU’s partnership with TechTogether Boston includes financial support, research, and an event called, PreHacks.  PreHacks is an event that aims to serve as a bridge for high school students interested in exploring the study of computer science.

Photo Credit: BU Spark!, TechTogether Research Roundtable with BU faculty, staff, and TechTogether student leads

“Boston University is honored to have been a partner to TechTogether Boston since they launched in 2018. We believe hackathons have the potential to play an important role in closing the gender gap in tech and hope this event will result in more applications to BU from young women interested in pursuing degrees in computer science or engineering,” said Ziba Cranmer, Director of BU Spark!

This year, TechTogether Boston will be held at Boston University’s Agganis Arena from March 22nd to 24th.  On Friday, March 22nd, Boston University invites High School participants attending Tech Together to attend  PreHacks,  an event designed to introduce students to Boston University’s Computer Science Degree Program while also preparing them for the weekend’s hackathon experience. High school students or their guardians can sign up for the preparatory hackathon experience: www.tinyurl.com/prehacks2019, peruse the FAQ’s: http://tinyurl.com/y7n6qvhj, and may email prehacks@bu.edu with additional questions.

Follow TechTogether Boston for updates and information regarding the arrival of their hackathon on BU’s campus next month!