The IACR’s AI Lab supported the student organizers of Hack@URI 2026 during the early stages of the event by assisting with planning and helping identify fundraising opportunities. The team, met regularly with the organizers to monitor progress and provide guidance. Indrani Mandal and students from the AI Lab — Callum Magarian, Patrick Sullivan, Liam McKenzie, Mallory Malz, Ethane Moreta, Nicholas Lockhart, Matt Connors, Jeena Weber Langstaff, Matthew Barbrack, Kamron Aggorand and Arybella Theul were active contributors and played an important role in supporting the event’s preparation and coordination. IACR also provided breakfast for participants on both days and sponsored the executive lunch for mentors, judges, and organizers. In addition, Cecile Cres and Indrani Mandal served as mentors, while URI CIO Gabriele Fariello served as a judge for the project presentations on Sunday. To show support and to ensure the event ran smoothly, Indrani remained on-site until midnight on Saturday! Callum, Mallory, Nick, and Patrick stayed on campus overnight on Saturday.

The projects went through multiple rounds of evaluations. Lots of prizes were won. The event was a huge success, participants had plenty of fun, everyone was safe and there were lots of cheers at the end of the event. 

More details here: https://www.uri.edu/news/2026/03/uri-students-organize-and-host-large-scale-multi-track-hackathon/