Creating measurable educational and research value
Fifteen years of momentum, told in numbers: attendance, teams, awards, and the steady growth from a small hackathon into a school-wide innovation and research showcase.
A single recent event
Spring 2026 Research-A-Thon, the program's biggest edition yet.
150+
Total attendees
Spring 2026 brought more than 150 students, faculty, judges, and industry partners together in a single day. It is the clearest sign of how far the program's reach now extends beyond the classroom.
91
Student competitors
Ninety-one students competed head to head across AI, data science, and NSF NRT sponsored-track teams. Every one of them turned an idea into something built, tested, and defended in front of judges.
46
Registered teams
Forty-six interdisciplinary teams formed to build and research side by side. That turnout is exactly what lets a single event run several tracks at once.
Across recent editions
Scale and support from the last few years of events.
200+
Students, Fall 2024
Fall 2024 was one of the largest hack cycles on record, spreading over 200 students across four separate tracks. Scale like that is what makes the event feel like a campus-wide moment.
63
Teams in a cycle
Sixty-three teams entered a single Hack-A-Roo, the highest count the program has seen. More teams means more ideas, more mentors, and more work for judges to weigh.
40+
Posters & projects
A recent Research-A-Thon put up more than forty interdisciplinary posters and projects. It gives students a real venue to present serious research, not just a class assignment.
15+
Judges
Fifteen or more faculty, alumni, and industry reviewers evaluated the work. Their feedback is what connects a student project to real professional expectations.
$10K
In awards
Roughly ten thousand dollars in awards backed a recent Research-A-Thon. Real stakes push students to finish, polish, and present their very best work.
Fifteen years of momentum
How far the program has come since it started.
2010
Running since
UMKC has run semester-based hackathons since 2010, long before AI made them fashionable. That longevity is why the program has such deep roots, alumni, and institutional trust.
8
Technical eras
The focus has moved through eight distinct eras, from early programming to Quantum AI and NSF NRT projects. The event has never stopped tracking where the field is headed.
2 / yr
Events a year
Two events run every academic year, a fall build competition and a spring research showcase. Together they give students a steady, dependable rhythm to aim for.