Recap of Melissa at IrvineHacks 2024

The Melissa Team sponsored and supplied attendees with swag at IrvineHacks 2024, the largest collegiate hackathon in Orange at UC Irvine's Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Building on January 26th. The three day event had over 800 applicants; 400 were selected for registration while the other half were waitlisted. This hackathon also offered walk-ins given its popularity — to view all project submissions, click here.

For this year’s hackathon, Melissa sponsored the event by providing a challenge for attendees: ‘Best Use of Melissa API/Data Sets’. The winning team, which had four members, would be rewarded with exclusive Melissa swag (i.e. backpacks, two polos, 40 oz. tumbler in gray, baseball cap) and $50 gift cards to Amazon.  

During the first day of the hackathon, Melissa set up a table to pass out their staple swag item — 40 oz. tumblers in navy blue along with branded event stickers. There was a line to the Melissa table! Attendees that visited the Melissa table were encouraged to participate in Melissa’s hackathon challenge, which required attendees to use Melissa tools and data sets. Attendees were quickly given a demo of Melissa’s API, such as their Global IP Web API or Global Address Web API, to demonstrate its ease of use and efficiency.

The winning team that provided the Best Use of Melissa APIs was Resify, with group members: Han Seo R., Kyle T., Aryaman D. and Johnny D. Congratulations to Resify! To view their project submission, click here.

Aside from swag, Melissa also gave students a demo of the Education Portal at the sponsor table. The online portal champions education! It supplies students and teachers with free data sets — yes, even international students! If attendees are interested in these free resources, they may sign up for the Education Portal by creating a Melissa account at no charge. To access the portal, attendees must register using a .edu email.

Since 1985, Melissa has specialized in global intelligence solutions to help organizations unlock accurate data for a more compelling customer profile. More than 10,000 clients worldwide in industries such as retail, education, healthcare, insurance, finance, and government, rely on Melissa for full spectrum data quality and ID verification software, including data matching, validation, and enhancement services to gain critical insight and drive meaningful customer relationships.