Organized by IEEE Student Branch of NSBM in Collaboration with IEEE Computer Society Student Chapter of NSBM and IEEE WIE Affinity Group of NSBM.
Duothan is one of the flagship hackathons by the NSBM IEEE Family to encourage and improve problem solving skills as well as teamwork of undergraduate students. Organized for the second time Duothan 2.0 was held on 23rd of February as an in-person 7 Hour hackathon with Over 20 teams competing for the title of “Duothan Champions Duo”. Mixing with the Romantic theme of February Duothan was prioritized for Boy and Girl Squads to encourage girls to participate in hackathons. Due to the prevailing pandemic situation only NSBM Students were allowed to participate in a limited number of teams to prevent any health guideline violations.
The Opening ceremony started at 9.00 AM physically at the Faculty of Computing at NSBM Green University with the participation of lecturers, special invitees, and the contestants. Mr. Mohamed Shafraz, Senior lecturer at NSBM, Mr. Iman Ashly, Senior lecturer at NSBM were the guest speakers of this session. Mr. Shafraz highlighted the importance of Hackathons for Computing Students in his speech. After the successful opening ceremony, a Short Introductory Session on Hackathon Platform and Problem Solving was conducted by Mr. Srilal Sachintha, Chairperson of the IEEE Student Branch of NSBM for the first-time participants.
The 7 Hour Hackathon included two entertainment sessions to cheer up the participants and relax their minds to help with problem-solving. The Members of both IEEE Student Branch of NSBM and The NSBM Music Club conducted these sessions. These entertainment sessions were joined by the Academic staff of the Faculty of Computing, NSBM.
Duothan 2.0 was conducted via the Hacker rank Platform with Problems made by the IEEE Computer Society Student Chapter of NSBM. These problems were designed to be solvable in 3 different difficulties, giving every participating team a chance to try their best. The decision to hold the Hackathon in person was due to many students had not had the opportunity to participate in an in-person hackathon before due to a pandemic situation.
Duothan 2.0 was an intense battle between multiple teams. Every hour the top 5 teams were changing. Some teams had sudden comebacks, and some tried to hold their position by trying to score every test case, optimizing their algorithms. Toward the end of the hackathon half, a point of difference was crucial.
At the 7 hour mark, the leaderboard was frozen and all the submissions were checked for plagiarism to ensure the authenticity of the competition. By 4.30 PM We had our “Duothan Champions Duo” the Team Austra with staggering 198.89 Points. Coming behind them is Team Forza followed by Team Code_Runners.
The Awards Ceremony of Duothan 2.0 was held at 4.30 PM on the same day. Mr. Mohamed Shafraz, Senior lecturer at NSBM, Mr. Iman Ashly, Senior lecturer at NSBM, Ms. Narmada Ranaweera, Senior Lecturer at NSBM, and the Mistress in Charge of IEEE Student Branch of NSBM, were the chief guests of this glorious evening. Winning teams were given Cash Prices and Valuable Certificates by the Hands of the Chief Guests. All the other Participants who gave a good fight were also given Valuable Certificates of Participation and cool swags by the Hands of the Executive Committee of the IEEE Student Branch of NSBM.
With Duothan 3.0 aiming to be the flagship Duo-Hackathon of Sri Lanka next year opening the competition to all the Universities in Sri Lanka, Ultimately, Duothan 2.0 was concluded successfully with a cool group photograph.
