Saints preparing for careers in cybersecurity and computer programming recently took part in two regional competitions that honed skills they are learning in the classroom.
A team of nine from the College’s Cybersecurity Club took part in the Central New York Hackathon on November 9 in Utica, while six from the Computer Science Club headed to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy on November 10 for the Association for Computer Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).
The CNY Hackathon is a regional intercollegiate offensive/defensive cybersecurity competition held at the end of each fall semester. It’s designed to improve the state of computer science and cybersecurity education, and to more closely align academia with central New York industry partners, according to John Armitage, M.A., teaching instructor of computer science.
“The key benefit for the student competitors is building skills in cybersecurity while conducting ethical hacks,” Armitage explained. “They learn to infiltrate opponents’ environments while protecting their own, all while anticipating and responding to curveballs.”
This year’s competition was held at Mohawk Valley Community College. Teams of 10 from a mix of colleges were tasked by industry professionals with penetrating a target to take control, or with defending their systems from attackers in order to maintain control. The teams hack against each other to earn points; faculty oversee the competition.
“I thoroughly enjoyed working with students from all different skill levels across many different schools,” said Sean Donnelly ‘26. “Having these different skill levels helped me both learn from others, while also being able to teach students about what I was working on during the hack.”
Donnelly noted the CNY Hackathon team’s excellent support with instructional videos and on-site assistance.
“They ensured that everyone could contribute, even those not planning to pursue a career in this field,” he said.
In addition to Donnelly, Siena was represented by Gavin Clark ‘26, Aaron Fortney ‘26, Patrick Kosmider ‘28, Julien Niles ’25, Sean Powers ‘28, Isaiah Santamaria ‘28, Madison Smeallie ‘25, and Za’Aire Tirado ‘26. Niles was part of the competition’s first-place team; Kosmider and Santamaria were voted most improved teammates by their respective teams.
The ICPC students were prepped by Darren Lim, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science. ICPC is an algorithmic programming contest for college students, where teams of three attempt to solve a set of 13 real-world problems within five hours. It’s recognized as the oldest and largest collegiate programming contest in the world. The Siena students were part of the East Central/Northeast North America East Division, held across 12 satellite sites.
“The goal of the competition is to foster collaboration and innovation, and develop the ability to perform under pressure,” said Lim. “Students at both the undergrad and graduate levels compete together, and improve their skills through exposure to older students. It’s a very difficult competition, and many teams do not finish the entire problem set.”
Simon Stone ’27 said his favorite part of the experience was working together with his team and being challenged by high-level questions.
“It was definitely a challenging experience and put into perspective the difference between graduate students and sophomores like me. My team and I learned a lot, though, and we all have interest in competing again and seeing if we can improve.”
In addition to Stone, Siena was represented by Hussain Ali ‘27, Benjamin Antoniuk ‘25, Nicholas Barragato ‘26, Isabella Pafundi ‘26, and Brenden Talasco ‘25.
“I can say that as a senior it was definitely fun to get to participate in this contest again one last time before graduating, as I participated last year as well,” said Talasco. “The questions they ask during the competition make for great job and technical interview practice for CS students!”
Jim Teresco, Ph.D., professor and chair of computer science, expressed pride in the Saints “who represent Siena so well at these competitions as well as other events like academic conferences.
“I am grateful to our faculty who work with students to prepare them for and accompany them to these events, and to our alumni donors whose support helps us to provide these opportunities to so many of our students,” he said.