Spartan Foursome Unites and Wins NVIDIA GTC Student Experience Agents for Impact Hackathon

The morning of March 16, 2026, four motivated and determined San José State University students awoke as strangers. By that evening, the foursome had claimed victory in the NVIDIA GTC Student Experience Agents for Impact Hackathon.

The hackathon, which was the NVIDIA GTC Student Experience's culminating event, gave participants two hours to use AI-native tools to build a working agent to "turn bold ideas into real impact." Lucas College of Business students Rhea Ramalingam, '27 Management Information Systems (MIS), and Lauren De Guzman, '26 MIS, made up half of the winning team.

Nice to Meet You

"We all walked in as strangers, but by the end of those two hours, we had created something we were genuinely proud of," Ramalingam said.

Ahead of the hackathon, Ramalingam sent out a few dozen messages on LinkedIn in an effort to find a team. However, it wasn't until just before the event that De Guzman saw the message and reached out to link up. Together, they entered the venue and soon teamed up with Harshika Vijayabharath, '28 Data Science and Neha Rao, '27 MS Artificial Intelligence, who had just met one another as well.

"I headed to the hackathon floor on my own and noticed that many people had already formed groups, so I looked for others who were also solo," Rao recounted. "I sat down with a girl who was at a table by herself, and soon after, two others joined us who had actually heard of each other through mutual friends."

"Even though we hadn't worked together before, and everything happened pretty last-minute, we were able to build a strong dynamic right away and collaborate effectively throughout the event," De Guzman said.

The Big Idea

The concept they brought to life is CarbonSense AI - a platform that analyzes AI workloads and infrastructure, identifies inefficiencies and gives actionable recommendations to reduce carbon and water usage.

"We were brainstorming different ideas, and I kept coming back to sustainability. With AI growing so quickly, there's a lot of conversation around performance and innovation, but not as much around environmental impact - things like energy consumption, data centers and water usage," Ramalingam said.

Rao, the only team member with previous hackathon experience, says the team knew that NVIDIA GPUs are the engine of the AI revolution, but they wanted to build a tool that helps developers use that power responsibly.

"By providing greener alternatives and actionable data, we aimed to prove that cutting-edge AI innovation and environmental stewardship can go hand-in-hand," Rao said.

Saying Goodbye to the Comfort Zone

"This experience pushed me outside of my comfort zone and showed me how much can be accomplished in a short amount of time with the right team and mindset," De Guzman shared. "It also reinforced that you don't need to have everything figured out to contribute meaningfully."

Yu Chen, associate professor in the School of Information Systems and Technology (SISTech), is not surprised De Guzman was part of the victorious team, and describes her as thoughtful, motivated, highly collaborative and especially strong in fast AI prototyping. Chen says De Guzman led a class team in developing a generative AI system to support San José small businesses, built an AI tool used in the classroom to support students across the creativity lifecycle, and served as first author on a paper they submitted earlier this year to a major MIS conference.

"This hackathon achievement reflects the kind of applied AI problem-solving, initiative and execution that will serve her very well in the future," Chen said.

Rao suggests not letting the "intimidation factor" stop you. "Building a community and working alongside others is a great stepping stone to improving yourself. Remember, you bring a unique perspective to problem-solving, and in a hackathon, that uniqueness is often what leads to a winning solution."

Fabulously Female

Myra Haubrich, adjunct professor in SISTech, has observed that some of the most successful students in her Agentic AI classes are women. "Their approach to group projects is a master class in organization and diligence. Seeing an all-woman team win this competition is a powerful validation of that trend."

Vijayabharath says the best thing about working together as an all-female team was that "there was no imposter syndrome as part of the team, and everybody felt like friends rather than just teammates."

"It reminded me how important representation is, and it made the win feel that much more powerful," Ramalingam said while reflecting on the experience. She noted that it was even more meaningful to her considering their all-female team was competing in an often male-dominated space.

Jalal Sarabadani, assistant professor in SISTech, believes that what truly sets Ramalingam apart is her proactive mindset. "She actively seeks out new opportunities, builds connections and engages with people beyond the classroom," he said. "Her networking skills and willingness to step into new environments demonstrate both confidence and leadership potential."

Parting Wisdom

Ramalingam contemplated canceling her RSVP the day of the event because she thought she may not be as qualified or as skilled as some of her peers. Her advice to women considering a hackathon is simple: "Don't underestimate yourself. It's so easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to others."

De Guzman says having a clear idea, being able to communicate it well and being willing to step up matters just as much as technical ability. She encourages women to be unafraid to take up space, share ideas and put themselves in those environments. "That's where you learn the fastest," she said.