Student Teams Win 2026 Information Technology Competition

Two student teams primarily from UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) placed first and third in the 2026 Information Technology Competition (ITC) on April 19. ITC is an annual case competition hosted by Cal Poly Pomona’s Management Information Systems Student Association (MISSA), where competing teams consist of students from local colleges and universities, including Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and more.

The two student-led teams comprised mostly of ICS students from Cyber@UCI, a student organization focused on cybersecurity. The IT Security track required teams to conduct a real-world penetration test on a mock corporate network environment and create an extensive report on their findings and recommendations. The IT Security-track Team included Dhruv Kandula, computer science major; Colin Harrison, computer science major; Eddie Zhu, computer science major; Drew Levy, computer science major; and Alex Loan, computer science and engineering major. As the first-place winner of their track, the team earned $1,000.

The AI track asked teams to build a prototype AI chat assistant for Cal Poly Pomona to improve management and access to information. The AI-track Team comprised of Yengkai Yang, team leader and social ecology major; Caden Matuszewicz, informatics major; Swathi Kabilan, computer science major; Sophia Raldugina-Zhu, computer science major; and Katie Yue, computer science major. As the third-place winner, the team earned $250.

– Tonya Becerra