k-hack 2024

Engaging Students to Solve Real World Chemical Problems

Feb 15-21, 2024

Register

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We can't create the future alone

Concept

Unleash your coding creativity at k-hack, where Python skills and knowledge of chemistry will be required to tackle our real-world problem.

At Kuraray, we believe we can’t create the future alone. For nearly 100 years, we have pushed the boundaries of chemistry and innovation, while continuing to embrace our mission: For people and the planet – to achieve what no one else can. As the world continues to change, so must we. We want to engage students in solving some real-world chemical engineering related problems. Together, we can generate ideas and solutions. We can make the impossible, possible.

Brief description of
the problem

When predicting the properties and performance of chemical materials by simulation, it is necessary to determine the steric structure of molecules accurately. In the field of computational science, various structure determination algorithms based on the laws of quantum mechanics have been proposed, but some problems remain difficult to solve.

One of the most promising and practical applications in the development of our materials, but difficult to achieve with current standard simulation techniques, is molecular conformational analysis. Several algorithms have been proposed to address this problem, such as a method that efficiently searches for the minimum value while randomly testing various variations of molecular conformations. However, as the complexity of the molecules increases, the computation time inevitably increases exponentially.

This problem is common to all simulations that deal with molecules, and we believe that if an effective method can be found, it will be highly practical in the industrial world. We are looking for ways to quickly obtain the most stable structure, either by machine learning or by using optimization algorithms.

Prizes

All participants will receive a certificate and top three teams will be recognized.
If your solution is used in our operation, another prize will be awarded to that team one month after the event.

Schedule

Feb 15-21, 2024 Details to be determined

Detail

  • Registration is 100% free.
  • This event is 100% online.
  • Registration will be limited to the first 20 teams.
  • We welcome teams whose members have a variety of majors.
  • Students with Python coding skills preferred.
  • We plan to provide some Python tutorials in first few days at the event.
  • We accept to use generative AIs for coding.

Judges

to be determined
(internal Kuraray employees and/or external experts)

Judging criteria

Presentation
  • How deeply the problem is understood
  • How easily the program's design philosophy is understood
  • How creative the idea is
Solution program
  • Accuracy
  • Calculation cost
  • Versatility