1/27/2026 Mackenzie Wranovics
Krish Golcha, an Illinois computer science student, and his team won first place at HackPrinceton by building MindPad, an AI-powered multimodal workspace that supports real-time brainstorming through voice, gestures, sketches, and text. Beyond the win, Golcha emphasized the value of collaboration, mentorship and networking, noting that the experience helped him grow as a developer and led to an internship opportunity.
Written by Mackenzie Wranovics
Twice a year, student hackers from across the nation come together for HackPrinceton, a student-run hackathon on the Princeton University campus. The challenge requires students to form teams and collaborate on challenges involving software and hardware innovation.
Krish Golcha, a senior majoring in computer science at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science in The Grainger College of Engineering, participated in the hackathon this past November alongside his teammates, fellow students from across the country.
“The team came together mostly by chance with some cold outreach, but everyone clicked quickly and took ownership,” said Golcha. “It was very collaborative.”
The team’s chemistry was evident in their first-place finish. However, the win wasn’t the only thing Golcha hoped to gain from the competition; other aspects of the challenge also motivated Golcha to participate.
“I found out about HackPrinceton through Major League Hacking (MLH),” said Golcha. “We joined to meet other hackers, build together, and see if we could come up with an idea that could turn into something real.”
Princeton’s hackathon has been around since 2010 and has established itself as a space for student hackers to share ideas and learn from one another. Creation and innovation are crucial parts of computer science, and for Golcha, applying these aspects was fundamental to the challenge.
Teams in the challenge developed and built an idea, received feedback, and delivered a final pitch. For their project, Golcha and his team created MindPad, an AI-powered multimodal workspace that lets users brainstorm and create using voice, gestures, sketches, and text on a shared canvas. The system uses computer vision, speech input, and LLMs to support real-time idea organization and diagram generation.
“The easiest part was the environment. It was very supportive and easy to focus,” said Golcha. “The hardest part was ideation. We came in without a clear idea, our first idea got rejected, and we were told to scrap it a day before finals. We stuck with it, improved it and it worked out.”
Golcha attributes part of his success in the competition to the foundational knowledge he gained at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Knowledge from core CS classes, like data structures and algorithms, was helpful in the creation process. Golcha and his team also received guidance from mentors at the hackathon, including Grainger alums and fellow participants.
A collaborative process was also essential to the team’s success. While it was a competition, circulating ideas and sharing perspectives were common practices among all the teams.
The most fun part was coming up with ideas and seeing what other teams built. The biggest lesson was to trust your instincts and play to your team’s strengths.—Krish Golcha
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Photo Credit: Krish Golcha |
Photo Credit: Krish Golcha |
Photo Credit: Krish Golcha |
Hackathons are great places to meet fellow students and apply your knowledge in a more hands-on way, but more than that, hackathons can also serve as a venue for computer scientists to come together and build connections.
“I’d say the most rewarding part was meeting amazing people,” said Golcha. “I got to connect with top developers from OpenAI, Google, and Amazon, and the experience also helped me land an internship at Amplitude, a Y Combinator-backed company.”
Given the chance to participate again in HackPrinceton or a similar competition, Golcha would definitely jump at the opportunity. Given his experience, Golcha acknowledges there is a lot to gain from participating. Whether it’s meeting new people or expanding your knowledge, giving a challenge like HackPrinceton a try can open many doors for aspiring computer scientists.
“Hackathons are great weekend getaways. There’s free food, sometimes travel is covered, and a lot of learning is packed into a short period of time,” said Golcha. “Go to hackathons, meet people, and build as much as you can.”