Press Release March 1, 2011: hackNY Announces Its Second Year, Doubled Class Size for Summer 'hackNY Fellows' Program In New York City

(this release also available in PDF via http://bit.ly/hackNY_030111 )hackNY Announces Its Second Year, Doubled Class Size for Summer 'hackNY Fellows' Program In New York CityAdditional funding enables university-led initiative to open a second round of student applications for program matching startups with top technology students======================March 1, 2011, New York NY: hackNY.org announced a second round of student applications and a doubling of the the size of its summer program, made possible by the generous support of a community of investors and other supporters from across the country. Co-organized by professors from NYU and Columbia, the program, now in its second year, targets computationally-expert students and matches them with host startups in New York City for summer internships. hackNY seeks to create a vibrant community for these hackNY Fellows by providing a program of events and lectures by technologists, investors, and startup founders, as well as by providing summer housing. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and students can apply via http://hackNY.org/a/students ."Matching talented developers with leading entrepreneurs is a smart way to build New York City's technology sector and encourage innovation, so it's no surprise that New York City institutions are leading the way with programs like hackNY to do just that," said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "hackNY's expansion is just the latest example of the growing collaboration between entrepreneurs, universities and investors that is key to driving further growth in New York City's thriving technology sector.""In 2010, we introduced a cohort of twelve talented students to some great startups in New York City and taught them the things they will not learn in traditional curricula about founding and joining a startup," said NYU's Professor Evan Korth. "We've already accepted a class larger than last year's, with stellar students from twice as many schools --- and twice as many countries --- and are excited we'll now be able to double our class from last year." Professor Chris Wiggins of Columbia University added "We are grateful to a diverse community of supporters from both coasts for making it possible for us to double the size of our program, and of course to The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for their continued support of the program. We look forward to continuing to introduce students to challenging career options in startups as New York City's community of startups continues to grow for years to come."In 2010, members of the class of hackNY Fellows worked with twelve startups (Aprizi; Aviary; bit.ly; Business Insider; Buzzd; BuzzFeed; Comixology; Designer Pages; Knewton; OkCupid; Parse.ly; and 10gen). Giff Constable of Aprizi describes hackNY as "an incredibly important part in growing the nascent entrepreneurial scene in New York," and "giving a talented group of kids an in-the-trenches window into the reality of startups and innovation, which they can take back to their classmates." The program has already proved valuable to students as well, such as Chris Triolo of Princeton, who says "hackNY has opened my eyes to the startup and tech community in New York." "The hackNY fellows will fuel the next generation of startups," added Max Stoller of NYU. Professors Korth and Wiggins aim to create a sustainable and long-lasting partnership between universities and early-stage technology companies in New York. "hackNY is building a really important bridge between the NYC startup and academic communities," according to Chris Dixon, co-founder of hunch.com.hackNY also announces today its new board of advisors, including technologists, entrepreneurs, and academics:Chad Dickerson, CTO of etsy.com and originator of Yahoo's "hack day";Hilary Mason, member of NYC Resistor and scientist at bit.ly;Chris Poole, founder of canv.as and featured TED speaker;Victoria Stodden, Science Commons fellow and assistant professor of statistics, Columbia; andNate Westheimer, entrepreneur and Executive Director of the NY Tech Meetup.Supporters of hackNY include:AOL Ventures; Andreessen Horowitz; DFJ Gotham; ff Asset Management; First Round Capital; Firstmark Capital; Google Ventures; Gunderson Dettmer; IA Ventures; Lerer Ventures; Lowenstein Sandler; Square 1 Bank; Techstars NYC; and Union Square Ventures; as well as Columbia Technology Ventures (Columbia University); ISOC-NY; Marks Paneth & Shron; NYCEDC; NYCIF; NYC Tech Connect; the NYU Department of Computer Science; and Wilson Sonsini.======================* About hackNY.org:The hackNY.org initiative aims to mentor and federate the next generation of technology innovators for New York City. Co-organized by faculty from NYU and Columbia, and with a board of advisors which includes educators, technologists, and entrepreneurs, hackNY organizes the summer Fellows program and student `hackathons' during which students create software applications and potential new companies by building on technologies provided by New York City startups. The next student hackathon will be April 9-10, 2011, at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. For more information see http://hackNY.org .* For more information contact:Evan Korth, NYU:korth@cs.nyu.edu ,(347) 989-3826 ,@evankorthChris Wiggins, Columbia:chris.wiggins@columbia.edu ,(347) 878 1236 ,@chrishwiggins* Media:Logo: http://bit.ly/hackNYlogoPress page: http://hackny.org/a/press/Imagesfrom hackNY spring & summer 2010: http://bit.ly/hackNYpixfrom hackNY fall 2010: http://bit.ly/hackNYfall2010pixVideo of Spring 2010 hackathon: http://bit.ly/hackNYvid2010