notables

Several information technology (IT) majors came home with national awards from the 2025 U.S. Information Technology Collegiate Conference (USITCC), held recently in Springfield, Missouri.

While Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) has a years-long tradition of winning national awards and championships at this competition, this year’s group distinguished themselves by winning awards in every competition they entered.

Hackathon Competition – Joel Erulu, ’25, Connor Griffin, ’25, and Sean Nolan, ’25, won best overall honors in this new, three-day contest that resulted in the creation of a fully functional, live and operational mobile application.

Database Competition – Thanh Tran, ’25, won first place individually in a competition that has normally required two-person teams. Krishan Bhalsod, ’25, and Gabriel Morrow, ’26, took third place.

Security Competition – Kelechi Ariwodo, ’25, Adam Hup, ’25, Loana Morillo Diaz, ’26, and Gabriel Morrow advanced to the final round of the competition, and Diaz won second place.

Microsoft Office Competition – John Brannigan, ’25, and Thanh Tran won third place. This is the first time GGC students brought home a trophy in this competition category.

PC Troubleshooting Competition – Loana Morillo Diaz won fourth place. This competition had the largest number of competitors.

Model Student Organization Award – The GGC Information Technology Student Association won this prestigious honor.

Faculty advisors for participating students are Dr. Evelyn Brannock, associate professor of IT, Dr. Lissa Pollacia, professor of IT, and Dr. Shuting Xu, professor of IT. Such a significant success could not have been achieved without the collective efforts of the IT faculty.