Harris County Universal Services (HCUS) continues to advance its commitment to sustainable innovation and enterprise transformation through a partnership with the University of Houston’s Energy Transition Institute (ETI).  

As part of the Spring 2026 Coogs for Energy Hackathon, held April 10-11, Universal Services submitted a real-world challenge titled “Designing a Data-Driven Roadmap to Decarbonize a 6,000+ Vehicle Public Fleet”.  A team of six University of Houston undergraduate and graduate students, mentored by HCUS Deputy Director of Sustainability Christopher Vieira, worked to develop innovative, scalable solutions grounded in operational realities.

University of Houston’s ETI hosts a hackathon every spring and fall to give students the opportunity to tackle real world challenges and gain practical experience working in teams and present their solutions to a panel of judges.

“The Hackathon was a great success, and with collaborations such as the UH Energy Hackathon allow us to engage diverse perspectives to build models that results in real world solutions,” said Sindhu Menon, Executive Director and Chief Information Officer for Harris County Universal Services. “By leveraging data, innovation, and strong partnerships, we were able to explore approaches to decarbonization for one of largest fleet in the nation, also ensuring that our solutions deliver cost- savings and measurable value for the county. It is exciting to see the level of talent and creativity here today.”