Ortus Solutions and FIU Tech Talent Academy combined hands-on workshops, open-source mentoring, and a challenge-driven hackathon to help students turn new technology into functional AI applications.
MIAMI, Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Florida International University students transformed their first hands-on experience with BoxLang and BoxLang AI into working software during a two-day technology program organized by Ortus Solutions and the FIU Tech Talent Academy.
Held September 1–2 at FIU, the program combined career preparation, technical workshops, direct mentoring from senior developers, and a 24-hour hackathon. Students progressed from learning the fundamentals of a new programming language and AI framework to presenting functional prototypes that addressed software debugging, education, project generation, and automated code review.
The experience demonstrated how quickly emerging developers can begin building with BoxLang when they have accessible tools, practical challenges, and direct support from the people creating the technology.
From First Exposure to Functional Software
The program began with an introduction to Ortus Solutions, open-source careers, and opportunities within the modern software ecosystem. Students also received résumé feedback before moving into technical workshops covering BoxLang and BoxLang AI.
The workshops introduced the language, its Java interoperability, and the BoxLang AI ecosystem, including tools for building agents, working with different AI providers, adding memory and retrieval-augmented generation, and connecting applications with external services.
Students then selected from ten possible challenges and formed teams to build their solutions during the 24-hour hackathon.
For FIU, the collaboration supported a larger effort to connect students with practical technology experience and new professional pathways.
"We've been very interested in helping our students understand the power of open source and how it can be used not just as a hobby, but as a way of building a career," said Steven Luis, Executive Director for Technology at FIU's College of Engineering and Computing and co-lead of the FIU Tech Talent Academy.
Four Teams, Four Practical AI Applications
Each team approached a different problem and produced a demonstrable application:
- Pipeline Doctor analyzed a GitHub repository, identified a bug, proposed a correction, and generated a pull request for human review. When the team encountered usage limits with its original AI provider, it switched providers and continued working, demonstrating the flexibility of BoxLang AI's provider-agnostic architecture.
- Agent Factor used an orchestrated group of architect, builder, coder, and QA agents to generate and validate software projects from a user prompt.
- Study Buddy transformed uploaded documents into an interactive learning experience with grounded answers, quizzes, explanations, and progress tracking.
- BX Forge generated specialized AI agents capable of reviewing code against selected standards, security requirements, or technology stacks.
The projects were not expected to be production-ready products. They were evidence that students could learn a new language, understand unfamiliar AI concepts, make technical decisions, and translate an idea into working software within a limited timeframe.
One first-time hackathon participant described BoxLang as approachable because it allowed the team to build without adding several separate frameworks:
"Our project was solely done in BoxLang. It's convenient, it's easy, and it's similar to Java, JavaScript, and Python. It's simple to learn, and you have everything you need."
Students also highlighted the readability of the language and the support provided by BoxLang AI's built-in development tools. For participants familiar with Java, JavaScript, or Python, the transition felt natural enough to begin experimenting quickly.
Why BoxLang and BoxLang AI
BoxLang is a modern, modular programming language and application platform for the JVM. It offers concise syntax, direct Java interoperability, more than 60 extensible modules, and a compatibility path for organizations modernizing existing CFML applications.
BoxLang is available as an Apache 2.0 open-source platform, with licensed editions for teams that require additional enterprise capabilities, production support, and advanced modules.
BoxLang AI extends the ecosystem with a unified foundation for building modern AI applications. Developers can work with multiple AI providers while using consistent patterns for agents, tools, memory, retrieval-augmented generation, vector databases, and Model Context Protocol integrations.
This architecture gives developers the flexibility to choose or change AI providers without redesigning their entire application.
"My main motivation for creating BoxLang AI was to bring sanity to the chaotic and rapidly changing AI space," said Luis Majano, CEO of Ortus Solutions and creator of BoxLang. "We wanted to make hard things simple so developers can focus on productivity and the applications they want to create."
For students, this meant spending less time assembling disconnected infrastructure and more time understanding how their applications worked. FIU also recognized the platform's potential for introducing students to modern AI development.
"I was blown away by BoxLang AI. I can easily see it as a great learning platform for helping students understand AI architecture and agent development," said Steven Luis, Executive Director for Technology at FIU's College of Engineering and Computing and co-lead of the FIU Tech Talent Academy.
Open Source as a Career Pathway
The program also reinforced the role open source can play in professional development.
Students worked directly with the engineers who build and maintain BoxLang, receiving feedback on their ideas, architecture, and implementation. They were encouraged to continue exploring the platform, contributing to projects, and participating in the BoxLang community after the event.
This pathway has already produced tangible results. A former FIU student who participated in an earlier collaboration with Ortus Solutions later joined the company after graduation.
"After the project ended, I stayed in touch with Luis and continued contributing to other projects. Following my graduation, I was offered a position at Ortus Solutions," said Gabriela del Cristo, an FIU graduate and member of the Ortus Solutions team.
The example illustrates how university and industry collaboration can create opportunities beyond a single workshop or event by giving students visible work, technical mentorship, and connections with active open-source communities.
Building Confidence Through Practical Experience
Ortus Solutions prepared the technical curriculum, challenge options, documentation, examples, presentations, and starter resources used throughout the program. Senior engineers remained available during the hackathon to help students assess their ideas, work through blockers, and make informed technical decisions without taking ownership of the projects away from the teams.
The goal was not simply to introduce another programming language. It was to help students experience the complete process of learning unfamiliar technology, defining a solution, adapting when an approach failed, collaborating with others, and presenting a working result.
"Introducing BoxLang and BoxLang AI to a new generation of developers and seeing what they created in such a short time was incredibly rewarding," said Bill Reese, Senior Developer at Ortus Solutions. "This collaboration gave students practical experience while also showing us the creativity they bring to emerging technologies."
FIU and Ortus Solutions are already exploring future opportunities to continue expanding student access to open-source development, modern application architecture, and AI engineering.
Explore BoxLang
Developers, engineering teams, educators, and organizations can begin exploring the technologies used during the FIU program:
- Try BoxLang in your browser: https://try.boxlang.io
- Explore BoxLang AI: https://ai.boxlang.io
- Review BoxLang documentation: https://boxlang.ortusbooks.com
- Explore BoxLang licensing and enterprise options: https://boxlang.io/plans
Universities, technology organizations, and companies interested in workshops, training, hackathons, or development partnerships can contact Ortus Solutions at https://www.ortussolutions.com/contact.
About Ortus Solutions
Ortus Solutions is a software development and professional services company specializing in application modernization, open-source technologies, developer tooling, cloud solutions, AI development, consulting, and technical training. The company builds and supports BoxLang and a broad ecosystem of tools used by developers and organizations worldwide.
Learn more at https://www.ortussolutions.com.
About BoxLang and BoxLang AI
BoxLang is a modern, modular programming language and application platform designed for the JVM, cloud, web, serverless, and embedded environments. It combines expressive syntax, Java interoperability, extensible modules, and a modernization path for existing CFML applications.
BoxLang AI provides a unified ecosystem for building provider-agnostic AI applications, including agents, tools, memory, RAG, vector databases, and MCP integrations.
Learn more at https://boxlang.io and https://ai.boxlang.io.
About FIU Tech Talent Academy
The FIU Tech Talent Academy connects students with applied technology experiences, industry mentorship, and practical learning opportunities designed to strengthen technical skills and career readiness.
Learn more at https://www.fiu.edu.
Media Contact
Correo electrónico: [email protected]
Ortus Solutions: https://ai.ortussolutions.com
BoxLang: https://www.boxlang.io
BoxLang AI: https://ai.boxlang.io
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Media Contact
Maria Herrera, Ortus Solutions, 1 909-248-3408, [email protected], https://www.boxlang.io
SOURCE Ortus Solutions
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