A flight delay spawned a friendly rivalry between science students at McMaster and Western universities.
Abigail Hanna and Aidan Freeman had met back in middle school and became lifelong friends. They both wound up studying integrated science but at different universities – Hanna went to McMaster while Freeman headed off to Western. They’d just met with other friends for a week away at Whistler and Vancouver in May 2023. Their flight back to Toronto was delayed six hours. Freeman spent the time thinking. When they finally boarded the plane and settled into their seats, Freeman pitched a business proposition to Hanna.
What if they launched an annual case competition for iSci and WISc undergrads at Mac and Western? Business students routinely competed in case competitions – why not science students too? They spent the rest of the flight working through the details and launched X-Comp in April 2024.
It would be an entirely student-run competition – it’s how iSci students are wired, says Hanna. “Our program attracts a certain type of student. We like to do things, create things and run things. We’re pretty self-sufficient, with a ‘we got this’ mindset.”
X-Comp’s eight-member student executive team – with Hanna and Freeman as the founding co-presidents – would handle everything, from booking the venue, securing sponsorships, recruiting profs and alumni to serve on judging panels, marketing the competition and working up a societal problem for students to solve with science. To make the competition accessible to all students, there wouldn’t be a registration fee.
The competition would alternate between Mac and Western. The home team would pick up the tab for the road team’s buses and foot the bill for lunch and snacks.
Hanna was all-in on the case competition – it was a much-needed way to foster a sense of community and shared sense of belonging among Mac and Western students. “Our universities are the only ones in Ontario that offer integrated science programs and we’re just 90 minutes away from each other.”
She also saw it as a way to showcase the unique skills of integrated science students. “Whenever someone asks what program I’m in, I know I’ll be spending the next 30 minutes explaining what integrated science is all about. Over the course of four years, we explore every science discipline. So if you put 30 teams of iSci students in a room to work on the same problem, you’re going to get 30 very different solutions.”
Around 35 students turned out for the first X-Comp at McMaster, tacked on to the back end of iSci’s annual seven-day, 150+ speaker Synthesis conference (yet another all-student production).
Word got out and a shift from April to January – no final exams or projects to worry about, says Hanna – saw 120 students compete in 2025 at Western. In January 2026, a record 130 students filled CIBC Hall for the third annual X-Comp.
For Hanna, the competition proves her hypothesis that iSci students just want to do science. “How else can you explain all of these students giving up their Saturdays to do science for eight hours straight?” She also says she’s grateful but not surprised by the faculty and alumni who volunteered their time.
Building onwards
Hanna graduated last June, with third-year McMaster student Oviya Sathiyanarayanan taking over as co-president with Freeman. Like Hanna, Sathiyanarayanan is a science fair kid. She was in Grade 8 when she won silver at the Toronto Science Fair with a nanotechnology in healthcare-themed project. “I’ve loved competitions ever since. There’s nothing like doing an intensive sprint with other students to really test your knowledge.”
Third-year McMaster student Oviya Sathiyanarayanan is keeping X-Comp going, serving as co-president with Freeman.
Sathiyanarayanan competed in the 2024 X-Comp during her first year at McMaster and then joined the executive team in year two as one of the vice presidents of marketing.
This year’s competition had students imagining it was 2042 and they needed to come up with solutions to flash flooding fueled by climate change. Midway through the day, the executive team threw the students a curveball by announcing that previously committed government funding for combatting flash floods had been pulled. Presentations had to be changed on the fly.
“Everyone had a great day. When the winning teams were announced by the judges at the end of the day, we were all cheering and celebrating.”
Along with her work on X-Camp and juggling a full course load, Sathiyanarayanan was the co-president of the McMaster BioDesign team that took part in the 2025 International Directed Evolution Competition hosted by Cambridge University. The team was the first from North America to compete in the annual challenge and earned bronze.
Sathiyanarayanan will return as co-president for the X-Comp and the executive team is set to begin planning for the 2027 challenge.
For more on X-Comp, email xcomp.integsci@gmail.com.