The DifferenceMaker semester has officially begun! We kicked off the semester last night at our Spring 2015 Kickoff and Idea Hack event in Moloney Hall at University Crossing. Over 70 students, varying from freshman year through graduate school, attended. Attendees included students, faculty and staff, from five of the UMass Lowell colleges.

Steven Tello, Associate Vice Chancellor for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development and Founder of the DifferenceMaker Program, and Jacqueline Moloney, Executive Vice Chancellor, kicked the night off with a brief introduction to the Program and the Spring 2015 Idea Challenge. Then, Holly Butler, Entrepreneurial Initiative Project Director, interviewed the 2013 and 2014 Campus-Wide DifferenceMaker teams to share with attendees the opportunities that come with winning the Idea Challenge. Afterword, attendees spent time discussing problems they want to solve, and shar
ed some tentative solutions and strategies.

Pizza and drinks were served, entrepreneurial ideas were brainstormed, and teams were built. This is just the start of an eventful, creative, and innovative Spring 2015 semester!

For a full list of Spring 2015 DifferenceMaker events, click here.

Remember when there was a bookstore in the basement of Falmouth Hall? Well that is long gone, and there is a brand new MakerSpace under construction for College of Engineering students.

Looking towards Pasteur, from Loading Dock Entrance.

This new space will include a prototype design and printing center (including 3D printers and laser cutters), electronics workstations and other milling and machining equipment.

Looking into the Prototype Development Space.

Dean Hartman, a champion for the construction of the MakerSpace, envisions a creative builder space where COE students can design, create and build 24 hours per day. He anticipates the placement of capstone courses in the space during the day and student builders creating at night.

Looking out toward the back wall – lots of space here!

Look for a soft opening late spring semester!

Hey DifferenceMakers!

Did you know that UMass Lowell is building out 22,000 sq ft. of Innovation & Entrepreneurship space in Lowell – at 110 Canal St?  One floor will house an expanded M2D2 medical device incubator while the other floor will support other types of technology startup companies.  The facility is scheduled to open by June 2015, but here are some photos to keep you updated.  Perhaps the 2015 Idea Challenge winners will have space in a brand new IHub!

“Phone Booths” for startups at the IHub Tech Incubator.

Loooking into the IHub Board Room – they haven’t yet installed the moveable, glass walls.

Flex offices on the Canal St. side.

Looking from the entrance toward the Admin & Prototype Lab.

Welcome to the entrance of the Innovation Hub at 110 Canal Street, Lowell.