2022 10th Annual DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge

On Wednesday, April 13, 2022, DifferenceMaker hosted the 10th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge at University Crossing, Moloney Hall, Room 260.

The event began at 5 p.m. with a networking reception and poster viewing. The ten finalist student teams showcased their projects to students, faculty, and alumni. Attendees were given “DifferenceMaker dollars” to distribute to their favorite teams for “Fan Favorite”.

Fan Favorite team, MetaLingual, standing by their poster talking to guests who attended the $50,000 Idea Challenge Finals. Professional photo credit to Meg Moore.

Around, at 6 p.m., Neil Shortland, Professor and Faculty Fellow of the College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences provided welcoming remarks to kick-off the event. He then introduced Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney, who also spoke.

Afterward, from 6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., the student teams pitched off! Each team got five minutes to pitch, followed by a five minute Q&A session by the judges.

Once all teams pitched, the judges went into a separate room to deliberate. While they did so, there was more networking and poster viewing.

Team USuccess pitching their financial literacy curriculum to the panel of judges. Professional photo credit to Meg Moore.

Thank you to the panel of judges:

Lorna Boucher, ’86, Manning School of Business; Chief Marketing Officer, Instinet

Roger Cressey ’87, Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Partner, Mountain Wave Ventures, LLC

Brian Rist ’77, Manning School of Business; Chairman, Rist Family Foundation

Maura Walsh ’80, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences; President, Hospital Corporation of America’s Gulf Coast Division (retired)

Jack Wilson; President Emeritus UMass System and Distinguished Professor of Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Innovation, UMass Lowell

The Judges watching the finalist teams pitch during the 10th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge. Professional photo credit to Meg Moore.

At 8:30 p.m., the final awards ceremony and closing remarks took place. Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute welcomed everyone back. She then introduced Brian Rist, ‘77, Manning School of Business, Chairman, Rist Family Foundation. Mr. Rist announced the winners.

 Congratulations to all teams!

Rist Campus-Wide DifferenceMaker – $6,000 – Amara:
A social media platform with transparency and a better algorithm.
Brandon Conceicao, Adam Iskandar, Biology

Commitment to a Sustainable Environment – $4,000 – ThermoEXA: Intelligent and personalized indoor temperature control through unique biometrics recognition.
Ariel Pena-Martinez, Computer Engineering, and Grissel Cervantes-Jaramillo

Jack. M. Wilson First Product to Market Award (Sponsored by Jack Wilson, President Emeritus) – $4,000 – Hoppers:
A board game that fosters education, communication skills, and creativity for younger children.
Abigail White, Biology, Alyssa Kennedy, Biology

Sutherland Innovative Technology Solution (Sponsored by Andrew Sutherland ’94) – $4,000 – Tendren:
A wireless pulse oximeter combined with an ECG/blood pressure to track patients in the waiting room.
Ethan Block, Biomedical Engineering, Amie Russell Biomedical Engineering, Victoria Williams, Biomedical Engineering

Contribution to a Healthier Lifestyle – $4,000 – PEAK Performance:
A device that assesses/corrects rotational misalignments between the pelvis and spine.

Evelyn Duffy, Biomedical Engineering and Business, Mark Elman, Biomedical Engineering, Steven Evangelos Biomedical Engineering, Matthew Martel, Exercise Science

Significant Social Impact – $4,000 – Minds with Purpose:
A networking platform that unites people of different professions, areas, and styles.
Sammy Santana, Liberal Arts, Jeurys Santiago, Business

Honorable Mention – $2,000 – StockToMe:
A stock opinion community where anybody can post an opinion about a stock.
Matthew Allen, Business, Matthew Kinash, Business – Entrepreneurship, Jackson Sterrett, Business

Honorable Mention – $2,000 – UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association:
An organization dedicated to promoting Japanese culture.
Mina Lam, Business

Honorable Mention – $2,000 – USuccess:
A program to help individuals’ financial situations through education.
Kaitlyn Catron, Business, Kyle Knapp, Business, Anna Kouadio, Business, Mikaela Murphy, Business, Nyna Pendkar, Business

Honorable Mention – $2,000 – Vital Sensing Patch:
An all-in-one, affordable vitals monitoring device that can be used anywhere. Thang Do, Biomedical Engineering, Haris Kum, Biomedical Engineering, Wynn Wiggins, Business – Entrepreneurship

Fan Favorite – $1,000 – MetaLingual:
Virtual Reality experience containing servers of various 6D 360 immersive environments that promotes language learning that offers a real-life experience.
Aiman Baig, Computer Science, Nihal Chaudhary, Language Studies, Haris Waqar, Electrical Engineering, Isa Ahmed, Business – Accounting, Samuel Lugo, Electrical Engineering, Zuhair Shaikh Computer Science

The Honorable Mention winning teams with Brian Rist 77, Manning School of Business; Chairman, Rist Family Foundation and Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute. Professional photo credit to Meg Moore.

To close off the night, Joseph Hartman, Provost and Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, UMass Lowell closed off the event. He mentioned a quote that Jeurys Santiago, CEO, Minds with Purpose, posted on LinkedIn after the Preliminary Pitch-Off – “I’m here today because I failed last year!” This showcases that if you put your mind towards working on your passions, hard work pays off.

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2022 10th Annual DifferenceMaker $50K Idea Challenge Finals! View photos from the event here.

View UMass Lowell article written by Ed Brennan, Senior Writer, UMass Lowell.

2022 Preliminary Pitch-Off

On Wednesday, April 6, DifferenceMaker held its 10th Annual 2022 Preliminary Pitch-Off at O’Leary Library on South Campus. This year, 24 student teams got the opportunity to pitch their creative, innovative ideas to a panel of guest judges. Overall, 18 judges were a part of this event. At the end of the event, ten finalist student teams were announced and will be competing on April 13 at the 10th Annual DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge for a chance to win a portion of $50,000.

Jeurys Santiago, CEO, Minds with Purpose, a networking event platform and judge Marcus ’03 FAHSS, Founder, The Blochaus Gallery.

Congratulations to the ten finalist teams!

Amara
Team members: Brandon Conceicao, Vision & Design; Adam Iskandar, Biology & Business
Project Description: A social media platform with transparency and better algorithm.

Hoppers
Team members: Alyssa Kennedy, Biology; Abigail White, Biology
Project Description: A board game that supports the arts and fosters education, communication skills, and creativity for younger children.

Minds With Purpose
Team members: Sammy Santana, Liberal Arts; Jeurys Santiago, Business
Project Description: A networking platform with the aim of bringing together people of different professions, areas, and styles.

PEAK Performance
Team members: Evelyn Duffy, Biomedical Engineering and Business; Mark Elman, Biomedical Engineering; Steven Evangelos, Biomedical Engineering; Matthew Martel, Exercise Science
Project Description: A device [the PEAK Performance System] that assesses and corrects rotational misalignments between the pelvis and thoracic spine.

StockToMe
Team members: Matthew Allen, Business; Matthew Kinash, Business; Jackson Sterrett, Business
Project Description: A stock opinion community where anybody can post an opinion about a stock.

Tendren
Team members: Ethan Block, Biomedical Engineering; Amie Russell, Biomedical Engineering; Victoria Williams, Biomedical Engineering
Project Description: A wireless pulse oximeter combined with an ECG and blood pressure that tracks a patient’s vitals while in the waiting room

ThermoEXA
Team members: Ariel Pena-Martinez, Computer Engineering; Grissel Cervantes-Jaramillo
Project Description: Intelligent and personalized indoor temperature control through unique biometrics recognition.

UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association
Team member: Mina Lam, Business
Project Description: An organization dedicated to promoting greater awareness of Japanese culture through general meetings, social media, and collaborations with UML clubs.

USuccess
Team members: Kaitlyn Catron, Business; Kyle Knapp, Business; Anna Kouadio, Business; Mikaela Murphy, Business; Nyna Pendkar, Business
Project Description: A program to help individuals’ financial situations through education.

Vital Sensing Patch
Team members: Thang Do, Biomedical Engineering; Haris Kum, Biomedical Engineering; Wynn Wiggins, Entrepreneurship
Project Description: All-in-one vital monitoring device, that will be affordable to consumers and can be used anywhere.

Team USuccess providing a brief pitch of their financial literacy program to everyone in the audience.

DifferenceMaker would like to extend a special thanks to the guest judges:

Janet Benvenuti ‘77 ‘82, Kennedy College of Sciences. President and CEO, Circle of Life Partners

Martha Coxe ‘99, Francis College of Engineering. Client Executive, State Street Global Advisors

Mark Dyment ’86, Francis College of Engineering. CEO, YMC Process Technologies, Inc.

Steven Geyster ‘83, Francis College of Engineering. Medical Device Consultant

John Grayson ‘87, Francis College of Engineering. Serial Entrepreneur and Advisor

Michele Holland ‘87, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences. Co-founder, Performance Rehab, Inc.

Belinda Juran. Ali Fellow, Harvard University Advanced Leadership Institute

Brenda Maille ‘78 ‘78, Kennedy College of Sciences and College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Principal/Attorney, Law Offices of Brenda Maille

Glenn Morgan ‘86, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, FUSEIDEAS

John Norden ‘80, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Vice President, Pricing, General Dynamics Information Technology

Patty Payette ‘78. School of Education, Vice President, Human Resources (Retired), Curriculum Associates, LLC

Doug Reader ‘83, Manning School of Business. Chief Executive Officer, Arizona Nutritional Supplements

Michael Rider ‘87, Francis College of Engineering. Vice President, Engineering and Operations, Coravin, LLC

Marcus Sebastiano ‘03, College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Founder, The Blochaus Gallery

Raymond Southworth ‘81, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Chief Operating Officer, Netria Corporation

Andrew Sutherland ‘94, Manning School of Business. Co-Founder, Applied BioMath

Anne Veilleux Williams ‘85, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences. Product Manager, Product Owner, Business Analyst, OneSky Flight, LLC

Bill Yelle ‘85, Kennedy College of Sciences. Executive in Residence, MGH-Brigham Ventures

Group photo with all the judges.

Lastly, we would like to thank Chancellor Moloney for kicking-off the event and Joe Hartman, Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic & Student Affairs, for announcing the ten winners.

Don’t forget to stop by the 2022 $50k Idea Challenge on April 13th from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. in University Crossing, Moloney Hall, Room 260 to see the finalist student teams pitch their ideas!

Register for the Idea Challenge here.