On January 30^th, the Rist DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge Kick-Off and Idea Hack was held in the Saab Center, Perry Atrium from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, opened the event by welcoming everyone and providing introductions.

Then, Provost Joe Hartman spoke about the importance of solving problems and having a social impact. Then, he encouraged all attendees to apply to the $50,000 Idea Challenge.

Next, Rist DifferenceMaker Co-Op student Nicohlas Jarek, introduced the DifferenceMaker program. He explained details for the 12^th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge taking place this semester. The 2024 DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge application is due February 12^th at 5 p.m.!

After the introductory presentation, the real-life DifferenceMaker Panel and Q&A session took place! The panel consisted of members from past DifferenceMaker teams who answered questions from Holly Lalos and shared their entrepreneurial experiences with DifferenceMaker. First up was Ariel Shramko of Auto Terra Project, who won the 2021 Honorable Mention, a $2,000 award. Next up was Sandi DeRuntz of ZipperBuddy, who won 1^st place in the 2023 Engineering Competition, a $2,500 award, and will automatically be advancing to the 2024 Preliminary Pitch-Off. Then, Diego King of Window Release Bars, who won the 2021 Honorable Mention, a $2,000 award, answered questions and provided advice to the student audience.

Holly Lalos asked the panelists a series of questions which gave the student audience a better understanding of the requirements to be in the DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge and more information about their startups. The audience then got the chance to ask the panelists valuable questions.

Following the Q&A, David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, led the audience in the Idea Hack Activity to get students brainstorming potential ideas they could apply to the challenge. Students split up and sat at tables with a topic they were interested in for the activity.

The students started to brainstorm problems and then started to discuss possible solutions. They were able to collaborate with each other and with the DifferenceMaker Faculty Fellows. Towards the end of this activity, students shared their problems and solutions with everyone.

To close off this engaging event, Dave Vatalaro spoke about the next steps in getting involved in DifferenceMaker and participating in the $50,000 Idea Challenge. The $50,000 Idea Challenge application is due by February 12^th at 5 p.m.

Finally, a special thank you to the students from Kookmin University in South Korea for visiting the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute at UMass Lowell! These five motivated students are hoping to start an entrepreneurial program similar to DifferenceMaker on their campus in Seoul! On their trip to the United States, they traveled to UMass Lowell touring the UML Innovation Hub in downtown Lowell, as well as the Pulichino Tong Business Center, and DifferenceMaker Central. They also joined DifferenceMaker later in the day at the Kickoff Idea Hack event!

On Wednesday, December 6, 2023, the  2023 DifferenceMaker Francis College of Engineering Prototyping Competition was held at University Crossing from 4:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This event consisted of a preliminary round, fan favorite voting, and final round. 

The thirteen teams competing during the preliminary demonstration round were:

• Bowl Tilters, team members John Downes, Haley Lawenczuk, Aedan Maloney, Dhruvi Patel, and Samantha Poole
• Clean Flame Air Supply, team members Ashlyn Couture, Jack Egan, and Ryan Fitzgerald
• GreenBotics, team members Karla Carbajal, Kavin Chandok, Nishant Jain, Lakshmi Makkena, and Palak Sharma
• Init Control, team members Michael McCarthy, Alexander Medeiros, Anchit Kaulgud, and Harsh Sethia
• MachLab, team members Ahmed Ibreljic and Joseph Nguyen
• MediHawk, team members Kemigisa Adyeri, Bronte Chosta, Reem El Hariri, Romena Miller, and Devon Sedor
• NeuroLyze, team members Jeremy Hilton, Elliot Johnson, and Anthony Lawlor
• REM Refine, team members Mauricio DeAlmeida and Alexander Somers
• Socket Tech Solutions, team members Hayden Dolan, Tyler Fanuele, Coleman Nee, Sarah O’Meara, James O’Sullivan, Nishanth Potturu, Benjamin Romanek,and Devansh Sethia
• SparkCell Technologies, team member Joshua Landis
• UnderCover, team members John Dumont, Shaynina Ribou, Alexis Sinotte, Michelina Tumblin and Rachel Whipple
• Wearable Brace for Spinal Fractures, team members Joudi Alkourabi, Danna Chavez Hernandez, Aidan George, and Caiden Perez
• ZipperBuddy, team members Chibudom Azikiwe, Sandi DeRuntz, Haydn Hammill, and Jason Lucier

The prototype demonstration and idea pitching round was held from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. in the lobby of University Crossing. Each team had five minutes to present their product to a panel of preliminary judges, followed by a five-minute Q&A session. The preliminary judges were:

• James Biggins ‘2003, Francis College of Engineering, President, Access Vascular
• David Cohen ’92, Francis College of Engineering, CEO, DC Consulting
• Bob Findlen ’81, Francis College of Engineering, RCF Advisors, Peak Performance Compounding LLC
• Steve Geyster ’83, Francis College of Engineering, Medical Device Consultant
• Ken Horton ’79, Francis College of Engineering, Founder, C2C
• Dave Janeczek ’82,’85, Francis College of Engineering, Retired, Raytheon Technologies Corporation
• Tim Looney ’94, Francis College of Engineering, President, Northeast Biomedical, Inc
• Joanne Mavroides ’82, Francis College of Engineering, Retired, Abiomed
• John Mavorides ’81, Kennedy College of Sciences, Retired, Sybase
• Dan McCormick ’83,’91, Francis College of Engineering, Retired, Waters
• Bill Perciballi, ’86, Francis College of Engineering, Founder and President, Force Engineering
• Mike Rider ’87, Francis College of Engineering, Vice President, Coravin LLC

During the prototype demonstration round, the judges scored each team based on the problem that was being solved, the opportunity that it holds, prototype quality, resources/implementation needed, presentation effectiveness, and overall project. After seeing each team’s pitch and demonstrations, the preliminary judges deliberated on which teams would move forward for the final round.

The teams that moved onto the final competition were:

• MachLab, team members Ahmed Ibreljic and Joseph Nguyen
• NeuroLyze, team members Jeremy Hilton, Elliot Johnson, and Anthony Lawlor
• Socket Tech Solutions, team members Hayden Dolan, Tyler Fanuele, Coleman Nee, Sarah O’Meara, James O’Sullivan, Nishanth Potturu, Benjamin
• SparkCell, team member Joshua Landis
• ZipperBuddy, team members Chibudom Azikiwe, Sandi DeRuntz, Haydn Hammill, and Jason Lucier

Meanwhile, the prototype public viewing was held from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in the lobby of University Crossing. Event attendees which consisted of students, faculty, community friends, and family each had five votes to disperse to the teams they liked the best. The team that had the most DifferenceMaker Dollars would be awarded the $500 Fan Favorite Award.

The Final Round Competition was held in Moloney Hall from 7:15 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. It began with opening remarks by Dean Sherwood. Next, the five finalist teams pitched their ideas on stage and demonstrated their prototype to the panel of final judges.

The judges during the final round were:

• Rajia Abdelaziz ‘2016, Francis College of Engineering, CEO and Co-Founder, invisaWear Technologies LLC
• Cynthia Conde ’87, ’91, Francis College of Engineering CEO, CondeCO
• [LHJ1]  LaFrance. ’88, Francis College of Engineering, Retired, Business Operations and Engineering Manager, Texas Instruments
• Ram Surdireddy ’92, Francis College of Engineering, CEO & Co-Founder, Bento
• Greg Sydney, ’81, Francis College of Engineering, Sr. Managing Director, Tri Capital & Companies

After all the presentations the final judges deliberated and selected the winners for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes. Additionally, the Fan Favorite votes were counted and the winner of the Fan Favorite award was announced.

The final awards were:

• 1st Place: ZipperBuddy, Chibudom Azikiwe, Sandi DeRuntz, Haydn Hammill, and Jason Lucier; $2,500 and automatically advances to the Rist DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge Preliminary Pitch-off in April 2024. ZipperBuddy is an innovative solution, eliminating zippering difficulties with a game-changing approach. They aim to transcend barriers by designing attractive, inclusive, and user-friendly fashion mobility aids. By allowing easy attachment of Velcro fasteners to zippable jackets, ZipperBuddy transforms upper body wear into user-friendly Velcro jackets, ultimately bringing independence and accessibility to fashion for everyone.

• 2nd Place and Fan Favorite: Socket Tech Solutions, Hayden Dolan, Tyler Fanuele, Coleman Nee, Sarah O’Meara, James O’Sullivan, Nishanth Potturu, Benjamin, $2,000. SocketTech Solutions is dedicated to creating and maintaining open source software and hardware. They are currently focused in on multi-device infrastructure.

• 3rd place, $1,000, SparkCell, Joshua Landis. Sparkcell is working to solve the issue of affordable and scalable elemental detection. Their solution is to empower users with the capabilities of elemental spectroscopy to characterize materials, quality check for building materials, and machine deterioration using some clever optics and modern high resolution cellphone cameras.

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this event! 

Interested in pitching an idea and getting funding? Applications for the 12th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge are open now – apply today!

View a video of the event.

On Thursday, December 7, 2023, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held the 11th Annual DCU/Manning School of Business Innovation Contest from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Saab Center on North Campus. To kick off the event, Rist family Endowed Dean, Manning School of Business and Event Emcee of the evening, Bertie Greer provided opening remarks.

After the remarks, the finalist judges were introduced. The judges for the evening were:

• Tim Dowd ‘08, FAHSS
  • Campaign Management Specialist, DCU
• Jonathan Geanakos ‘84, Manning School of Business
  • Member, Board of Directors, Sculptor Diversified Real Estate Investment Trust
  • Member, Board of Directors, Holland Partner Group
• Michelle LaPointe
  • Digital Banking Product Manager, DCU
• Greg Sydney ‘81, Francis College of Engineering
  • Senior Managing Director, Tri Capital & Companies

Once all judges were introduced, the event began! Four student finalist teams were given ten minutes to present their ideas, along with five minutes of Q&A from the judges. The teams that presented were:

• Bean Hub – An AI-functioning customer service chat box to satisfy customer’s banking needs – Team members Aiman Baig, Ibrahim Haroon, Emir Kaplan, Mohammed Khan, Shafaat Osmani, and Saim Siddiqui
• Card Tracker – An app that is integrated with online banking to freeze and track lost debit and credit cards – Team members Dulce Galan, Matthew Hayes, Colin McKallagat, and Scott Redgate
• Consumer-I – A website that guides consumers to purchase from ethical companies – team members Andre Bachman, Liam Buckley, Valerie Heath, and Michael Nasr
• FinVenture – An online personal financial management app where users can connect bank and investment accounts to track day-to-day purchases, and investments, and compare interest rates for loans – team members Tanish Araveti and Arnav FNU

Each semi-finalist team member won $100 in prizes. After each pitch, judges asked questions to help them further understand the ideas. The judges ranked each team based on how clearly they explained their executive summary, mission statement, business goals, market analysis, how they would utilize funding, and project timeline.

Following the presentations, judges went to a separate area to deliberate the final winner. During this time, all attendees got food, networked with each other, and further discussed the inspiration and details of the ideas that were pitched.

Around 7:45 pm, the judges returned to announce the final award. Congratulations to team Bean Hub for winning the final prize of $500 per team member! They also automatically advance to the DifferenceMaker Preliminary Pitch-off this spring.

Interested in pitching an idea and getting funding?

Applications for the 12th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge are open now – apply today!

View a video of the event.

On November 29th, the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held the 5th Annual High School Idea Challenge from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the UMass Lowell Mark & Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center. 

To kick off the event, Provost Joseph Hartman gave opening remarks. He then passed the stage to Gina Mustoe, teacher at Westford Academy, who shared inspiring words to the students about the importance of making a positive impact in the world by developing creative ideas. Next, Sara Lewis, Massachusetts DECA State Officer, gave a few words of inspiration regarding her journey and the High School Idea Challenge Eexperience to the student teams. 

Next, Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, UMass Lowell, presented an overview of DifferenceMaker, sharing the benefits and opportunities the program offers.  

The judges were Kim Carman, Teacher, Upper Cape Tech, Retired, Deborah Finch, Professor, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell, Cintya Gajardo-Véjar, Professor, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell, and Stephanie Guyotte, Associate Director, Haverhill Innovation Hub, UMass Lowell. 

After the judge introductions, the event began. The audience was excited to hear the creative ideas from each high school student team. The schools competing include Millis High School, Woburn High School, Quincy High School, Groton Dunstable Regional, King Philip Regional High School (Wrentham, MA), Westford Academy, Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School, Nashoba Regional High School, and Chelmsford High School. Each pitching team had 5 minutes to present, followed by 5 minutes of judge Q&A. The judges deliberated after the presentations! 

Congratulations to all teams that presented and won awards! 

1st place, $500 – Devesh Khamitkar, Adam Wedlake, Griffin Lewis, and Stephen Lewis, Westford Academy – “Schwink” – a powder-based product that serves as a simple way for people to ensure they are consuming the proper daily vegetable amount.  

2nd place, $300 – Owen Keenan, Noah Sheldon, Fabyana Maitre, and Michael Nicolas, Woburn High School – “Inclusive Eats” – a partnership with food pantries to ensure that they have more culturally diverse food options. 

3rd place, $200 – Bridget Swezy, Ashleigh Guenette, Luke Anderson, and Steve Quartrone, King Philip Regional High School – “ProCaf” – a drink that includes both caffeine and protein for convenience and delicious taste.  

After the presentations, lunch was served, and round-table mentor meetings took place with DifferenceMaker teams and Co-op students and the high school teams. Each high school team had a 15-minute mentor session with the DifferenceMaker college students, in which they got the opportunity to speak with every mentor. 

Thank you to the past DifferenceMaker teams who volunteered their time to support and inspire the high school students: 

Vital Sensing Patch, Wynn Wiggins 
Rent Scoop, Nuno Mestre 
Rist DifferenceMaker Co-op, Madeline Gear 
Rist DifferenceMaker Co-op, Cameron Famiglietti 

Thank you to DECA Inc. and Donna McFadden, Massachusetts DECA State Advisor, for sponsoring the event prizes. Another thanks to all partnership schools and teachers involved in this collaboration. 

View a video of the event.  

On Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m., DifferenceMaker held its 2023 Season Kick-off and College Competition Announcement! 

Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, kicked off the event and thanked all the DifferenceMaker Faculty Fellows. Then, Rist DifferenceMaker Co-op, Nick Jarek was introduced. Nick Jarek presented an overview of the program and spoke about the opportunities DifferenceMaker offers, such as team building, being paired with mentors, learning critical skills through events and workshops, and being able to connect with diverse students from various backgrounds. Past DifferenceMaker student team examples were also presented: Ambulatory Innovations, Benji Ball, and Hoppers.  

Lastly, DifferenceMaker benefits and impact were presented, such as $10 million has been raised by past winning teams and 43 companies have been formed.

After Nick spoke, guest speakers were introduced to discuss details regarding the two DifferenceMaker College Competitions. 

Thomaz De Moura, Innovations Director, Digital Federal Credit Union, announced details regarding the DCU/Manning Innovation Contest. This contest encourages innovations in the banking industry, like ideas around financial literacy and mobile technology solutions. The top prize is $500 in cash per team member and each finalist student is awarded $100 in cash. Registration for the DCU/Manning Innovation Contest opened on September 20, 2023, and will close on October 20, 2023, at 5 p.m. 

Next, Kelilah Wolkowicz, Professors, Francis College of Engineering and DifferenceMaker Faculty Fellows announced details regarding the Francis College of Engineering Prototyping Competition. This competition encourages students to work with a team to turn an idea into a product with any resources available – $100 is reimbursable for prototyping materials. Participants must be students at UMass Lowell and at least one member of the team must be from the Francis College of Engineering. Additionally, the team should have a faculty advisor from the Francis College of Engineering. The application registration opened on September 20, 2023, and will close on October 20, 2023, at 5 p.m. 

Kelilah Wolkowicz, Professor, Francis College of Engineering and DifferenceMaker Faculty Fellow, presenting the upcoming Francis College of Engineering Prototyping Competition . (Photo credit: Ed Brennen) 

Ruairi O’Mahony, Executive Director of the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy, spoke about the S.E.E.D. Grant Program. This program provides students funding to pursue projects around campus that focus on sustainability and improving the campus atmosphere. Students can apply for grants up to $10,000 to put their campus sustainability projects into action. 

Concluding the announcements, David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, facilitated a fun, interactive, ideation activity. 

Students being mentored by Maria Matarazzo, Senior adjunct professor, Manning School of Business.   

During the activity, each table was asked to write down problems each individual was interested in solving. From there, each team discussed all individual problems and chose one to focus on for the remainder of the activity. Each person at the table then wrote down potential solutions to the proposed problem. Next, each team voted on which solution was the best or most creative. After that, the team members crafted models of their solutions with Legos. Each table had the opportunity to present their problem, solution, and Lego structure to the audience.

Holly Lalos closed out the event. Thank you to all students, faculty, alumni, and supporters who attended! 

Learn more about the college competitions and apply today! 

Applications opened Sept. 20. 

Applications close Oct. 20 at 5 p.m.

On July 13, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m., DifferenceMaker hosted Demo Day. At this event, the 2023 DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge Finalists presented their updated and improved ideas since advancing in the 2023 DifferenceMaker Summer Boot Camp.

Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, opened up the event for the evening. To start, she presented to the audience a brief overview of the DifferenceMaker program. DifferenceMaker is a campus-wide program that helps students define problems and create real-life solutions to those problems.

One of the ways this is done is during the DifferenceMaker Summer Boot Camp. The objective of the Boot Camp is to increase teams’ understanding of their customer segments, business model, revenue streams, and more. Teams are also encouraged to develop a one-year project plan with milestones and tasks for utilizing their winning funds.

Holly thanked everyone who makes DifferenceMaker possible – faculty fellows, co-op students, mentors, and advisors. The Boot Camp Advisors this year were:

• Rajia Abdelaziz, CEO and Co-Founder of invisaWear (2016 DifferenceMaker Team), alumni from the Francis College of Engineering & Kennedy College of Sciences, ’16.
• Shirah Benarde, CEO and Co-Found of Nightcap
• Steve DeVries, Certified Business and Executive Coach of FocalPoint, alumni from the Manning School of Business ’98, ’09.
• Ray Hamilton, CTO and Co-Founder of invisaWear (2016 DifferenceMaker Team), alumni from Francis College of Engineering, ’16.
• Kevin Willett, Senior Adjunct Faculty and DifferenceMaker Faculty Fellow from the Manning School of Business, CEO of Friends of Kevin.

Then, thank you’s for the Boot Camp Guest Speakers were also made:

• Caitlin Fuentes, Associate Director of Student Affairs Financial Administration, alumni from the Manning School of Business, ‘14 ‘21.
• Ray Hamilton, CTO and Co-Founder of invisaWear, alumni from Francis College of Engineering, ’16.
• David Kantaros, Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP.
• Chris McKenna, Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, alumni from the Francis College of Engineering, ‘89
• Shirah Benarde,CEO and Co-Found of Nightcap
• Brian Rist, Chairman & Founder of the Rist Family Foundation and Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, alumni from the Manning School of Business, ’77.
• Dave Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow and Professor, Manning School of Business.

Demo Day helps teams advance their progress, gain critical feedback, and network with mentors. To begin the event, David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, discussed mentor matching steps. Surveys for both mentors and teams were sent out shortly after the event. From the survey results, teams will be paired to the appropriate mentor(s) based on their backgrounds, skills, and interests.

David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, explained the steps needed to be made for the mentor matching process.

Next, the event opened to student team presentations! Each team had 5 minutes to present, and 5 minutes for audience Q&A. They pitched about their business plans, customer discovery findings, value propositions, and benefit that their products/services would have for society. Potential mentors asked valuable questions to the teams throughout the evening.

The teams that presented were:

Catnap

CryptoPigeon

Innovation

NeuroLyze

Quick Release Window Bars

Rent Scoop

Shared Vision/Vision House 

Smart Azan 

Solar Sails 

Votecational

Thank you to everyone that attended Demo Day and supported the students throughout the night!

Here is a video of the 2023 DifferenceMaker Demo Day event.

On Thursday, April 13, 2022, the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute hosted the 11^th Annual $50,000 DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge at University Crossing, Moloney Hall, Room 260 from 5- 8:30 p.m.

The event began 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”. The teams competing for Fan Favorite were teams who participated in the Preliminary Pitch-Off.

Around, at 6 p.m., David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute Faculty Fellow provided welcoming remarks to kick-off the event. He then introduced Steven Tello, Vice Provost for Graduate & Professional Studies, 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.

Thank you to the panel of judges:

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

Amy Hoey, ’88, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences; President, Tufts Medicine Lowell General Hospital

Jacquie Moloney, ’75, ’92, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Education; Chancellor Emerita and Professor, UMass Lowell

Brian Rist ’77, ’23, ’23 (H), Manning School of Business; Chairman, Rist Family Foundation

Mark Saab, ’81, ’13 (H), Francis College of Engineering; Founding Trustee, Saab Family Foundation

Bhupen Shah, ’92, Francis College of Engineering, Retired Vice President of Engineering, Acacia Communication

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

Congratulations to all teams!

The Campus Wide DifferenceMaker, $6,000– Catnap: A team of Biomedical Engineering Students: Fritznere Brutus, Michael Ciampo, Khadija El Hadad, Majd El hachem, Matheus Fonseca, and Haris Kum. (A device that senses when toddlers are about to have a nocturnal asthma attack using their oxygen saturation and alerts their parents so they can properly administer the child’s medication.)

Significant Social Impact Award, $4,000– Innovation: Julie Sage, Physics, and Andrew Theobald, Computer Science (Kits that teach about inventions from all over the world throughout history, and they teach about how the inventions work, STEM concepts, and the inventors themselves.)
 
Contribution to a Healthier Lifestyle Award, $4,000– NeuroLyze: Jeremy Hilton, Mechanical Engineering, Anthony Lawlor, Computer Science, and Elliot Johnson, Applied Biomedical Sciences. (Working to make sports a safer environment through the monitoring and analysis of potential concussions.)

Innovative Technology Solutions Award, $4,000- Rent Scoop: Anthony Terravecchia, and Nuno Mestre. (A crowdsourcing and open rental data platform. Removing the obscurity around the cost of rent, utilities, and the condition of leases allows for a fairer market for tenants and landlords.)

Commitment to a Sustainable Environment Award, $4,000– Solar Sails: Six Mechanical Engineering Students: Quin Liang, Samuel Maracallo, Michael McCarthy, Aidan McKeon, Brian Nguyen, Mohammed Saif ur Rahman, Fuming Zhang, Computer Science, and Arun Kandasamy, Computer Science & business minor. (A drone that is powered using solar energy to be used by government agencies and has a theoretical infinite flight endurance.)

First Product to Market Award, $3,000– Smart Azan: Haad Naeem, Biology. (An app created to help Muslims listen to the call of prayer on their Google Home speakers or phone. They can also play the recitation of the Holy Quran as well.)

Honorable Mention Award, $2,000– Quick Release Window Bars: Deigo King, Business Administration. (A patented mechanical solution for mitigating fire hazards commonly found in homes in some developing countries.)

Honorable Mention Award, $2,000– CryptoPigeon: A team of Computer Science Students: Akshay Kolli, Anveshak Rathore, and Shivam Patel. ( Allows for a dependable messaging app that is not controlled by any one single entity, corporate or government, providing a messaging app that is free from third-party surveillance.)

Honorable Mention Award, $2,000– Shared Vision/Vision House: Sammy Santana, Architectural Studies and Writing. (An educational nonprofit that will bridge the gap between film industry professionals and individuals interested in film careers.)

Fan Favorite Award, $1000– Votecational: Dawson Durgin, Mechanical Engineering

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2023 11th Annual DifferenceMaker $50K Idea Challenge Finals! 

On Wednesday, April 4, DifferenceMaker held its 11th Annual 2023 Preliminary Pitch-Off at O’Leary Library on South Campus. This year, 19 student teams got the opportunity to pitch their creative, innovative ideas to a panel of guest judges. Overall, 24 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.

Congratulations to the ten finalist teams!

App Track: An app that allows users to be able to quickly and simply tailor job applications to employers and increase their chances of getting an interview.

Catnap: A device that senses when toddlers are about to have a nocturnal asthma attack using their oxygen saturation and alerts their parents so they can properly administer the child’s medication.

CryptoPigeon: Allows for a dependable messaging app that is not controlled by any one single entity, corporate or government, providing a messaging app that is free from third-party surveillance.

Innovation: Kits that teach about inventions from all over the world throughout history, and they teach about how the inventions work, STEM concepts, and the inventors themselves.

NeuroLyze: Working to make sports a safer environment through the monitoring and analysis of potential concussions.

Quick Release Window Bars: A patented mechanical solution for mitigating fire hazards commonly found in homes in some developing countries.

Rent Scoop: A crowdsourcing and open rental data platform. Removing the obscurity around the cost of rent, utilities, and the condition of leases allows for a fairer market for tenants and landlords.

Shared Vision/Vision House: An educational nonprofit that will bridge the gap between film industry professionals and individuals interested in film careers.

Smart Azan: An app created to help Muslims listen to the call of prayer on their Google Home speakers or phone. They can also play the recitation of the Holy Quran as well.

Solar Sails: A drone that is powered using solar energy to be used by government agencies and has a theoretical infinite flight endurance.

Lastly, we would like to thank Chancellor Chen 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! Also, vote for your favorite team(s) with our DifferenceMaker Dollars at the event. The team that had the most DifferenceMaker Dollars would be awarded the $500 Fan Favorite Award.

Register for the Idea Challenge: https://www.uml.edu/DifferenceMaker/Forms/DifferenceMaker-Event-Registration.aspx

On March 16, 2022, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held its fourth workshop series session at the Saab Center, Perry Atrium., North Campus. The guest presenters for the evening were Professor Cathy Levey, College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Professor Kevin Willett, Manning School of Business CEO of Friends of Kevin, and Rick Sherburne, CEO, SherburneCommunications. 

Semi-finalist teams attended this session to learn about delivering their rocket pitch for the Preliminary Pitch-off on April 6th. At this event, teams have a chance to advance to the $50,000 Idea Challenge Final event. The semi-finalist teams who will be pitching at the Preliminary Pitch-off are: 

App Track 

Bridged Connections 

Catnap 

CryptoPigeon 

EcoShield 

FilaMill 

Innovation 

MediLingo 

NeuroLyze 

Quick Release Window Bars 

RDZ 

Rent Scoop 

Riverhawk Risk Managers 

Shared Vision/Vision House 

Smart Azan 

So-Health Box 

Solar Crowdfund 

Solar Sails 

Underdogs of Lowell 

Votecational 

To start off the workshop, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, David Vatalaro provided a recap of the past workshop sessions, which addressed topics such as Identifying Problems, Assessing Opportunities and Value Proposition, and Developing Business Models.  

Then, Professor Cathy Levey opened and discussed the content that should be addressed during the DifferenceMaker pitch presentation: the problem, opportunity, solution, needed resources, as well as being prepared for judge questions. She also spoke about additional considerations to look out for during and after the rocket pitch session. 

Afterwards, Rick Sherburne spoke about the challenge of presenting an idea. To tackle this, he discussed being confident and sharing your topic with lots of energy and passion. In addition, he mentioned the reasons why people struggle with stage fright. Self-consciousness in front of large groups, past failures, and fear of being nervous are a few examples. He also talked about having relevant pictures on each slide, as well as limiting the words per slide, which helps keep the audience engaged. 

Mr. Sherburne also facilitated an engaging activity where the students were encouraged to stand up and say “oh” to various scenarios. This allowed the students to see how tone changes based on the scenario you are in. For example, the volume and tone used is different when speaking to an infant versus seeing a win at a sporting event.

To conclude the night, Professor Kevin Willett highlighted examples of past student team presentations, such as III Point Stick. This allowed students to compare what they just learned to an actual pitch presentation that occurred. Students can watch and learn from other past pitches that are on the DifferenceMaker YouTube page, which can be utilized while practicing for the Preliminary Pitch-off. 

Thank you to everyone who attended Workshop 4! Good luck to all teams pitching at the Preliminary Pitch-off on April 4 at the O’Leary Library, Mezzanine. Register for the Preliminary Pitch-off: http://bit.ly/3VNSxEa 

Additionally, the 2023 11th Annual DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge will take place on April 13 at University Crossing, Moloney Hall, Room 260. Register for the $50,000 Idea Challenge: http://bit.ly/3VNSxEa  

On Wednesday, March 1st, DifferenceMaker held Workshop 3: Developing Business Models and Solutions at the Saab Center, Perry Atrium, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. This session helped student teams who applied to the $50,000 Idea Challenge to focus on their idea’s solutions by piecing together their business models.

To kick off the night, Dave Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute welcomed everyone. He expressed appreciation from the Rist DifferenceMaker for the support we have gotten from Tom O’Donnell, Executive Director at Innovation Initiatives; Maria Matarazzo, Adjunct Faculty at Manning School of Business; Khaled Abul-Hassan, Director at Office of Technology Commercialization; and Vijayendra Kumar, Licensing Manager at Office of Technology Commercialization. Next, he provided students with information on submitting their Idea Plan, announcements for semi-finalists, and reminders to schedule a meeting for one-on-one coaching with mentors. He then introduced the guest presenters for the night, who were Professors Dr. Carter Keough and Dr. Kelilah Wolkowicz, Francis College of Engineering, and Tom O’Donnell, Senior Director, Innovation Initiatives. 

Professor Keough started off by providing examples of companies such as Gillette, FedEx, Zipcar, and Pill Pack. Each are successful companies in their own way, all from various industries in today’s market. For example, Gillette makes their profit by selling cheap razor handles that go along with expensive, high quality razor blades that attach to them. This allows customers to stay loyal to their brand, as they need to continually purchase specific Gillette blades that fit the handle that they already own. 

Then, Mr. O’Donnell went further in depth and explained the multiple components needed to have a successful business model. He discussed factors such as the new venture timeline and each component of the business model canvas, such as customer segments, value proposition, revenue streams, and more. This allowed students to think deeply about details that will drive their ideas to success in the real world. 

After the detailed lessons, the guest presenters encouraged students to work on their business models and solutions. They utilized business model canvas poster boards and solution worksheets to assist with this process. A business model canvas glossary was also provided to each student to help refresh their memory on the information that was provided.  

Thank you to everyone that joined DifferenceMaker for Workshop 3! If you are interested in learning how to further develop your project for the $50,000 Idea Challenge, recruiting new team members, and gaining new skills, please register for the final workshop this semester. Dinner will be served! 

Workshop 4 – Delivering Your Rocket Pitch, March 16

Questions? Email us at DifferenceMaker@uml.edu.