On February 22, 2022, DifferenceMaker held the second workshop series session to prepare students for the $50,000 Idea Challenge this semester. The topic addressed was assessing opportunities and value proposition.
To start off the event, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow David Vatalaro opened by providing a brief recap of what occurred during the first workshop session, which highlighted identifying problems. Then, he introduced the guest presenters for the night, which were Professor Brent Shell, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, and Professor Neil Shortland, College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow David Vatalaro providing a shoutout of the faculty fellows who are available to mentor and support students on their ideas.
After the introduction, Professor Shell mentioned that while our ideas seem incredibly valuable to us, it may not be the case for potential customers and buyers. He provided the example of pickle toothpaste, which is unique to him. However, at the end of the day, no one ends up purchasing it. Assessing opportunities is important because it allows you to see if it is worthwhile creating the product before it is too late. If there are no willing buyers, the product does not fill a customer need or add enough value. Therefore, market research is imperative.
Professor Shell assisting students with their project’s opportunities.
Then, students were given time to write down their opportunities on the “target market opportunity” and “competition opportunity” worksheets. DifferenceMaker mentors Ryan Berube, Vice President, Commercial Loan Officer, Lowell Five and Steve DeVries, FocalPoint Certified Business and Executive Coach, FocalPoint Coaching walked around and further helped guide students with this process. After some time on this, students presented their work to the audience, receiving feedback from the presenters.
Mentor Ryan Berube providing advice to students working on a cost-effective solution for EpiPens.
Then, Professor Shortland presented the importance of value propositions. A value proposition demonstrates how a potential solution provides more value than what competitors are currently offering. Students broke out into groups again to work on their value propositions on poster boards, then were given the chance to share their ideas with the audience.
Professor Shortland presenting on how benefits must outweigh costs to be beneficial to you and your customers.
Thank you to everyone that joined DifferenceMaker for Workshop 2! 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 upcoming workshops. Dinner is served at each session, which all take place from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at Lydon Library, Room 110, North Campus:
On February 17, from 5:30 – 7 p.m., the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held the semester’s first workshop session! The focus for Workshop 1 was on identifying problems. Over 35 students attended to learn and network with students interested in pursuing their ideas for the $50,000 Idea Challenge.
To start off, Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute welcomed everyone. She provided a brief overview of the DifferenceMaker program, what to expect from the workshop series, and the agenda for the evening. She then introduced the Faculty Fellows guest presenters: Professor Mazen El Ghaziri, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, Professor Tom Wilkes, Kennedy College of Sciences, and Professor Rae Mansfield, Honors College.
Next, Professor El Ghaziri presented the definition of problems. He opened a Slido poll that allowed students to share what comes to mind when they hear the word “problem”. This created a brainstorming discussion, helping students figure out what they are trying to solve.
Professor El Ghaziri asking students what comes to mind when they hear of the word “problem”.
Shortly after, Professor Wilkes extended the talk by showcasing examples of problems presented by past DifferenceMaker student teams. Videos of their pitches were provided to give students clarity on how to move forward. For example, a team that was highlighted was the CAT Mat pitch, presented by students Katie Muise and Michelle Mailloux, both from the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences. The problem they identified is the inability for patients to practice relearning how to walk. Going outside to do so isn’t the safest option, while staying indoors does not fully prepare patients to go back to the real-world.
This is an example of a team who worked diligently during their time at DifferenceMaker, as they ended up winning first place against teams such as Harvard and MIT during the Beantown Throwdown competition in 2019!
Professor Wilkes presenting to students on the key points to highlight while presenting the problem being addressed.
Then, a brainstorming activity took place where students were able to discuss the problems they are looking to solve with each other. Along with the guest presenters, DifferenceMaker Faculty Fellow Kevin Willet, Manning School of Business, and two DifferenceMaker Mentors, Steve DeVries, Business Coach, Focal Point Coaching, and Ryan Berube, Vice President, Commercial Loan Officer, Lowell Five, assisted with this process.
This allowed students to network with one another and gain new connections for potential teammates. Each person/group utilized the “DifferenceMaker Problem Toolkit Worksheet” to help with narrowing the specifics of the issue at hand.
Students networking with each other and solidifying the problems they are working to solve!
Afterwards, students presented their ideas to everyone. The problems ranged from a variety of topics, such as unaffordable Epipen injectors, vitamin D deficiencies, lack of information about personal finances, and more.
Team USuccess sharing the problem of the lack of knowledge regarding personal finances in today’s world.
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 upcoming workshops. Dinner is served at each session, which all take place from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at Lydon Library, Room 110, North Campus:
Workshop 3 – Developing Business Models, February 24 Guest speakers: Professor Carter Keough, Francis College of Engineering and Tom ODonnell, Executive Director, Innovation Initiatives
Workshop 4 – Delivering Your Rocket Pitch, March 17 Guest speakers: Professors Cathy Levey, FAHSS and Kevin Willett, Manning School of Business, and Rick Sherburne, Pitch coach and CEO, Sherburne Communications
On January 25th, the DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge Kick-Off and Idea Hack was held in the Saab Center, Perry Atrium from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Holly Lalos, Director of the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute opened up 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 Students Adam Basma and Yeaharne Hout, from the Manning School of Business, introduced the University based creativity program. They explained details for the 10th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge taking place this semester. The 2022 DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge application is due February 11 at 5 p.m.!
From left to right: Director Holly Lalos and CO-OP students Adam Basma, and Yeaharne Hout. Yeaharne Hout is presenting on student teams. Photo credit to Dean Sandra Richtermeyer.
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 Director Holly Lalos and shared their experiences with DifferenceMaker. First up was Edward Morante of BenjiBall, who studied Education and FAHSS and won the 2019 Rist-Campus-Wide DifferenceMaker prize, a $6,000 award. The Q&A was then followed up with Benard Tabu of Green Fertilizer, who studies Energy Engineering and won the 2021 Contribution to a Sustainable Environment prize, a $4,000 award. Lastly, Ariel Shramko of Terminus, who studies Environmental Engineering and 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.
Real-life DifferenceMaker Panel members from left to right; Edward Morante, Benard Tabu, and Ariel Shramko. Rist DifferenceMaker Director, Holly Lalos, far right, is asking a question to Ariel Shramko, representing team Terminus.
Following the Q&A, David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, led the students in the Idea Hack Activity to get students brainstorming potential ideas they could apply to the challenge. Students sat at tables which represented different topics, which were Art and Music, Consumer Products, Environmental, Finance and Banking, Healthcare, Innovative Technology, and Social Responsibility.
The students started to brainstorm problems related to their table’s topics and then started to discuss possible solutions. The students 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 to everyone.
A group of students networking and discussing the problem of food waste at the Social Responsibility table.
To close off this engaging event, Holly Lalos spoke about next steps in getting involved in DifferenceMaker and being engaged in the $50,000 Idea Challenge. The $50,000 Idea Challenge application is due by February 11 at 5 p.m.
On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, DifferenceMaker partnered with Project LEARN at the UMass Lowell Innovation Hub to provide an entrepreneurship field trip day to Lowell High School students. The day started around 9:00 a.m. when around 50 students arrived at the Lowell Innovation Hub.
From 9:00- 11:00 a.m., Rist DifferenceMaker Institute Director, Holly Lalos, introduced the program. Next, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, David Vatalaro, introduced the Tinker Toy Ideation activity.
Students were told that they needed to rescue someone on an island and were instructed to build a vessel to transport their Tinker Toy person to the mainland. The Lowell High School students eagerly got to work building cars, boats, and helicopters out of Tinker Toys.
Lowell High School Students working on their Tinker Toy vehicle prototype. Professional Photo by Edward Brennen, Senior Writer, UMass Lowell.
After time passed, another problem was introduced – the students were informed they could not build a water vehicle or flying vessel. This left several teams working to change their original plans. Students then started trading materials with other teams and using objects that they had in their backpacks to craft their creative vehicle.
Next, students tested their prototypes on a slanted wooden board (“a mountain”) with Tinker Toys at the bottom (“rocks”). As a result of teams testing their vehicles, they were able to make changes to their designs to make them work more efficiently – the iterative process of prototyping.
After testing their prototypes, each team had a chance to pitch their innovative vehicle design and send their vehicle down “the mountain”. The location of each teams vehicle was marked. At the end, the teams vehicle that travelled the furthest won a DifferenceMaker prize.
In the afternoon, Rajia Abdelaziz, Co-founder and CEO of invisaWear spoke to the students about her experience starting a company. She talked about the challenges that she faced as a young, female student. Additionally, Ms. Abdelaziz spoke about the DifferenceMaker program and how it helped with support and resources she needed to make her dream a reality.
Co-founder and CEO of Invisawear, Rajia Abdelaziz, talking to the Lowell High School students about her company. Professional Photo by Edward Brennen, Senior Writer, UMass Lowell.
Then, Joe Hartman, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, UMass Lowell, spoke to the Lowell High Students. He highlighted the opportunities that going to college at UMass Lowell provides, with a focus on the benefits of DifferenceMaker for aspiring entrepreneurs and creative thinkers.
After the Provost’s remarks, Tyler Cote, Co-Founder and Director of Operation 250 spoke to the students about his experiences starting a nonprofit. Mr. Cote had an interactive presentation which engaged students, such as gathering their opinions on whether social media is harmful or beneficial to society.
He explained his company’s goal, which is to make the internet a safer place. Additionally, he talked about the resources he used at UMass Lowell to start Operation 250. Lastly, he spoke about how students of all majors can start a business by solving problems and that networking is important.
Tyler Cote, Co-Founder and Director of Operation 250 talking about his experience starting a company using the Resources that UMass Lowell provides. Professional Photo by Edward Brennen, Senior Writer, UMass Lowell.
At noon, lunch was served from Purple Carrot and students had the opportunity to talk to a representative from the university. The day wrapped up with a tour of the Innovation Hub and the Fashion Makerspace.
Thank you to everyone who made this event possible: Mira Bookman and LZ Nunn, Project LEARN; Jill Taylor, Lowell High School; Lisa Armstrong, Innovation Hub; Diana Coluntino, Fashion Makerspace.
To kick-off the event, Gina Mustoe, teacher, Westford Academy, gave opening remarks. She then passed the stage to Holly Lalos, Director, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute. Holly presented an overview of DifferenceMaker, sharing the benefits and opportunities the program offers. This was followed by a presentation of the Haverhill Innovation Hub by Stephanie Guyotte, Associate Director, Haverhill Innovation Hub. Then, Holly introduced the judges and emceed the event.
Andy Vargas, Massachusetts House of Representatives
Judges, from left to right, Donna McFadden, Katie Harrington, Tatiana Tompkins, Siddhant Iyer, Andy Vargas.
After the judge introductions, the event began. The audience was excited to hear the creative ideas from each high school student team. Each pitching team had 5 minutes to present, followed by 5 minutes of judge Q&A. After the presentations, the judges deliberated.
Dan Alexander and Neev Maru, representing Westford Academy, pitching their product MC3D.
Congratulations to all teams that presented and won awards!
1st place, $500 – Mya Doucette, Gaby Guimaraes, Zach Medailleu, and Gabriel Olafsson, Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School – “ZuMix” – a healthy, organic snack.
2nd place, $300 – Dan Alexander and Neev Maru, Westford Academy – ”MC3D” – an educational STEM-based camp for kids.
3rd place, $200 – Callum Mond, Declan Mond, and Matt Weinfurt, Nashoba Regional High School – “Boxletics” – sports games and equipment delivered regularly to customers doorsteps.
Honorable Mention, DifferenceMaker gear (t-shirt, pen, lanyard, water bottle, notebook) – Isha Macha and Morgan Smith, Westford Academy – “I&M Solutions” – safe and effective teeth whitening solution.
After the presentations, lunch was served, and round table mentor meetings took place between college DifferenceMaker teams and the high school teams. Each high school team had a 15-minute mentor session with the DifferenceMaker college students.
Thank you to the DifferenceMaker teams who volunteered their time to support and inspire the high school students:
On Thursday, December 2, 2021, the 2021 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, people’s choice voting, and final round. The twelve teams competing during the preliminary demonstration round were:
– AirGuardian, team members Kieron Sharwood, Adam Warden, and Kevin Zhang
– BioECOL, team members Zachary Katimy, Tomas Lera, Abraham Mudoola, Dimitri Ros
– Draw a Print, team members Johnathan Aguliar, Philopater Askander, Theresa Foley, Daniel German-George, Yibo Li, and Ruolin Zhou
– He4lth, team members Joseph Fallica, Angelica Jones, Sarah Ross, Varun Somasundaram
– MedAlarm, team members Anthony Areche, Mason Burne, Evelyn Duffy, and Maddie McLaren
– No Maskne, team members Alexia Bittarelli, Joshua Frechette, Samuel Paolini, Danelia Rodriguez, and Giovanny Sanchez
– PenGRED, team members Danielle Bucci, Ryan Butler, Gabriela Karnesky, and Grace Murray
– Proprioception & Athletic Performance, team members Mark Elman and Steven Evangelos
– Prosthetic Hand for Steering, team member Tze-min Lin
– Tendren, team members Ethan Block, Amie Russell, and Victoria Williams
– The Accreditors, team members Mayank Amrohi, Nabil Barkallah, Linnae Casebeer, and Evangaline McFarland
– Vision, team member Mohammadali Khalifa
Tze-min Lin, team member of Prosthetic Hand for Steering, showcasing her idea and prototype to preliminary round judges.
The prototype demonstration 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:
– Andrew Amigo, ’94, College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, CEO of Blackburn Energy LLC
– Carol Devellian, ‘85,13, Francis College of Engineering, President of Yeti Biomedical LLC
– Mark Dyment, ‘1986 Francis College of Engineering, CEO of MC Process Technologies, Inc.
– Bill Estes, ’87, Francis College of Engineering, General Manager of Anderson Power Products
– Dave Janeczek, ’82, ’85, Francis College of Engineering, Former Manager Process Development Center of Raytheon Technologies Corporation
– Bill Perciballi, ’86, Francis College of Engineering, Force Engineering
– John Raguin, Growth Advisor
– Mike Rider, ’87, Francis College of Engineering, Vice President of Engineering & Operations of Coravin, LLC
– Leigh Sharrock, ’03, Francis College of Engineering, Director, Systems Engineering of Brooks Automation, Inc.
Team AirGuardian pitching their idea and prototype to a panel of preliminary judges.
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:
– Draw a Print (Tailored 3D Standard Triangle Language (STL) CAD Design models for 3D printable parts)
– PenGRED (Epinephrine Auto Injectors for young children)
– Proprioception and Athletic Performance (Alarius Table with MatLab/Arduino Telemetry)
– Prosthetic Hand for Steering (steering wheel prosthetic for farmers)
– Tendren (Emergency Room monitoring during hospital waits)
Team Tendren pitching their innovative idea to improve hospital waiting times during the final round.
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 (five, $100,000 bills) to disperse to the teams they liked the best.
The Final Round Competition was held in Moloney Hall from 7:00- 8:00 p.m. The Final Round started with opening remarks by Dean Sherwood and Provost Hartman. Next, the five finalist teams pitched their ideas on stage and demonstrated their prototype to the panel of final judges.
Dean Sherwood speaking to the audience before the final round competition.
The judges during the final round were:
– Rajia Abdelaziz, ’16, Francis College of Engineering and Kennedy College of Sciences, CEO, invisaWear
– Chad LaFrance, ’92 Francis College of Engineering, Director of Texas Instruments
– Chris McKenna, ’89 Francis College of Engineering
– Mark Saab, ’81, ’13 (H) Francis College of Engineering, Founding Trustee, Saab Family Foundation
– Bhupen Shah, ’92, Francis College of Engineering
After all the presentations the final judges deliberated and selected the winners for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes. Additionally, the judges chose an honorable mention award.
TeamProprioception and Athletic Performance accepting their 1st place award.
The final awards were:
– 1st Place, $2,500, as well as automatically advancing to the DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge Preliminary Pitch-off in April 2022 – Proprioception and Athletic Performance – Mark Elaman and Steven Evangelos
– 2nd Place, $1,500, as well as People’s Choice Award, $500 – Tendren – Ethan Block, Amie Russell, and Victoria Williams
– 3rd place, $1,000, – PenGRED – Danielle Bucci, Ryan Butler, Gabiela Karnesky, and Grace Murray
– Honorable Mention – Prosthetic Hand for Steering, Tze-min Lin
After the remarks, the finalist judges were introduced. The judges for the evening were:
– Dave Carter, Director of Information Systems Infrastructure, DCU
– Sandesh Parulekar, Director of Information Systems Development, DCU
– Barbara Russell, Co-Founder/Managing Partner, Cap W Global Advisory/Investment Banking Group
– Mike Zuccaro, ‘83, Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis, Akebia Therapeutics
Judges, from left to right, Dave Carter, Barbara Russell, Sandesh Parulekar, Mike Zuccaro.
Once all judges were introduced, the event began! Six student finalist teams were given 5-7 minutes to present their ideas, along with 5 minutes of Q&A from the judges. The teams that presented were:
– Chain Bank, team members Aymaan Shaikh and Hirschfield Ssozi
– Credit Champs (Hands Free ATM), team members Benjamin McClure and Nick Paolilio
– Labor as a Service, team leader Kevin Zhang
– Simplicity Bank, team members Yeaharne Hout, Saema Nazar, Monica Nguyen, and Heer Patel
– StockToMe, team members Matt Allen, Matthew Kinash, and Jackson Sterrett
– Trade Bozz, team members Toney Benny and Sabastian Pascal
Each semi-finalist team member won $100. Each team’s idea ranged from topics such as teaching children and young adults on financial literacy, blockchain technology, stock & trading opinions, and more. 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, took photos, and further discussed the inspiration and details of the ideas that were pitched.
Winning team StockToMe presenting their stock opinion app, where a beta version was recently launched.
Around 8:15 pm, the judges returned to announce the final award. Congratulations to team StockToMe for winning the final prize of $500 per team member! They also automatically advance to the DifferenceMaker Preliminary Pitch-off this spring.
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held its’ 10 Year Anniversary Celebration at Moloney Hall in University Crossing! The purpose of this event was to reunite, celebrate 10 years of DifferenceMaker, and to support the success that our UMass Lowell alumni and students have experienced in the program.
The event started with poster viewing and networking. There were a multitude of posters from past and current teams, showcasing their mission and work. This was a wonderful opportunity to network, revive old relationships and form new ones!
Ariel Shramko, member of team Terminus, speaking with guests about their project that provides plants a friendly environment to grow in no matter what, tackling the issue of food insecurity.
After networking, there was a delicious dinner reception. This allowed guests to connect more while sharing a meal. Each guest also received a gift at their seats. Holly Lalos, director of the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, made announcements and thanked everyone for attending the evening.
Following the dinner reception, Steve Tello, Vice Provost of UMass Lowell’s Graduate, Online and Professional Studies, gave opening remarks and introduced the night’s events. He then welcomed the Chancellor of the University, Jacqueline Moloney, who also provided welcoming remarks to all attendees and guests. Steve Tello, Holly Lalos, and Provost Joseph Hartman surprised Chancellor Moloney with a special award for co-founding DifferenceMaker and being instrumental in its development over the last decade. Then, another surprise award was presented to Steve Tello for co-founding the program and leading it to success. Congratulations to Chancellor Moloney and Dr. Tello!
Kim and Brian Rist, Manning School of Business ’77, established the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute in 2019. When Mr. Rist was in college, he learned a lot about business operations which helped him and StormSmart succeed. He guest spoke to the audience and shared positive comments about the institute and the importance of entrepreneurship education, something that he and Kim strongly supports.
Brian Rist, Manning School of Business, ’77, presenting on entrepreneurship and how it is wonderful to see DifferenceMaker student teams grow throughout the years.
Nonspec was created by Francis College of Engineering students, Jonathan Perez de Alderete and Erin Keaney, who won the 2013 Campus-Wide DifferenceMaker Competition. Nonspec is a company that supplies low-cost high functionality replacement limbs with an acceptable amount of customization for children in developing nations.
invisaWear was created by Kennedy College of Sciences and Francis College of Engineering Alumni Rajia Abdelaziz and Francis College of Engineering Alumni Ray Hamilton, who won the 2016 Innovative Technology Solution Award. invisaWear creates wearable safety jewelry that connects to a smart phone via Bluetooth. With a simple push of a button, it sends help messages and location information to predetermined emergency contacts and 911. They recently announced a partnership with ADT, the #1 name in household security, and have been featured on many news outlets nationwide!
Tyler Cote, founder of Operation 250, presenting on the the impact that they have made to students through workshops on online safety, hate and extremism, and critical problem solving.
Ambulatory Innovations was created by Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences Alumni, Michelle Mailloux and Katie Harrington, who won the 2019 Honorable Mention prize. Ambulatory Innovations is an ambulatory mat that allows physical therapists to treat their patient’s deficits throughout the body, from the musculoskeletal system to sensory systems. It simulates walking outdoors to help patients prepare for community ambulation. They have won many additional startup competitions, like Beantown Throwdown where they won against schools like Harvard and MIT, and their product, the CAT Mat, is currently patent pending!
To conclude the event, Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs left the audience with some inspiring words. Then, more networking took place. Thank you to all attendees for celebrating this milestone event; the amazing tenth year Anniversary of the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute!
On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. DifferenceMaker held its’ first in person event in a long time – the Season Kick-off and College Competition Announcement!
Then, Adam Basma and Yeaharne Hout, two Rist DifferenceMaker CO-OPs, presented an overview about the program. Adam spoke about the opportunities that the program offers, such as the ability to be paired with mentors, learn about critical skills through the workshop series, and to be able to connect with students from varying backgrounds and form a team.
Yeaharne provided examples of student teams, such as TrueFIT, Digital Life, and Tommy Vi’s Gelato. She additionally spoke about the benefits and interesting statistics on DifferenceMaker teams, such as how over $5 million were raised by over 130 winning teams, and 40 companies formed since its’ inception in 2013.
Yeaharne Hout, DifferenceMaker Social Media Assistant and CO-OP student, spoke about the benefits of forming a DifferenceMaker team.
After they spoke, guest speakers were introduced to discuss ways to get involved with DifferenceMaker this semester through three 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, such as ideas around financial literary or 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 22, 2021 and closes on October 22, 2021 at 5 p.m.
Participants must be students at the University and at least one member on 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 22, 2021 and will be closed on October 22, 2021 at 5 p.m.
Ruairi O’Mahony, Executive Director, Rist Institute for Sustainability, spoke about the S.E.E.D Grant Program. This program provides students with funding to pursuing projects around campus that focus on sustainability and improve the campus atmosphere. Students are able to apply for grants up to $10,000 to put their campus sustainability projects into action.
Kavitha Chandra, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs, Francis College of Engineering announced the details of the Francis College of Engineering Prototyping Competition.
Concluding the announcements, David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, presented the details for a fun, interactive, Ideation Activity. At this activity, each of the different tables had a central topic for which the teams based their innovations on. The topics included Art and Music, Environmental, Innovative Technology, Financial Baking, Social Responsibility, Healthcare, Customer Products, and Other.
Each table was asked to write down problems that relate to their topic. From there, each team chose a main problem to focus on for the remainder of the activity. Each person at the table then wrote down solution ideas on post-it notes and stuck them to the team’s board. Next, they voted on which solution would be the best. After that, the team members discussed their solutions even further and crafted models of it with Legos. Each table then were able to share to all attendees about the problem and the solution they had created.
Students and faculty fellows brainstorming ideas for problems and solutions to work on during the Ideation Activity.
invisaWear started off as an idea – at the time, there were no stylish, discreet safety devices on the market. Rajia Abdelaziz, ’16, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Ray Hamilton, ’16, Electrical Engineering, decided to take matters into their own hands and create one.
At the DifferenceMaker 2016 $50,000 Idea Challenge, invisaWear won the Innovative Technology Solution prize of $4,500. This was one of their first sources of funding for their project, which was part of their capstone as college students at UMass Lowell. They also won $500 from winning 3rd place at the Engineering Prototyping Competition in 2015.
Ray Hamilton, left, and Rajia Abdelaziz, right, presenting their invisaWear phone app at the Engineering Prototyping Competition.
Ever since their beginnings at UMass Lowell, invisaWear has came a long way! In 2019, one of their first ever life-saving stories was featured on WCVB. A woman got involved in a very bad car crash in Lowell, MA. Her phone was unable to be found among the ruckus, but she luckily had her invisaWear charm with her, a charm that she was gifted months prior. She double tapped her button and emergency crew & family immediately rushed to her and saved her life.
invisaWear was also selected as one of BostInno’s coolest companies to work for. They selected companies from all over Massachusetts. In addition, they have been featured on a variety of TV shows such as Rachael Ray, Good Morning America, ABC News, CBS News, and Fox News.
In 2021, invisaWear announced one of their most exciting partnerships – a collaboration with ADT, the #1 name in household security! This partnership provides customers with additional security. Not only does the double press of the button alerts loved ones & 911, but it also alerts ADT with their location. ADT will then notify the customer’s emergency contacts, alert authorities, share their location, and provide personally identifiable information to help emergency responders locate and identify them.
Rajia Abdelaziz, left, and Ray Hamilton, right, celebrating their collaboration with ADT!
On June 22, 2021, invisaWear was featured on QVC® and HSN’s® The Big Find® product search. This provided them with exposure on one of the world’s largest video commerce platforms. Watch their featured segment here.
In July, invisaWear donated $5,000 to the inspirational non-profit Strong City. Strong City is dedicated to educating at-risk and underprivileged youth from ever getting to that point—through education, project-based giving, gun violence research, and citizen support. A few years ago, invisaWear received a check from EforAll which helped them start their company, and now they are supporting others to do the same.
Overall, invisaWear is a DifferenceMaker team that has made a huge difference in the community and in people’s lives. Rajia and Ray occasionally come back to UMass Lowell to mentor the newer generation of DifferenceMaker students.
Yeaharne Hout, DifferenceMaker Social Media Intern, with her invisaWear necklace.
P.S. invisaWear is also having a back-to-school sale! Rajia got her inspiration for these charms while she was an undergraduate in college. Grab yours for the semester here!
