On Monday, February 27, 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 Yuho Kim, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, and Professor Neil Shortland, College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

After the introduction, Professor Yuho Kim mentioned that while our ideas seem incredibly valuable to us, it may not be the case for potential customers and buyers. He provided an 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’s need or add enough value. Therefore, market research is imperative.

Then, students were given time to write down their opportunities on the “target market opportunity” and “competition opportunity” worksheets. Students presented their work to the audience, receiving feedback from the presenters.

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.

Thank you to everyone that joined DifferenceMaker for Workshop 2!

Questions? Email us at DifferenceMaker@uml.edu.

On Wednesday, February 22th, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., the Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held the semester’s first workshop session at the Saab Center, Perry Atrium! The focus for Workshop 1 was on identifying problems. Over 20 students attended to learn and network with students interested in pursuing their ideas for the $50,000 Idea Challenge.

To start off, Dave Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, welcomed everyone. He provided a brief overview of the DifferenceMaker program, what to expect from the workshop series, and the agenda for the evening. He introduced the Faculty Fellows guest presenters: Professor Tom Wilkes, Kennedy College of Sciences, and Professor Kevin Willett, Manning School of Business.

First, Professor Willett explains to students what makes a “good problem.” Next, Professor Wilkes showcased 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 of patients to practice relearning how to walk after experiencing a medical issue. 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!

Then, a brainstorming activity took place where students were able to discuss the problems, they are looking to solve with each other.

Afterwards, students presented their ideas to everyone. The problems ranged from a variety of topics, such as stem literacy, crypto currency, lack of information and transparency on fair rent, sustainability in 3D printing, and more.

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.

Thank you to everyone that joined DifferenceMaker for Workshop 1! To revisit the topics discussed, watch our video, Spring Workshop Series 1: Identifying Problems.

Questions? Email us at DifferenceMaker@uml.edu.

On January 24th, the Rist DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge Kick-Off and Idea Hack was held in the Saab Center, Perry Atrium from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Dave Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, 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 students Mina Lam and Nick Jarek, introduced the DifferenceMaker program. They explained details for the 11th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge taking place this semester. The 2023 DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge application is due February 13 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 Nick Jarek and shared their entrepreneurial experiences with DifferenceMaker. First up was Visal Veng of Green Fertilizer, who won the 2021 Contribution to a Sustainable Environment prize, a $4,000 award. The Q&A was then followed up with Ariel Shramko and Eliot Pirone of Terminus, who won the 2021 Honorable Mention, a $2,000 award, answered questions and provided advice to the student audience.

Nick Jarek 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.

To close off this engaging event, Mina Lam 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 13 at 5 p.m.

On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the 2022 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 fifteen teams competing during the preliminary demonstration round were: 

• Catnap, team members Majd Elhachem, Michael Ciampo, Khadija El Hadad, Fritznere Brutus, and Matheus Fonseca  
• FilaMil, team members John Monsen, Garett Mallinson, Lethycia Sanchez, Rayyan Kherati, Jared Saye, and Emily LaBelle 
• Helping Hand, team members Chris Sabu, Justin Sousa, Sara Pourgol Mohamad, and Hermela Mekonen 
• JAMM Labs, team members Jacob Stover, Madelin Salazar, Allison Kelly, and Matthew Ikini  
• Oersted, team members Manuel Magayanes and Eduardo Magayanes 
• PackStrap, team members William Donohue, Katie Mcdonagh, Meredith Citrone, and Mattias Kantor 
• Physical Engineers, team members Kyle Callahan and Alexander Johnston 
• Pregnancy Back Brace, team members Marcela Villalta, Maria Belhous, Trevor Powers, Raygan Matte, and Kyle Laguerre 
• Project Poseidon, team members Abdullah Jasim, Dylan Cormier, Abdelsalam Abutabikh, Amr Elkordy, Jeswin Jees, Jessica Borst, Charles Kenny, and Mustafa Al Hado 
• RehaBand, team members Alexa DeVito, Maria Ferreira, Helen Kham, Timothy Roach, and Ardon Zibel 
• Sociable, team members Sydney Campano, Paulo Henrique Borges, Scott Harwood, Kileigh Crail, and Jerry Takang 
• Solar Crowdfund, team members Tolotra Samuel Randriakotonj, Muhammad Khalil, and Borna Doroudi 
• Solar Sails, team members Quin Liang and Aalap Patel 
• The Spectacle, team members Aryan Patil, Nicholas Sparages, Navya Garg, and Isidor Jankovich 
• Vital Sensing, team members Haris Kum, Thang Do, Wynn Wiggins, Dayang Wang, and Tran Thien Quy Nguyen. 

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: 

• Jim Biggins, ‘03, Francis College of Engineering, President and CEO at Access Vascular 
• Bob Findlen, ‘81, Francis College of Engineering, Director of Sales and Marketing at PolySource 
• Joe Hallisey, ‘01, Francis College of Engineering, Director of Engineering, Automation Solutions Group at Brooks Automation 
• Beth Haskell, ‘84, Francis College of Engineering, Vice President of Business Development for Advanced Electronic Systems, Excelitas Technologies Corp
• Ken Horton, ‘79, Francis College of Engineering, Managing Director, C2C LLC
• Dave Janeczek, ’82, ’85, Francis College of Engineering, Former Manager Process Development Center of Raytheon Technologies Corporation 
• Joe Lane, ‘87, ‘93, Francis College of Engineering, CEO of SafePath Medical
• Bill Perciballi, ’86, Francis College of Engineering, Founder and President, Force Engineering
• Leigh Sharrock, ’03, Francis College of Engineering, Director, Systems Engineering of Brooks Automation, Inc 

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: 

• Catnap, team members Majd Elhachem, Michael Ciampo, Khadija El Hadad, Fritznere Brutus, and Matheus Fonseca  
• FilaMill, team members John Monsen, Garett Mallinson, Lethycia Sanchez, Rayyan Kherati, Jared Saye, and Emily LaBelle 
• PackStrap, team members team members William Donohue, Katie Mcdonagh, Meredith Citrone, and Mattias Kantor 
• Physical Engineers, team members team members Kyle Callahan and Alexander Johnston 
• RehaBand, team members Alexa DeVito, Maria Ferreira, Helen Kham, Timothy Roach, and Ardon Zibel 
• Solar Sails, team members Quin Liang and Aalap Patel 

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 three 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 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. It began 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. 

The judges during the final round were: 

• Chad LaFrance, ’88, Francis College of Engineering, Director of Texas Instruments 
• Mike Rider, ’87, Francis College of Engineering, Vice President of Engineering & Operations, Coravin, LLC 
• Mark Saab, ’81, ’13 (H), Francis College of Engineering, Founding Trustee, Saab Family Foundation 
• Greg Sydney, ’81, 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, $2,500, as well as automatically advancing to the Rist DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge Preliminary Pitch-off in April 2023, Catnap – Majd Elhachem, Michael Ciampo, Khadija El Hadad, Fritznere Brutus, and Matheus Fonseca  
• 2nd Place, $1,500, Solar Sails – Quin Liang and Aalap Patel 
• 3rd place, $1,000, – RehaBand –  Alexa DeVito, Maria Ferreira, Helen Kham, Timothy Roach, and Ardon Zibel 
• Fan Favorite, $500 – Project Poseidon – Abdullah Jasim, Dylan Cormier, Abdelsalam Abutabikh, Amr Elkordy, Jeswin Jees, Jessica Borst, Charles Kenny, and Mustafa Al Hado 

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this event!  

Interested in pitching an idea and getting funding? Applications for the 11th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge are open now – apply today! 

On December 1, 2022, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held the 10th Annual DCU/Manning School of Business Innovation Contest from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. at University Crossing, Moloney Hall. To kick off the event, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs for the Manning School of Business and Event Emcee of the evening, Amit Deokar provided welcoming remarks.  

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

 – Edward Gallagher ‘84, Senior Vice President (retired), Northeast Division, Comcast Business Services 

– Hoang Nguyen ‘07, Director of Finance, DCU 

– Sandesh Parulekar, Director of Information Systems Development, DCU  

– Darcie Sunnerberg ‘87, Vice President/Sovereign Analyst, Loomis Sayles and Company 

Once all judges were introduced, the event began! Five 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: 

– AlgoPal, team members Edvard Nordlund, Matthew Crasa, Gabriel Blanchard, Isac Jonsson, Stefan Owens  

– Bridged Connection, team members Isaac Carpio and Dumark Ramirez 

– PayDay, team members Nick Woolsey, Andrew Tarnowski, Daniella Pacheco 

– PTB – Private Teller Booths, team members Nicole Chanquet, Sharon Banks-Obanor, Jesse Kajko, and Mustafa Bellakhdar 

– Solar Crowdfund, team members Tolotra Samuel, Muhammad Khalil, and Borna Doroundi 

Each semi-finalist team member won $100. The teams’ idea ranged from topics such as algorithmic trading, AI teller booth, crowdfunding platform, 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, and further discussed the inspiration and details of the ideas that were pitched. 

Around 8:00 pm, the judges returned to announce the final award. Congratulations to team Solar Crowdfund for winning the final prize of $500 per team member! They also automatically advance to the DifferenceMaker Preliminary Pitch-off this spring. 

In total, DCU awarded $2,300 to student teams at this event.  

Interested in pitching an idea and getting funding?

Applications for the 11th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge are open now – apply today! 

On November 30th, The Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held the 4th 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, Gina Mustoe, teacher at Westford Academy, gave opening remarks. She then passed the stage to Provost Joe Hartman, who shared inspiring words to the students about of the importance of making a positive impact in the world by developing creative ideas.

Next, David Vatalaro, Rist DifferenceMaker Fellow, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, presented an overview of DifferenceMaker, sharing the benefits and opportunities the program offers. Then, Tom O’Donnell, Senior Director, Innovation Initiatives, UMass Lowell, introduced the judges and emceed the event.

The judges were Nick Jarek (Rist DifferenceMaker Co-Op, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute), Donna McFadden (Massachusetts DECA State Advisor), Tom O’Donnell, and Wynn Wiggins (Co-Founder, Vital Sensing Patch).

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. The judges deliberated after all of the presentations!

Congratulations to all teams that presented and won awards!

1st place, $500 – Braydon Gray, Gabriel Silva, and Catherine West, Chelmsford High School – “The Hcky Stick” – A collapsible hockey stick made from high quality plastic that is easy to store.

2nd place, $300 – Laney Beahn, Sara Lewis, Grace Mathieu, Ava Mills, and Chloe Vescio, Blackstone Regional High School – “Medimate” – A sanitizing device that kills bacteria from shoes.

3rd place, $200 – Isaac Cho and Dan Ottesen, Westford Academy – “Sleepytime Supplements” – a pack of milk and cookies with melatonin and valerian to help users with falling asleep.

After the presentations, lunch was served, and round table mentor meetings took place between past DifferenceMaker teams 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:

Minds with Purpose, Jeurys Santiago
UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association, Mina Lam
Vital Sensing Patch, Haris Kum and Wynn Wiggins
Rist DifferenceMaker Co-Op, Nick Jarek

Thank you to DECA Inc. for sponsoring the event prizes. Another thanks to all partnership schools and teachers involved in this collaboration.

On July 13, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m., DifferenceMaker hosted Demo Day. At this event, the 2022 DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge Finalists presented their updated and improved ideas since advancing in the 2022 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.
• 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:

• Rajia Abdelaziz, CEO of invisaWear (2016 DifferenceMaker Team), alumni from the Francis College of Engineering & Kennedy College of Sciences, ’16.
• 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
• Brian Rist, Chairman & Founder of the Rist Family Foundation and Rist DifferenceMaker Institute, alumni from the Manning School of Business, ’77.
• Tom O’Donnell, Innovation Initiatives Senior Director, Innovation Hub Director, Visiting Faculty from the 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 would have for society. Potential mentors asked valuable questions to the teams throughout the evening.

The teams that presented were:

Amara

Hoppers

Minds with Purpose

PEAK Performance

Tendren

ThermoEXA

UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association

Vital Sensing Patch

After the presentations, students from the teams had the opportunity to network with the audience to help further their idea and receive guidance.

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

Here is a video of the 2022 DifferenceMaker Demo Day event.

On Wednesday, April 13, 2022, DifferenceMaker hosted the 10^th 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”.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 13^th 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.