Interdisciplinary Studies at UMBC invites undergraduate students of engineering, visual arts, environmental science, journalism, and interdisciplinary studies to submit a design proposal for a kinetic sculpture (a bicycle powered work of art).

Interdisciplinary Studies will offer a $250 prize to the winning design for a kinetic sculpture that will be built by a UMBC team of students and entered into the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race. To explore themes of sustainability, the working title for the kinetic sculpture is the “Trashmonster Upcycle.” Our goal is to put the notion of upcycling ("converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value") into motion by collecting discarded materials (also known as trash) that could be used as part of a bicycle powered sculpture.

For more information, please visit the UMBC Kinetic Sculpture Race blog at http://kineticumbc.blogspot.com and the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race web site at http://www.kineticbaltimore.com/.

RFP guidelines:

Please submit a description of up to 300 words and a detailed sketch for a kinetic sculpture powered by either 2 or 4 cyclists. The narrative must address the following questions:

1. What are the overall dimensions?

2. What are primary construction materials?

3. Do you propose incorporating regular bicycle frames or starting from “scratch” in a recumbent rider position?

4. How will the vehicle navigate roads, water, and mud?

Materials that could be used for aesthetic, structural or flotation purposes include:

• water cooler bottles
• buckets
• PVC pipe
• discarded lumber or shipping pallets
• old bicycle frames/wheels/ gears
• renewable materials such as bamboo

The INDS Photo Contest is a monthly competition that aims to create a collection of images illustrating the diverse activities of our program. This collection will be used to promote the INDS program at future events and published materials, including various web-based platforms.

Prize: Each month the winning photo will receive a prize of $25 placed on the campus card of the student who submitted that entry.

Judging: Judging will take place during the first week of every month as INDS staff gather to review each photo submitted during the previous calendar month. The judges will be looking for a photo that illustrates something within the broad range of activities covered by the INDS program. These activities include coursework, fieldwork, research, independent study, internships, INDS events, and anything else that relates to your degree/the program in general. In future months, we may announce a “theme of the month” (e.g. Foreign Travel) but for now (and until posted otherwise) we invite pictures from any and all aspects of INDS. Remember, our primary aim is to create a large body of up-to-date images that we can go on to use in our promotion and outreach materials: we are looking for images that engage their viewer in a deeper sense of the rich opportunities afforded by INDS.

Rules:

• Submit images through Instagram* with at least 3 tags (e.g. research, field work…) as well as #INDSumbc
• Provide a caption of 25 words or less (what, where, how it relates to INDS)
• The competition is open to INDS majors and non-majors – it is only the subject matter that must relate directly to the INDS program
• Each month’s winner will be contacted at the beginning of the next month – i.e. our first winner, for October’s photos, will be announced in the first week of November.
• The purpose of the contest is to build a library of images to promote INDS. We therefore ask that each entry is made available for our later use for brochures, posters, reports etc. For this reasonby submitting an image you are agreeing to UMBC’s Terms and Permissions.

* You will need an Instagram account. It is an easy and free app to download on your smartphone. Contact us if you need further help