Have an idea on how to improve or change the world? Burning up with ideas to help the environment, society, business, your friends, social media or anything else you can dream up? UMBC wants to give you $750 for telling us your idea! How can you win cash for your innovative solution? Read on!

The UMBC Idea competition is designed to challenge you to think about problems and opportunities facing society. If UMBC is one of the most innovative schools in the nation, then UMBC students are just the kind of innovators that can really change the world. Now’s your chance to make it happen.

Submit your idea online via the entry form. And you can also grab your camera or smartphone and post a YouTube video in which you pitch your idea. The top entries will be judged, live, by a panel of professionals and alumni along with a crowd of students at the final competition held November 12, 2014, in the Sports Zone in The Commons. The top 3 winners, determined by the results of student and panel voting, will receive cash prizes up to $750.

How to Enter
To enter the competition, complete the UMBC Idea Competition Entry Form, which asks you to (i) describe a problem or opportunity, and (ii) describe your idea for addressing it. Submission forms will be limited to one page, so you will need to articulate the problem you have identified and your idea succinctly. You will also be allowed to post a video to YouTube in which you can personally pitch your idea to the campus. The videos are not required, but they are encouraged as an effective way to communicate ideas to the review committee. YouTube videos are limited to 60 seconds and creativity is encouraged. Videos longer than 60 seconds will not be considered by the judges.

For a full list of the rules, visit http://entrepreneurship.umbc.edu/competitions/umbcs-idea-competition/

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS:

OCTOBER 9, 2014 AT 5:00PM

Elizabeth Seton is a all-female high school that has implemented an optional engineering curriculum into the course-work. The Leadership, Engineering, and Design (LEAD) Program promotes increased achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math in a problem solving environment. Seton offers four years of LEAD classes including, Foundations of Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Advanced Design Application, and Engineering Design. The LEAD Program also exposes students to STEM competitions, service opportunities, and internship and workplace shadow opportunities.    

In order to bridge the gap between the high school classroom environment and college or the workplace, we have established an E-Mentoring Program for the students. This is where we need your help! We are looking for female college students or recent graduated to become E-Mentors. An E-Mentor serves as a mentor to a student through offering guidance on STEM classes, projects, college decisions, 
and professionalism via e-mail.

What to expect: We would love for our mentors to commit to one e-mail communication per week for 8 to 10 weeks between September and November. That's it! Any additional communication is up to you, but we understand how busy college students are! We will also have a E-Mentor "Kick-off" Event, in which you will have an opportunity to meet the students and help them interact professionally! Mark your calendar's now, the Kick-Off will beWednesday, September 24 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. We would like to see all of our E-Mentors there, but if you will not be able to attend, please do not let
it discourage you from applying.

How to apply: Please fill out the online application. This application can be found on our website www.setonhs.org, Academics tab under LEAD Leadership Engineering and Design section. In addition to the application, please send a pdf of your resume to annette.englehart@gmail.com.

Mentor Application Link!

Who can apply: Females studying/working in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Bio/BioChem/BioMed Engineering, Materials Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Civil Engineering, Fire Protection Engineering, Computer Engineering (Other), or Architecture. Please specify your major/work field in the application. If you do not see your field in this list, please feel free to still apply! Any undergraduate student or recent graduate (within 5 years) is encouraged to apply.

UMBC Alumnus and Meyerhof Scholar Stephan Sherman (BS ’00, M8) spoke at Apple’s new product event  on Tuesday and described his company’s VainGlory game, which will run on the new iPhones using under iOS 8, taking advantage of Metal graphics API, larger screen and faster processors on the iPhone 6.

Stephan is Co-founder and CCO (Chief Creative Officer) of Super Evil Megacorp, a game development company headquartered in San Mateo, California.

While at UMBC, Stephen put together an independent study program combining Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Digital Animation. After graduating in 2000, he went on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a MS degree in computer science in 2002. He worked at a number of computer game companies as a programmer, lead programmer and senior engineer and co-founded Super Evil Megacorp in 2010.