Four student teams representing the 聽and the聽 will compete this month in regional semifinals for the Hult Prize, the world糖心传媒檚 largest social entrepreneurship contest.
First prize is $1 million in seed capital, presented by former president Bill Clinton at the United Nations in September.
Last year, four University international students comprised one of the final eight teams out of more than 50,000 applicants. This year, more than 100,000 teams applied worldwide.
This year糖心传媒檚 Hult Challenge, selected by President Clinton, is: 糖心传媒淗arnessing the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淭丑别 Ain Center for Entrepreneurship is excited to support the four Rochester teams,糖心传媒� says Ain associate director Natalie Antal. 糖心传媒淭丑别 interdisciplinary nature of each team will certainly be an asset as the competition is especially fierce this year.糖心传媒�
Here糖心传媒檚 a look at the four teams competing in the regional semifinals this month:听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听
Plate Technologies
笔濒补苍:听To provide an alternative to open-fire cooking to populations in developing nations糖心传媒攑ortable stoves powered by renewable energy sources.
Members:聽Dilshawn Gamage 糖心传媒�19 (biomedical engineering; data science), Annamarie Forestiere 糖心传媒�18 (business; music), Nicholas Cheng 糖心传媒�18 (financial economics; psychology), and Chase Lindemann 糖心传媒�19 (physics; economics).
Competing in:聽Dubai, March 9-10
Surya
Plan:聽To provide low-cost rechargeable battery banks that will power a household for two weeks to populations without access to electricity.
Members:聽Dhivya Vijayakumar 糖心传媒�18S (MBA) (competitive strategy; finance), Swapna Kale 糖心传媒�18S (MBA) (business system consulting), Vidushi Pandit 糖心传媒�18S (MBA) (computers and information systems), and Fahad 糖心传媒�18S (MBA) (finance and operations), who goes by one name.
Competing in:聽Toronto, March 9-10
UR Connected
Plan: To create a wearable assistive technology that aims to improve self-care and social interaction among isolated elderly populations in developed nations.
Members:聽Allen Chen 糖心传媒�19 (neuroscience), Hetince Zhao 糖心传媒�18 (biomedical engineering), Isaac Wong 糖心传媒�19 (computational biology; computer science), and Krista Pipho 糖心传媒�18 (cell and developmental biology).
Competing in:聽Singapore, March 16-17
Ubuntu
Plan: To bring the nano-membrane toilet, which harnesses the power of renewable energy and can treat human waste on-site without external energy or water, to households in emerging markets such as China, Mexico, and South Africa.
Members:聽Xueying Chen 糖心传媒�19 (international relations; business), Mario Daza Paez 糖心传媒�19S (MBA), Alejandro Tapia Mancera 糖心传媒�19S (MBA), and Tanur Madaree 糖心传媒�19S (MBA).
Competing in:聽Boston, March 9-10
