Ideas to change the world

Undergrads invited to submit proposals for First Step Grand Challenges Program

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8:51 a.m., Sept. 2, 2014--The University of Delaware’s First Step Grand Challenges Program invites undergraduate students to identify important challenges and develop novel solutions to address those challenges.

The deadline for submitting applications for the program is Friday, Sept. 26. 

For 2014-15, First Step Grand Challenges includes two tracks – First Step Health and First Step Social Innovation.

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The First Step Health track invites students to submit proposals focused on an important aspect of health care or healthy living, develop a potential solution to that problem, and present their solution for review. Examples of projects include but are not limited to biomedical research; medical practice; prevention; health advocacy, policy, management, informatics, and monitoring; nutrition; and community-based research. 

Solutions may take the form of devices, products, business models, educational programs, organizations, policies, processes or procedures that offer an improvement to health care or healthy living. 

The First Step Health track leader is Dan Flynn, associate dean for research in the College of Health Sciences.

The First Step Social Innovation track invites students to submit proposals focused on important issues that affect human well-being, including poverty, education, social causes, food security, and the environment. 

Solutions may take the form of policies, programs, events, products, business models, or organizations that alleviate human suffering or enable people to fulfill their potential. 

The First Step Social Innovation track leader is Tony Middlebrooks, associate professor of organizational and community leadership in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Students who submit the top 15 applications to each First Step Grand Challenges track will receive $500 mini-grants to support the development of their proposed solutions.

Students will have five months to develop their solutions and then present them at a track-specific symposium. Faculty advisors and external mentors will provide guidance. 

The top three students/teams from each track will receive cash prizes of $1,500, $1,000 and $500. Solutions that have the potential to be developed into a product or business will also have follow-on opportunities, including participation in an innovation and entrepreneurship showcase and the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship’s Venture Development Center.

First Step Grand Challenges was pioneered by the College of Health Sciences. For 2014-15, it has expanded to operate as a University-wide platform in partnership with the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship.

For more information and to complete an application, visit the First Step Grand Challenges website.

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