School:University of Massachusetts Lowell

The University of Massachusetts Lowell (also known as UMass Lowell or UML) is a public doctoral/research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, United States,and part of the University of Massachusetts system. With more than 1,100 faculty members and more than 16,000 students, it is the largest university in the Merrimack Valley and the second-largest public institution in the state behind UMass Amherst.</p> The university offers more than 120 degree choices, internships, bachelor’s to master’s programs and doctoral studies in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; College of Health Sciences; College of Sciences; the Francis College of Engineering; the Graduate School of Education; and the Manning School of Business.

Overview - A Campus on the Move

UMass Lowell has been evolving in every aspect; upgraded classrooms, libraries and labs; new and renovated student living and activity spaces; and enhanced parking facilities are a few on the list of what has been updated and changed over the past decade of campus improvement.

·       University Crossing: Expected to be fully functional in 2014, this new building will host student services and activities, bookstore, dining, University police, transportation services, and senior administration offices.

·       Pulichino Tong Building: The University’s current construction project, the Tong Building will replace the now-relocated Honor’s Eames Dorm building on UMass Lowell’s North Campus and will house the entirety of the Robert J. Manning School of Business.

·       University Suites: This brand new dorm on UMass Lowell’s East campus provides housing for 472 students in four- and six-bed suites. There is a ground-floor common area with a café - Hawk's Nest - featuring fresh bakery, grab & go items and a late night Asian menu, in addition to delicious Red Mango frozen yogurt & smoothies and "We proudly serve" Starbucks Coffee. A multi-purpose room is open to the UMass Lowell community. Each residential floor has two common kitchen/lounge areas, two quiet study rooms and a group study room.

·       Riverview Suites: The other half of the two-dorm addition to UMass Lowell in 2013, Riverview Suites has either two or three bedroom  suites complete with a live-in kitchen, classroom and meeting rooms inside the building, and a gym inside the facility. The University leases the property from Soho Development, who also built the $42 million facility.

·       New Garages: In the past two years, UMass Lowell has added two large parking garages to each of its largest parking lots, greatly increasing the parking capacity for the strong commuter presence attending the school.

·       Health and Social Sciences Building: In 2013, this new criminal justice and criminology, nursing and psychology building had its grand opening. The construction of this building marked the first new construction in 30 years on the University’s South Campus, including all campuses in the University’s recent wave of evolution.

 

Since 2009, the University has also been heavily updating the existing buildings while acquiring and renovating new ones. UMass Lowell renovated the newly acquired Inn and Conference Center, added Taco Bell and Subway to the University’s dining partners, renovated the newly acquired Tsongas Center, and heavily updated their Dining Hall in the tallest UMass Lowell building, Fox Hall.

Student Entrepreneurship

Grab-A-Bite

Grab A Bite is a Social Food Network that engages users and helps increase restaurants customer traffic through marketing, ease of use and convenience that came to UMass Lowell’s DifferenceMaker program to steer the idea in the right direction. Providing online ordering, online reservations, food deals, online menus and DSC_5122easily retrievable information such as handicap accessibility and hours, Grab-a-Bite is pushing to be the biggest online food service in the market. The team is made up of Aldo Beqiraj, Denis Lemos, Andrew MacRobert and Andrew Webb.

In addition to the funds won through DifferenceMakers’ “First to Market” Idea Challenge, this team has also had a very successful crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo that can be seen here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grab-a-bite

Grab-a-Bite has also been recognized by the Boston Globe and was the people choice at the Mass Innovation Foodie Night.  Most recently Founder and CEO Aldo Beqiraj presented a Grab-a-Bite pitch at UMass Lowell’s new student convocation to over 1,500 new students who texted voted and awarded Grab-a-Bite $1,500 to continue to move their project forward. The team is currently in the process of redesigning their website and mobile applications to launch themselves forward.

 

NonSpec (formerly Developing Nations Prosthetic)

Nonspec participated in the 2013 first annual DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge where they showed dedication and enthusiasm by attending each educational workshop and event throughout the process which aided in their success.  At the Idea Challenge they received the prestigious title of “The Campus Wide DifferenceMaker” and the top award of $5,000. This top prize represents the project most likely to make a significant difference in the community, region and the world.

The $5,000 award has allowed Nonspec to move their initiative forward by creating their first batch of prosthetic limbs. With a projected 15% market share in the next five years, Nonspec plans to use this market presence to launch a foundation called “Give a Hand”. The purpose of this foundation would be to spread their mission, goals, charitable cause, and products around the world in order to make a difference in developing nations.

Since Nonspec’s success at the Idea Challenge they have gained great publicity in other arenas.  They were recently named one of the top 10 semi-finalists in Entrepreneur® Magazine’s “College Entrepreneur of 2013 Contest”.  In addition, they were invited to attend The International Association of Plastics Distribution (IAPD) “Plastics Application Design Competition”, which will be held on October 2, 2013 in Miami Florida.  They will have 20 minutes to present their project to a live audience and answer any field questions that may arise. Lastly, the team was utilized as a role model by being featured in a video that was shown at all DifferenceMaker freshman orientation sessions throughout the summer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLwLg4XHrck due to their motivation and high entrepreneurial spirits.

 

Lowell Sprouts 

Lowell Sprouts is an organization focusing on providing gardening spaces on school grounds, senior centers, and the many rooftops of Lowell. Along with pushing the planting of gardens in Lowell, a focus is also put on educating the community about alternative ways gardens can be grown in urban places like Lowell, and to teach the community as a whole that crops can be grown and harvested in an urban environment. 

The team is made up of Mary Beth Burwood (Alumni), Sean Hicks (Junior in Marketing), and Christopher Horne (Junior in Economics), who came together in the DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge to win the $3,500 first place award in the Sustainable Environment category.

Following the Idea Challenge, Lowell Sprouts shifted their focus from elementary and middle school education and rooftop planting to building sustainable green roofs around Lowell. The team gathered more funding throughout the summer, including a spot on a Merrimac Valley Sandbox video. They plan to create a green Lowell presence that will educate the community on urban garden growing and help grow rooftop gardens on various buildings around Greater Lowell.

Coursework

The entrepreneurship concentration prepares students to be an "outside of the box" thinker and innovator in today's complex global economy. Using an interdisciplinary focus, students who complete the concentration will:

• Develop the management skills required to identify and launch new business ventures around innovative products, services and technologies. 
• Develop an understanding of the concepts and activities associated with entrepreneurship and innovation. 
• Understand the financial aspects of an entrepreneurial venture from start-up to "harvest". 
• Discover their individual "entrepreneurial spirit" through experiential learning in interdisciplinary classes and the College's Venture Lab.

The required courses within the Entrepreneurship concentration consist of:

1. Starting a New Venture 
2. Corporate Entrepreneurship 
3. Managing Innovation 
4. Finance for Emerging Business Enterprises

Departments and Programs

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

If you have an idea, enjoy thinking creatively and innovatively, want to solve a problem, start a new business or make a difference...DifferenceMakers is for YOU! All students are welcomed to make a difference at UMass Lowell, make a difference in the community and make a difference in society.

Through the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, along with affiliated faculty and other campus programs, the University is introducing a range of activities that help students make a difference in the world. Upcoming student activities include:

• DifferenceMaker $25k Student Competition – See a problem? Want to solve it? Put together a UMass Lowell student team, present an innovative solution and compete for $25,000 in cash and prizes.

• 'Honors DifferenceMaker Program' – In collaboration with UMass Lowell Honors Program, this concerted effort to embed elements of social entrepreneurship in our Honors Program includes coursework and community-based student efforts.

• 'Freshman Make A Difference' – In collaboration with UMass Lowell Orientation, Student Activities and Leadership and Residence Life Offices, this a year-long effort aims to engage freshmen in solving local and regional problems through entrepreneurial action.

• DifferenceMaker Enterprise Co-op Students – The Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship will recruit and sponsor DifferenceMaker Co-op students who will assist in the implementation of DifferenceMaker activities and programs.

• Campus Catalyst Competition – The Merrimack Valley Sandbox supports student teams with innovative ideas. An initial grant of $500 plus support and growth opportunities are provided to the most promising projects.Learn more.

• Digital Federal Credit Union Innovation Contest

• Creative Venture Competition

Other Organizations

Honors Ambassador Program

www.umlhonors.com

Faculty Entrepreneurship

Coming soon

Deep-Dive Questions

Coming soon

Future Efforts

Coming soon

Conclusion

Coming soon