University of Idaho students are implementing their knowledge and showcasing their talents during UI’s Innovation Month.
April, to which UI designated Innovation Month, hosts a myriad of events.
The College of Graduate Studies hosted a three-minute thesis competition, where students were tasked with explaining their complicated research projects as fast and succinctly as possible. The goal of the competition was to encourage effective communication to those outside the students’ fields of study. This competition enhances students’ academic, presentation and research communication skills.
The 2018 Cybersecurity Symposium, held in Coeur d’Alene, gave researchers, government agency representatives and business professionals an opportunity to discuss challenges they face with cybersecurity and listen to professionals in the field.
Currently, UI is hosting the Student Data Science Competition. Sponsored by the College of Science, Department of Mathematics and the Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, this is the first competition of its kind held at UI. The competition’s goal is to promote data research on campus, as well as expose UI students to different learning environments through competition.
The competition has two tracks. The first is the Machine Learning competition. Participants are asked to grade 20,000 hand written math quizzes in the hopes of developing a model that performs better than a random guess. The other is the Data Visualization competition, where participants will explore a provided data set and explain what they learn in a compelling visual manner.
Grayson Hughbanks
This competition began March 12 and will continue through April 22.
The second ongoing event is the Barker Trading Competition, hosted by the College of Business. The competition is an opportunity for any UI student to get hands on training and instruction on software usage as well as tips on how to analyze and execute trades. Students are trained in sessions prior to the competition starting.
Participants are given $100,000 worth of simulated funds and whoever has the highest net liquidating value at the end of the competition wins a cash prize of $500.
There will be an Innovation Showcase April 25 at the UI Commons Summit Conference Center. This showcase allows graduate and undergraduate students to enter their research projects in a judged competition for prize money. This showcase highlights the work done by students of all disciplines and gives them a platform to demonstrate their research findings.
The Idaho Pitch Competition, as well as the Business Plan Competition, commence April 27 and 28. The Idaho Pitch Competition allows students to pitch various product ideas. This competition simulates a pitch to a CEO of a company in the time it takes to ride an elevator. A more formal competition is the Business Plan Competition, which is hosted much like the popular TV show “Shark Tank.” Participants must pitch their idea and are judged on the quality of the product as well as the execution of the pitch.
The Annual Engineering Design Expo will take place April 27 in the Bruce Pitman Center. This expo showcases the senior capstone projects by students in the College of Engineering. This event also allows high school students across the region to come and showcase their work, as well as learn the possibilities of engineering at UI and participate in hands-on activities.
To close out Innovation Month, the Undergraduate Research Symposium will be held April 30 in the Pitman Center. This symposium is designed for students to demonstrate and present their research on a large scale.
Along with the presenting of their research or scholarly work, students will get presentation experience, share their research with peers and faculty and participate in the scholarly aspects of research. This event is open to all undergraduate students from all disciplines and is open to the public.
Emma Takatori can be reached at [email protected]