• Join the Universitas 21 Global Ingenuity Challenge

Calling students from all majors! Join the Universitas 21 Global Ingenuity Challenge  – The Challenge of Sustainable Housing.

Interested in using your ingenuity to solve a critical global problem? Apply to become part of a five-member UConn team to find an innovative solution to “The Challenge of Sustainable Housing.” UConn’s team will be competing with teams drawn from other international universities in the Universitas 21 global network. Two UConn professors will act as facilitators: Professor Norman Garrick (Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Professor Carol Atkinson-Palombo (Geography).

The two week long challenge will take place in March, partly during Spring Break. At the start, the two facilitators will share the specifics of the challenge with the team. Students will then have two weeks to work on the challenge and invite comments from trusted advisors. Technical support will be provided by the online interactive web based platform, Ingenuity OnLine. At the end of the 2-week period, students will upload a 3-minute video with their proposed solution to the challenge. Their video will be assessed by a judging panel as well as by their peers. Students who participate in the challenge will review all videos submitted by their peers and vote for one of them (not their own, of course). The team with most votes will receive the Peers’ Choice award certificate. Students on the winning team will receive a prize of $1,000 per student to be spent on participation in another Universitas 21 student activity, including study abroad at a U21 partner university.

Application Deadline: February 1, 2016

In order to apply, you will need to do the following:

1) Fill out the online application form that includes uploading your UConn transcript and writing a short essay. (Application link is now inactive).

2) Ask a faculty member to serve as a reference, and forward him/her this link for the online Faculty Reference Form. (Reference form link is now inactive).

More Information

Contact Dorothea Hast (dorothea.hast@uconn.edu) in Global Affairs for more information on UConn’s participation and the application process.

Information on Universitas 21 and the challenge: http://www.universitas21.com/event/details/243/global-ingenuity-challenge-the-challenge-of-sustainable-housing and http://globalpartnerships.uconn.edu/universitas-21/global-ingenuity-challenge-the-challenge-of-sustainable-housing/