A group of Stony Brook University undergraduate students participated in the INNOVATE: Honors Edition challenge, an event aimed at fostering innovation and community impact. The challenge took place on October 17 at the Student Activities Center and included participants from the Honors College, University Scholars, and WISE Honors programs.
“This program was about empowering Honors students to make a difference locally, to think about how they can use their knowledge and creativity to improve Stony Brook, Long Island, or New York State,” said Hannah Estes, director of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Office for Research and Innovation and one of the event organizers. “Some students came in with ideas, others didn’t. Watching them work through the process of identifying real-world problems and developing solutions has been incredible.”
Ten student teams addressed issues such as healthcare access, sustainability, campus services, and wildlife conservation. They used design thinking methods to define problems and propose innovative prototypes before presenting their projects to a panel of judges. Dominique Lee served as mentor throughout the day.
Catherine Sherman, assistant dean for University Honors Programs in the Division of Undergraduate Education, said: “Students teamed up across the University Honors Programs to ideate, innovate, and pitch ideas having real community impact. They presented thoughtful, researched plans and potential solutions to a range of pressing campus and local issues, from accessible healthcare to tracking dining location wait times on campus. It’s been a celebration of the Honors student community in action.”
Sherman added that this type of event supports skills-based learning embedded within honors curricula. “The Honors Innovation Challenge complements the leadership and skills-based learning taking place in Honors curricula, such as the leadership courses in the University Scholars and WISE Honors Programs, and next spring, Ideas Labs in the Honors College,” she said. “This impactful programming equips our Honors students with tools and experiences to be future change agents.”
One team addressed deer overpopulation on Long Island by proposing designated parks for conservation purposes. Tales Cheng explained: “We have a problem with overpopulation and roadkill. Creating designated parks could help reduce accidents, support wildlife research, and even create community attractions.” Cheng worked with Ken Weng on this project.
Another team proposed repurposing wind turbine blades into public structures like shade canopies or benches after noting recycling challenges associated with these materials. Christina Pan shared: “Right now there’s a huge push for offshore wind. One of the biggest concerns is what to do with the blades afterward since they’re made of materials that are difficult to recycle. Our idea was to repurpose these blades by transforming them into structures like shade canopies for bike racks or benches for public parks—all while engaging local artists and schools in the process.” Pan collaborated with Leigha Chotalal and Lily Kis-Horvath.
Selena Chen drew inspiration from her work at Intellectual Property Partners (IPP) for another project focused on helping inventors commercialize patents through an app that matches them with potential collaborators using short videos similar to social media platforms.“I noticed that a lot of inventions never make it to market because inventors and companies struggle to connect,” Chen explained.“So we created an app, kind of like matchmaking meets TikTok, that connects inventors with companies who could help commercialize their patents.”
Throughout the day students received guidance from faculty mentors representing multiple university departments including engineering, business administration,and science communication.
Judges Michael Kinch (chief innovation officer), Jennifer Adams (director of innovation,SBU Libraries), Wei Yin (professor,bioengineering; associate dean for Community Engagement),and Jon Longtin (professor mechanical engineering) evaluated presentations,giving awards for Most Innovative,Bes Presentation,and Best Impact.
Derek O’Connor commented on how academic excellence combined with entrepreneurial thinking led students beyond theoretical learning: “It’s exciting to see Honors students apply not just what they’ve learned in their majors,but their interests in the community.They’re learning how to pitch howto commercialize,and howto bring an idea tol ife.”
Sherman emphasized new initiatives such as Ideas Labs would continue supporting creative thinking within honors education:“help our students think creatively leadwith purpose,and make meaningful changein their communities.”
“These students are brilliant driven,and so focused,” Estes concluded.“They’re learning that innovation doesn’t just happen ina lab ora classroom;ithappens when diverse minds come together tos olve real problems.”
