Junior mechanical engineering major Mariano Mumpower came away with a $750 gift certificate to Amazon.com for winning November 19th's Idea Competition Finalists Review. His idea? To bring healthy, fresh, quality, and affordable daily dining options to UMBC through a project he called "The Green Bean." The selection was met with applause from the standing-room only crowd at The Commons Sports Zone during the two-hour event's conclusion.

Mumpower conceptualized "The Green Bean" as a repainted, refurbished, and redesigned old school bus turned mobile organic produce stand. His presentation explained that his project would incorporate the concepts of using sustainable energy and providing seasonal menus, in addition to other things. He identified four main advantages of his idea: innovation, sustainability, benefit to the local community, and convenience. "I feel great," he said shortly after he was announced as the winner. "I'm glad I was able to get my message across."

He cited ice cream trucks and produce stands that are common in other countries as the main inspirations for his idea. "I like the thought of bringing produce directly to the community," he said. He attributed the success of his project to its involvement with the health and green movements that are gaining larger followings throughout the country. "If students have just a little bit of time before class, [the Green Bean can] give students an option to have a healthy meal," he said. He believes that students will value a healthier alternative to The Commons and a quicker alternative to the Dining Hall.

Second place to Mumpower was a team of four students: Michael Adams, Paul Chamberlin, Charlton Flanders and Andrew Mochinal. Their idea was to make UMBC's gym more environmentally friendly by powering it in part with actual exercise equipment used by students; their presentation was one of the most entertaining, a real life demonstration of an exercise bike generating enough power in a few seconds to blow a small light bulb. The team received $500 in cash rather than gift certificates, since the reward had to be split four ways. Two other teams each walked away with $250 prizes; third place winners Vlad Azimhodjaev and Fouad Kanaan were rewarded for their innovative online event management system, and Dehyu Sinyan won the "best pitch" award for his entertaining video production. Ten student voters got paid for just being there, in the form of $25 Amazon gift certificates.

Ideas from other finalists ranged from improving UMBC's parking system, to installing renewable energy generators on campus, to engineering bio-degradable cigarette butts. Pitches were creative and varied; oral presentations, PowerPoints, actual demonstrations, and short theatrical skits were all used. To enter, teams submitted a maximum one page description of their idea and an optional one minute YouTube video. A field of 60 entrants was narrowed down to 15 finalists by judges Eric Conn, Kim Gordon, and Gib Mason. All three judges are UMBC alumni who were asked, along with student voters, to base their decisions on four main criteria: identification of the problem or opportunity, creativity, feasibility, and impact on the community.

The judges were impressed by the presentations overall and pleased with the wide variety of ideas. "I enjoyed being around other entrepreneurs-to-be," said Conn. All have been involved with UMBC in their post-graduate lives to some extent, and agreed that it was good to give back to the school. They agreed that the projects' feasibility was the single most important aspect. Gordon explained, "You can have a good idea, but if it's too difficult to implement or too complicated, it takes away from it." Votes from the judges counted for 75% of the final vote, while the sum of student voting counted as 25%.

Vivian Armour, Director of the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, was thrilled to have 60 applicants from 27 different major programs in the initiative's first year. She hopes to double the number by next year, and described this year's turnout as a great success. "We know students have great ideas," she said. "We're trying to give them a form to be heard." She pointed out that student ideas and innovations are a big part of why UMBC is regarded as an up-and-coming university.

The Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship sponsored the Idea Competition, which was UMBC's first ever. It was open to both grads and undergrads in teams of one to three people. It was created to provide students with an opportunity to address problems and opportunities facing society by generating helpful ideas, whether they were UMBC-specific or not.

Yasmin Karimian, President of the Student Government Association, spoke briefly about SGA's Prove It! program right before the winners were announced. She explained that many ideas submitted to the Idea Competition could also be submitted to Prove It!, which provides the winner with $30,000 in funding in addition to a $5,000 cash prize. SGA is looking for ideas that "strengthen and inspire pride in UMBC." Undergrads interested in the opportunity can visit umbc.edu/proveit for more information. The deadline to apply is December 22nd.