Dean’s Imagineering Competition

11th Annual Imagineering Competition (October 2024-April 2025)

The College is excited to announce the eleventh annual Dean’s Imagineering Competition. This competition is designed to reinforce the ideals of creating the Societal Engineer by giving students the opportunity to express their creativity and entrepreneurial capabilities on ideas that impact society. The competition provides a framework where interested undergraduate and graduate students can, individually or as a team, create and enter an original project in the competition.

Prizes for the Competition:

• 1st Prize – $3,000
• 2nd Prize – $1,500
• Best in Class – $250, awarded to best project from each undergraduate class (mixed teams are categorized by team leader’s year group).

Have your team? Sign up for the Competition before April 1st!

Competition Kickoff Event:

Friday, October 18th at 4:30 pm in SILab: 44 Cummington Mall, 1st floor

Slides from the Kickoff Presentation

Competition Presentations:

April 17th and 18th, 2025

Competition Guidelines:

1. Open to all engineering undergraduate and graduate students, individually or in teams. Other BU students may also participate as long as there is at least one engineering student on the team. Leveraging the abilities of students from other BU colleges and schools is appropriate and highly encouraged.
2. Projects can be started at any time during the 2024-2025 academic year. Competition applications/entrance forms must be submitted by April 1st.
3. Interested participants can email silab@bu.edu with any specific questions.
4. Projects will be judged by the Competition Committee in April. Participants will be notified of exact time of their presentation the week prior.
5. Students should generate their own project ideas. All intellectual property will be maintained by the student participant(s). No senior design projects can be submitted to the competition. Projects assigned as part of any course or research done in a faculty member’s lab are not eligible.
6. SILab will also maintain a list of names of people who wish to be part of a team but have not formed one, as well as a list of teams looking for additional members. Email silab@bu.edu if you would like to be added to either list. This will allow students the opportunity to work on a team without having to find other interested individuals on their own.
7. Projects can address any challenge but are particularly encouraged in areas at the intersection of global technologies for the developing world, climate change, security/cybersecurity, and pandemic prevention/mitigation.

Competition Criteria:

1. Originality, ingenuity, and creativity of project
2. Quality of design and prototype
3. Functionality of project
4. Potential ability to impact society

Competition Awards:

The Competition Committee reserves the right to withhold any and all awards if in their judgment projects do not rise to the level of excellence outlined in the Competition Criteria. All intellectual property generated by the competition participants remains solely their own, but winners are under no obligation to patent or market their work.

Competition Project Review Format:

A short presentation (15 minutes) is required to showcase your project to the Competition Committee. Non-confidential presentations may be open to the general public. The following points should be covered:

1. Origin of idea and challenged addressed
2. Purpose of prototype
3. Design features
4. Build/assembly process
5. Brief description of potential market and societal impact

A short question and answer period by the Competition Committee will follow.

Competition Resources:

1. SILab is available for your team to use. The SILab Manager and Advisors can answer questions and assist your team with equipment needs.
2. Materials and parts that are not normally stocked in SILab can be requested by emailing silab@bu.edu. Each team can request up to $50 in materials. For material costs above $50, teams can apply to the Engineering Student Innovation Fund.
3. BTEC and EPIC are also potential resources. For additional questions email btec@bu.edu.
4. Should the need arise, we may be able to appoint a faculty member as an advisor.

Competition Questions:

If you have any questions at all, please email silab@bu.edu.

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR IMAGINEERING!

Past Winner’s Info:

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