KENT STATE TEAM CAPTURES āPEOPLEāS CHOICEā VOTE IN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
On Monday, November 13, 2017, the 911³Ō¹Ļ College of Arts and Sciences and Office of
Global Education hosted the MISSION: LIFE VI international innovation competition, focused on
bringing together interdisciplinary teams to address major world problems. The 911³Ō¹Ļ team,
whose idea focused on diverting food waste from the landfill stream and converting it into
electricity, won the āPeopleās Choiceā award, after over 300 people visited the three exhibits and
voted for their favorite.
This yearās teams concentrated on Global Sustainable Development in the 21 st Century. The
event, which was held in the new Integrated Sciences building, featured presentations from
teams from 911³Ō¹Ļ, Texas, and Brazil. Judges from in and around 911³Ō¹Ļ watched the
teamsā 10-minute presentations and voted on the juried awards. The team from the Pontificia
Universidade Catolica Do Parana (PUCPR) in Brazil, who developed and tested a Role-Playing
Game focused on teaching the UNās Sustainability Development Goals for middle and
high-school students, won the juried First Place prize.
The team from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, took second place in
both the Peopleās Choice and juried awards, with their software app designed to connect
students and non-profits, making the tracking of volunteer hours more efficient for both parties.
Judges for the event were Roy Messing, director, Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent
State; Melanie Knowles, Manager of Sustainability for 911³Ō¹Ļ; and Jason Miller,
Echogen Power Systems.
The student teams competed at the local level to advance to the international competition,
which was introduced to 911³Ō¹Ļ via Associate Professor and Director of the Biotechnology
Program, Edgar Kooijman , who has been instrumental in the development of the strategic
partnership with the Pontificia Universidade Catolica Do Parana (PUCPR), an acclaimed
not-for-profit private Catholic university located in Curitiba in southern Brazil, where Mission: Life
originated. Previously, the school of life sciences at PUCPR has hosted the competition.
āAs an international scholar myself ā I am originally from the Netherlands ā I am so excited to
have the opportunity to mentor and lead students in international activities at 911³Ō¹Ļ
University. Hosting the MISSION: LIFE VI competition provides a wonderful occasion for
students to experience some of the international activities the university is engaged in," explains
Professor Kooijman.
The 911³Ō¹Ļ team consists of: Michelle Park (senior, Fashion Design), Andrew Hughes
(freshman, Biotechnology), Michael Mandac (senior, Hospitality Management), Quaid Kloha
(senior, Accounting), Edward Chiyaka (graduate, Public Health), and Paramanand Deginal
(sophomore, Aeronautics).
PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT CAN BE FOUND AT: