2024 U21 RISE Showcase and Awards UMD Nominees:

BetterU

Project leader: Saurabh Chapagain, Undergraduate, Technology Entrepreneurship, 2025

BetterU helps people become the best versions of themselves in a fun & social way! The project is centered on empowering individuals with its habit-tracking solution, and addresses the challenge of promoting and sustaining healthy lifestyle habits. By providing users with tools to track and improve their wellness, the platform contributes directly to the goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. BetterU's focus on encouraging consistent and positive health habits enables individuals to take proactive steps toward their well-being. This not only supports personal health outcomes but also contributes to the broader objective of creating a healthier global population. 

Dialectable

Project leader: Michelle Akem, Undergraduate, Biology/Information Science, 2026

The project's mission is to facilitate cultural preservation and deeper social connections through learning a common language. Dialectable is a cultural app that includes conversation-based minigames, goal trackers, and unlockable avatars for Bangwa immigrants to learn or relearn Nweh using ancestral knowledge. The app will also allow users to write about their progress and plan specific goals to achieve within a certain deadline for accountability and create flashcard sets for a different target language. Dialectable would bridge the gap between immigrants who want to learn their native language as an English speaker by using accessible, relatable resources and appealing to the social connection they can gain from language.

2024 Office of International Affairs Special Award Recipients:

CerviCare

Project team leaders: Lauren Applegate, Biochemistry, 2027; Jonathan Wu, Computer Science, 2027; Navya Bansal, Bioengineering, 2027; Renee Jaranson , Bioengineering, 2026; Jonathon Meyer, Cell Biology and Genetics, 2027; Abhi Senthilkumar, Chemical Engineering, 2026

CerviCare, a project by the UMaryland iGEM Team, focuses on improving cervical precancer screening accessibility, with a particular focus on reducing inequality. Early stages of cervical cancer are treatable; however, screening for cervical precancer, used as an indicator for cervical cancer progression, is hard to access in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur. The project aims to lessen this disparity through designing and building an easy-to-store, point-of-care screening device project leveraging synthetic biology, making early detection easy and accessible.

Additional Team Members:

Ashley DeHennis; Sarah Firdaus; Mia Jocic; Valeria Salas Dietz; Aditri Gadigi; Mahita Kamalahasan; Graham Ferguson; Kevin Zhang; Haider Hassain; Sami Kudagunti; Aditi Namputhiripad; Krista Adu-Osei; Rebecca Lu; Dana Harel; Miranda Wang; Trinidad Cubillos Valdes; Patricia Rose; Yeabsira Belay; Krishna Kunamaneni; Dasha Didenko.

Kulqi

Project leader: Mary Adela Sangurima Loayza, Master of Finance, 2024

Kulqi is a personal finance app that simplifies money management for young adults. Kulqi’s goal is to narrow the financial knowledge gap. It offers easy-to-use tools and technology to help users of all financial backgrounds become more self-sufficient and make smarter financial decisions. Unique to Kulqi is its financial forecasting feature, which helps users plan their future, setting it apart from other apps.

Learn More About U21 at Maryland

Universitas21 Network

Program Details

RISE (Real Impact on Society and Environment) is U21’s international showcase of student achievement in sustainability and social innovation designed to accelerate the scale and impact of student-led projects by connecting them with a network of experts in academia and industry. RISE welcomes current projects that focus on global challenges - such as affordable and clean energy, gender equality, quality education, or clean water and sanitation - as outlined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Maryland is one of 29 members of the U21 network, which brings together research-intensive universities from six continents to exchange knowledge and perspectives.

Each U21 member institution is invited to nominate student-led projects based on an aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Alongside gaining access to a global network of supporters, nominated teams will have the chance of winning one of four prizes from U21 valued at over $2,000 each.

To select UMD nominees for the official, international RISE Showcase and Awards, the Do Good Institute and the Office of International Affairs' Global Learning Initiatives are hosting this preliminary, campus-wide contest. As detailed below, all Maryland nominees will receive Do Good and Office of International Affairs funding for their projects. UMD will select up to two projects as RISE nominees; two additional nominees may be selected if the nominated projects have been created in collaboration with another U21 partner institution. All nominees will be required to submit a video pitch about their project for the U21 Showcase, with feedback from the Do Good Institute and the Office of International Affairs.

Eligibility

Current students and recent graduates (December 2021 or later) are eligible to apply. See the U21 RISE Handbook to review what types and stages of projects qualify, the judging criteria for both Maryland and U21 consideration, and more information on what is required of nominees to create a video pitch for the U21 stage of the competition.

Prizes

Each nominee will:

• Win $1,000 in project funding, jointly offered by the Do Good Institute and the Office of International Affairs, Global Learning Initiatives
• Serve as a UMD nominee in the international U21 RISE Showcase and Awards, becoming eligible for additional U21 prizes

Questions & Contact Information

For general questions, please contact the Global Learning Initiatives team at info-gli@umd.edu.

Below: U21 Infographic - How far advanced should projects be?