This fall, the Do Good Institute partnered with the Gemstone Program at UMD to host the 3rd Do Good Gemstone Showcase. The Gemstone Program at the University of Maryland is a unique multidisciplinary four-year research program for selected undergraduate honors students of all majors. Under guidance of faculty mentors and Gemstone staff, student teams design, direct, and conduct significant research to explore the interdependence of science and technology with society.
In November, the Gemstone Class of 2022 teams submitted virtual Gemstone Do Good Showcase presentations via videos. An outstanding panel of judges, including Bhavana Chilukuri (Gemstone team ASSIST, 2007), Katlin Gray (Program Manager, Do Good Institute), Christina Hnatov (Gemstone team SPACE, 2019), and Dr. David Lovell (Director, Gemstone), engaged with teams in a virtual live Q&A session on November 16.
After deliberating, while all of the teams impressed the judges, Gemstone Teams Autocycle, LEMMA, and PRODUCE were recognized as recipients of this year’s award. As this year’s winners each team will receive $500 to support their research endeavors. More about the winning teams:
- Autocycle is testing and developing an autonomous bicycle to assist in the redistribution of bicycles used in a bike sharing program;
- LEMMA is exploring the spread of extremist ideas on Reddit by using evolutionary algorithms to understand the ways in which dangerous information can be shared; and
- PRODUCE is aiming to reduce food waste through the development or improvement of food packaging techniques.
Congratulations to the winning teams and to all of Gemstone for their hard work, passion and creativity this semester.
