Loyola Innovates
Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship - January 2019
Welcome from Dean Kathleen Getz
I am pleased to introduce the inaugural newsletter from Loyola University Maryland’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CI&E). With generous gifts from Nick Simon, MBA, ’84, and the Frank family (Tim Frank, MBA, '85), we are harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit at Loyola to infuse creativity and innovation more fully into our academic and extracurricular pursuits. Together, our student innovators, Center staff, faculty, and alumni will play a key role in transforming Baltimore by supporting the city’s entrepreneurs and social ventures. Thank you for being a part of what’s next!
A Note from CI&E Director Wendy Bolger
STUDENT INNOVATORS! Our goals are to support your ideas, offer engaging hands-on experiences, and ensure you succeed in your career, and in life, by helping you learn to be entrepreneurial.
Take a look below to see how YOU can get involved!
Save the Date: Spring Hackathon
Join us for pizza and icebreakers from 5-6 p.m.; the Hackathon will start promptly at 6:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Thursday, Feb 21, 2019, 05:00 PM
Loyola University Evergreen Campus, Lange Innovation Lounge
Lange Makerspace, by Eric Muchisky '19
As a member of CI&E's Student Steering Committee, I am excited to be part of the planning to launch a new makerspace in Lange Lounge, which will further enhance Loyola’s innovative and entrepreneurial toolbelt by expanding opportunities for students to learn, experiment, and create.
Makerspaces are places open to everyone. They often feature basic prototyping tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and soldering irons, and can also feature Legos, string, popsicle sticks, and lots of sticky notes! Far from being the arts and crafts room of your preschool days, these spaces are cutting edge facilities utilized at Stanford University, Google, and in schools and businesses in our Baltimore backyard to nurture innovation. They enhance creativity and drive innovation, allowing students to experiment with their own ideas, and to be inspired and learn from others’.
Our new Makerspace hopes to deliver an area for friends and group members to collaborate, ideate, and inspire one another through their work. This is a wonderful opportunity for Loyola students and hopefully ignites the entrepreneurial spirit in generations of Greyhounds to come.
Most importantly, the space will allow students to fail. That’s right - we want students to fail! Due to the low risk atmosphere of the space, students are welcome to test their entrepreneurial ideas and projects which may be likely to fail. They won’t have to worry about getting a poor grade on a project just for investigating their curiosity and not obtaining the desired outcome. One of the most important things to remember is that when we fail forward and fail often, we truly succeed. That’s learning.
As we continue to build the space, we hope student input and initiative will drive its evolution. If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the equipment, use, or layout of the space, or if you'd like to get involved, please reach out to me (ejmuchisky@loyola.edu). I look forward to exploring this new venture in Loyola’s education with you.
Spotlight on Clubs: Sellinger Entrepreneurship Association
The Sellinger Entrepreneurship Association (S.E.A.) founded this fall, is an innovative student-led club led by freshman Benjamin Hunt, seeking to bring students, faculty, and local businesses together in order to promote and foster entrepreneurship both on campus and throughout the greater Baltimore area. The association will provide students with a variety of opportunities whereby they are able to cultivate and employ their entrepreneurial passions and interests through the use of real-world case studies, events, internships, and startups.
The S.E.A. is interested in competing in the "TigerLaunch" business competition held at Princeton University - the nation's largest student run intercollegiate entrepreneurship competition - in March in NYC. Other competitions the association is looking to compete in include the Hult Prize, VentureCup held in Denmark, and GStartup held in Silicon Valley.
The S.E.A. is looking for additional team members that can bring innovative ideas to the table. S.E.A. has a bright future at Loyola as we are an ambitious team following our entrepreneurial ideas.
For more information, contact Benjamin Hunt at bthunt@loyola.edu
News from Loyola Notre Dame Library
What is the Cricut Maker?
Did you know that the Library has a Cricut Maker in the Innovation Station? This smart cutting machine uses an array of blade and pen attachments to cut, score, and write precisely on a wide variety of materials, including fabric, vinyl, chipboard, and more! Cricut Maker interfaces with a free software called Design Space to design and create projects. It’s great for cutting out letters and shapes, parts for sewing patterns, and components for 3D projects.
To use the Cricut Maker, sign up for a one-hour training session at the Library. After that, you can check out a kit from the Library’s Help Desk with everything you need to start using Cricut Maker. Visit guides.lndlibrary.org/makerspace to schedule a training appointment, and to learn more about Cricut Maker and the rest of the Innovation Station!
Launch Week Recap
Thanks to all who helped to make our Launch Week a success!
Follow CI&E on Social Media
About CI&E
Email: innovation@loyola.edu
Website: https://www.loyola.edu/innovation
Location: 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210
Phone: (410) 617-5235