Newsroom

During October 2024, the Academy held our “10(+1) Unconventional Convention,” gathering AIE alumni, students, staff, and faculty for a mix of workshops and networking fun! From waffles and brainstorming with Innovation Fellows to an improvisational movement workshop (and more!), we celebrated years of dedicated (and seriously fun!) work in contributing to UMD’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem—and honoring all the amazing places our alumni have taken their design skills!

Denis Garcia Reyes and Michelle Udeli share how the Transformative Learning Seminar (TLS) reshaped their approach to design, education, and leadership. From reimagining student mindsets to reinventing capstone projects, both educators now center unspoken needs and real-time reflection in their work. Their stories highlight how TLS fosters a mindset of inquiry, empathy, and experimentation—turning everyday challenges into opportunities for creative change.

Anntoinette from the Quantam Startup Foundry participated in the Teaching and Learning Studio at the Stanford d.school (TLS) in summer 2024. The Academy collaborates with design educators at the Stanford d.school to produce TLS. Here's what she had to say about her experience:How has the TLS experience inspired your work or the way you think about your work?

The Innovation Studio @ NOI+F is an ongoing partnership between the National Orchestral Institute and Festival and the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This initiative began back in 2017 to work with the concept of “reimagining the future of the orchestra.” Each year of the program is informed by the prior year and continues to build on this concept and what is learned from each year of experimentation.

How might improv, talking to strangers, and framing problems from the point of view of a squirrel prepare students to tackle Grand Challenges? This semester, Academy team members Christina Hnatov and Erica Estrada-Liou have been working with Gerald Suárez, Martha Wang and the Xperience Program to teach its inaugural course, XPER433, inviting students to come together across disciplines to innovate as they tackle Grand Challenges.