About
OVERVIEW
The mission of the Minority Innovation Challenges Institute (MICI) is to create a virtual training ground where minority undergraduate students learn how to compete in NASA technical challenges for both prestige and significant cash prizes. This NASA funded program, which is managed by Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU), provides a year-round virtual conference platform where students from across the country can participate in free interactive educational sessions of their choosing. Many of the sessions will focus on competitions found within NASA’s Centennial Challenges program, which provides cash prizes ranging from $50,000 to $2 million to individuals/teams that can achieve specific technical accomplishments. In addition to Centennial Challenges, students will also learn how to complete in other NASA sponsored competitions created specifically for Universities.
PARTICIPATION
The NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute seeks to train and mentor minority undergraduate students. Participation is open to any undergraduate student located within the United States who is currently majoring in a field of study relating to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Students are welcome to attend as many online educational sessions as they desire, and there are no fees or costs associated with participation. In addition, university faculty members are also welcome to attend these sessions so they can take such information back to their classrooms.
TYPES OF CHALLENGES
MICI focuses on two types of NASA sponsored challenges which include (a) Centennial Challenges and (b) University focused Challenges. Examples of such challenges can be found on the Challenges page of this site. The two types of Challenges covered by MICI include:
- Centennial Challenges
This is NASA’s program for the Citizen Inventor. It seeks to: (1) Encourage the participation of independent teams, individual inventors, student groups and private companies of all sizes in aerospace research and development. (2) Find the most innovative solutions to technical challenges through competition and cooperation, and (3) Drive progress in aerospace technology of value to NASA’s missions Centennial Challenges is modeled after numerous historic exploration contests including the Orteig Prize won by Charles Lindbergh and the Ansari X Prize won by Burt Rutan. Each competition has a detailed set of rules and specific technological thresholds identified to be achieved. Those best performing individuals/teams that can meet such thresholds are awarded cash prizes ranging from $50,000 to $2 million depending on the contest. For more information about Centennial Challenges visit the NASA website
- University Focused Challenges
NASA also operates a number of different technical challenges which are specifically focused on Universities. These Challenges provide national recognition and sometimes small cash prizes to the winning teams/students. Such competitions include the Fundamental Aeronautics Student Competition for Colleges/Universities, The NASA University Student Launch Initiative, University Business Plan Contest for Engineering Technology, and the Great Moonbuggy Race.
VIRTUAL CONFERENCE FORMAT
Educational session delivered through MICI are conducted via a year-round virtual conference. Once a student registers with MICI they have access to attend any educational session within the program. There is no requirement to signup for specific offerings. The initial registration provides a student with a year-round all-access pass to all MICI content. All presentations will be conducted live and students will have the opportunity to interact with the presenter and ask questions. At the conclusion of each presentation, a video recording of the proceeding will be archived and available for all registrants on a 24/7 on-demand basis. A calendar of upcoming MICI presentations can be viewed by visiting the Schedule page on this site. MICI plans to profile at least 1 different technical challenge each month and follow the monthly opening session with presentations from 3-4 different subject matter experts during the remainder of the month.
REGISTRATION
Registration to MICI is always open throughout the year. There are no cut-off dates because new content is being featured each month. To register, simply visit the Registration page of this site. The process is simple and should only take a few minutes to complete.
