Announcing a call for applications for the Erdman Innovation Award Fund 2025

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is pleased to announce a call for applications for the Erdman Innovation Award Fund. The fund was established by Professor Art Erdman to provide support for undergraduate or graduate students in the department seeking to accelerate prototyping projects.

Specifically, the fund provides financial support to undergraduate and graduate students to cover the cost of materials, purchasing components, and other prototyping costs with a preference for projects associated with medical devices. Projects can be independently driven by students or associated with coursework such as an honors thesis, senior design project, or another class requiring prototyping.

Up to $4000 (total) are available from the Innovation Award Fund for prototyping activities in the Fall 2025 semester. Interested students or teams of students should submit a 2-page (single spaced) proposal which (1) summarizes the goal of their design project, (2) overviews the intended device/design solution, and (3) provides a budget and budget justification for the funds. Proposals should be submitted via online form by 10/15/2025.

Awardees are planned to be announced in November.