As the Class of 2021 transitions to life beyond campus, there are a number of people sharing in their joy. As an integral part of Spark!, alumni reached out to offer words of wisdom for the more than 150 members of the Spark! family who turned their tassels. Congratulations to you Firestarters, the BU Spark! […]
Demo Day concluded a semester of perseverance and dedication by the students that continuously set the bar when it comes to innovation and exploration: Spark! Fellows and X-Lab students. With the addition of the Justice Media co-Lab competing for the Audience Choice Award for X-Lab projects, the Boston University community witnessed all aspects of what’s […]
“Stay involved with Spark!. Mentor for the Innovation Fellows and the X-Lab. They’re a lot of fun, and you get to see familiar faces!” Mark Bestavros graduated from Boston University in 2019 and earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Science in Computer Science. Currently, Mark is a software engineer at Red Hat. A […]
Looking back on 2020 and how the Spark! community rallied together, one of the highlights is easily NextTech. The two-day event allowed our student innovators and technology’s most influential leaders to come together and explore how emerging technologies can help solve real-world problems. Whether it was through panel discussions, mini-workshops, or the networking opportunities, students […]
In a whirlwind of a year that could’ve gotten to the best of us, Demo Day was a reminder that the Spark! community is just as resilient as ever. Every one of the participants demonstrated perseverance in the face of adversity. How else do you explain how they spent an entire semester developing fully functioning […]
2020 magnified several faults in our system that have existed for ages — xenophobia, racism, classism, among countless other defects. A single hackathon paved the way to addressing those issues head on. Spark!’s Resiliency Challenge allowed students, mentors, partners and alike from around the globe to develop innovation which addresses challenges associated with COVID-19. Project […]
A rescinded job offer, graduation plans cancelled and little to zero social contact – can leave even the most positive people – at a loss. This was the case for computer science graduate student and Spark! software engineering TA, Asad Malik. “What I noticed was that a lot of my friends were going through similar […]
Machine learning, coding, software engineering – all concepts related to Spark!, but the real moving parts that keep Spark! going can’t be coded or prototyped. Students and faculty are at the heart of the process, and you don’t know enough about Spark! if you don’t know the name Dharmesh Tarapore – BU alum and Spark!’s […]
The Resiliency Challenge was a nine-week, virtual hackathon, with three-week sprint challenges aimed at catalyzing student innovation in response to the unprecedented situation facing colleges and communities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The goal was to bring the talents of the university technology community together with subject matter experts to envision, design, develop, […]
An entire semester of time, dedication, and innovation resulted in Demo Day. A shift to an online platform did not stop BU Spark!’s community from attending Demo Day to support our students and their projects. The presence of 185 participants at Demo Day was a touching reminder that the Spark! community remains as strong and […]