HUB XC475 / CFA AR675: Spark! Technology Innovation Fellowship Course

Applications are OPEN for SPRING 2026 | Mondays from 2:30 — 5:15 PM, including required events outside of class time*

If you have a project you want to build or take to the next level but don’t know where to start, XC475 will help you take your project from an idea to a working prototype in one semester. If you don’t have an idea but want to join a student-driven innovation project, this course is for you too. In this course — exclusively for students with a computing and data science or UX design background — you will work through Spark!’s structured product innovation process with technical support from Spark! experts and industry mentors. An application and interviews are required for registration to this course for all prospective students.

This course is taught by Ziba Cranmer, director of Spark!, James Grady, associate professor of graphic design, and Asad Malik, software engineer at the Hariri Institute for computing.

This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following Hub areas: Creativity/ Innovation, Teamwork/ Collaboration, Oral and Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy. Additionally, this course counts toward Innovate@BU’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship minor, and the experience requirement for the College of Engineering’s Technology Innovation Concentration. If you are a CS major, you must get approval from your CS advisor before enrolling in this course (this course is no longer automatically fulfills Group D CS Requirements).

Roles

You can apply to join the course in any of the following roles:

  • Technical Innovator: You have a project idea you want to pursue or a problem you want to solve and you have the relevant technical experience.
  • Technical Teammates: You want to join a team or are already part of a team and you have the relevant technical experience.
  • UX Design Innovator: You have a project idea you want to pursue and you have relevant design experience.
    • Graduate level design students who are accepted will be enrolled in CFA AR675
  • UX Design Teammate: You want to join a team or are already part of a team and you have the relevant design experience.
    • Graduate level design students who are accepted will be enrolled in CFA AR675

Qualifications

  • Technical students should be proficient in a major programming language (Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, C, etc.). Prior software engineering or data science project experience (through classes, internships, hackathons, or personal projects) is strongly preferred. Students are assumed to have the technical skills needed to build their product. 
  • UX design students should be competent in graphic design principles and be proficient in a majority of design software programs (Adobe XD, Sketch, Figma, etc.). 

Students accepted into the program are required to attend six additional mandatory sessions that include pre-semester virtual sessions and one weekend in the first month for a design sprint.

 

Apply Here

Application & Enrollment process

  1. Submit an application.
  2. Add the course to your Class Scheduler (This course required Dept. Permission to apply, you will NOT be able to register yourself.)
    1. We encourage you to register for all of the classes/credits that you need for next semester, which may mean registering for another class until you hear back about XC475.
  3. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. (You are encouraged to apply as early as possible; seats fill up quickly.)
  4. If your application moves forward, you will be invited to schedule an interview with the relevant Spark! team member or complete an assessment. Instructions for how to schedule these inteviews and complete the assessments are sent to you automatically once you submit your application
    1. Innovators must schedule an interview with Ziba Cranmer AND complete either the technical or UX assessment
    2. UX teammates must complete the UX assessment – a series of tasks on Figma.
    3. Technical teammates must complete the tech assessment. See here for the tech assessment:  https://tinyurl.com/xc475assessment   See here for the UX assessment: https://tinyurl.com/XC475-Design-Assessment 
  5. Spark! will notify you of your application status by the following dates, depending on your application and interview date (see timeline below)
  6. If you are accepted into the class, you’ll be notified directly. Once you confirm your acceptance, Spark! will request that you are manually registered into the course by XCC.

    Juniors and seniors will be given priority enrollment. Successful applicants will be registered for the course by Spark! (via XCC). If you are not accepted, we encourage you to reapply next semester.

      Timeline 

      • Round 1
        • 11/11 deadline for interviews & technical submissions
        •  11/17 round 1 update to applicants
      • Round 2
        • 11/25 – Deadline for Round 2  interviews & technical submissions
        • 12/05 –  round 2 update to applicants
      • Final
        • 12/12 – final update to any remaining applicants
        *Course offerings and times are subject to change.