Engage with Spark! as a mentor, judge, or workshop facilitator!

Innovation Mentor

Mentors for the XC475 Innovation Program guide motivated teams of students in the Technology Innovation Program helping students take their projects to the next level. BU Spark! seeks three types of mentors on a rolling basis:

• Innovation coaches are mentors who work with students in the Technology Innovation Program, guiding them through the process of developing a technology product from idea to launch (or minimum viable product). Innovation Coaches have general experience in technology project management or entrepreneurship. UX design experts are also a great fit for this mentoring role. 
• Technical innovation specialists are mentors who guide students through critical issues associated with developing and building out their products.
• Interaction design specialists are mentors who work with students focus on interaction design on behalf of larger student teams. These students collaborate with computer science students by advising and designing the UI and UX of a technical product. These mentors are critical in helping students overcome design barriers.

This engagement opportunity is semester-long (Fall and/or Spring) and is open to mentors who can join us in person OR virtually. The time commitment consists of 7 structured sessions (30-45 min each) + asynchronous or ad-hoc mentoring for your assigned team. 

Demo Day Judge 

Demo Day is a celebratory event  at the end of each semester where students from Spark! X-Lab practicum and Innovation courses showcase the work they’ve done this semester. Students in the XC475 Innovation course use Demo Day to present their student innovation projects that they developed from an idea into a protoype, providing a demo for judges and participants. 

Every semester we recruit volunteers to serves as judges for these innovation projects. We are specifically looking for judges with technical or technology product development experience to evaluate the student projects in the Innovation Fellowship Program. 

Code & Tell Judge

Code & Tell is Spark!’s version of an open-mic night for BU’s builders, coders, and dreamers. We invite students to share their side projects, prototype, or ideas with an audience of peers and industry ‘judges’. The goal is for students to connect with one other, leave feeling inspired to create, and get feedback on their work from industry professionals. As a Code & Tell judge, you would provide feedback to presenters and help award prizes that uplift the work done by these budding innovators. 

Hackathon Opportunities

BU Spark! hosts two hackathons year, each with their own unique theme and opportunity for students to learn and explore. At these hackathon, students collaborate in teams to solve a specific problem or develop a project idea — all in under 24 hours! We rely on volunteers from industry to provide our students with mentorship and feedback on their projects during the hackathon weekend. 

In October we run the DS+X Hackathon where DS+X stands for Data Science + X: where X is any domain, discipline, or challenge you want to explore. In February we host CivicHacks a Hackathon with a focus on Civic Tech. 

We know your interests and availability vary, so we ask that you provide your interest for each hackathon.

• Mentors
  • Mentors are needed mostly on Saturdays of each hackathon – when students are really digging into their projects – to provide technical support, guidance on how to approach a particular issues, or support getting their idea locked in. We need mentors who are technical and/or subject matter experts.
    • Technical – Assist teams with coding, data analysis, UX/UI, and technical problem-solving
    • Subject Matter Experts– Provide expertise in fields relevant to our hackathon tracks, helping teams refine ideas and align them with real-world challenges.

• Judges
  • Judges are needed on Sunday of each hackathon to review final submissions using a provided rubric collectively determine which teams win in each category. Students will submit their projects via Devpost for review and do a brief live demo for a panel of judges. We need judges that span technical and various subject matter areas to evaluate hackathon projects on their ideas, design, application of technical techniques, technical prototype, ethics, and presentation. The composition of judges needed will reflect the hackathon theme and tracks.

Speaker or Workshop Facilitator

Throughout the year there are various opportunities for external community members and volunteers to engage with students through a workshop or lecture. We know that Spark! can’t be the expert on all things, which is why we need volunteers from across different sectors with various skills to facilitate learning. These speaker opportunities may be at our weekly TechTalks (Every Wednesday 6:30-7:30), during a Hackathon (Saturday, time is flexible), or as a guest lecturer in one of our classes.

If you are interested in engaging with Spark! as a mentor, judge, or speaker, please indicate your interest HERE and our team will be in touch as the opportunities arise. Please email buspark@bu.edu if you have additional questions.