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Classes

Innovate to Grow has grown to encompass three signature threads of our campus' innovation culture:

  1. Engineering Capstone - CAP (also known as Innovation Design Clinic)

  2. Engineering Service Learning - ESL

  3. Software Capstone - CSE (formerly known as Mobile App Challenge, MAC)

You can read a brief summary of each of our unique and exciting programs below or click on the left side menu links for a more detailed description.

(Click on the links for the current year's Capstone team descriptions or for our Teams Archive | Program Book Archive)

 

Innovation Design Clinic

The Innovation Design Clinic (IDC) takes place in engineering majors' senior years and involves groups of teams pulling and integrating all their coursework into one grand project challenge during the Capstone course experience. The capstone team projects take a variety of forms, such as:

  • Industry-inspired projects
  • Work for nonprofits
  • Ideas that might become small businesses
  • Work for government labs

The hard work that goes into senior design projects culminates in a rigorous competition during Innovate to Grow.

Engineering Service Learning

This UC Merced’s cornerstone engineering experience, designed to expose first-year students to the power of engineering; and, through continuing partnerships with local nonprofits, design meaningful solutions to the challenges they face.  The unique opportunities presented by the Engineering Service Learning program are:

  • Participation by students from all majors and grade levels
  • Spans the course of a student's undergraduate career
  • Developing ties to their communities through relationships with local nonprofits

Mobile App Challenge

The Mobile App Challenge encourages students to develop innovative mobile applications for today’s most pressing societal needs. Team projects take one of two forms:

  • Apps inspired by five focus areas: healthcare, energy, the environment, education and civic engagement. Teams are asked to design apps that support some of CITRIS's main goals and help better the world. 

  • Other teams showcase their projects from the Software Engineering CSE 120 course, such as games that can be played on smart phones and tablets.

Our Innovate to Grow event experiences draws in more than 300 people from industry, the community and K-12 schools, plus, of course, our UC Merced students and faculty and staff members.

You can check out the Innovate to Grow Teams archives here.

Any questions or comments, send us a note.