DEBUT Challenge for Undergraduate Student working on Health and Clinical Problems – US

DEBUT challenges teams of students in undergraduate biomedical education to solve real-world problems in healthcare.

Strong DEBUT submissions will demonstrate a mastery of analytical and design skills and capabilities; the ability to manage the product development process; the ability to work effectively in teams; and technical communication skills.

Prizes

Eleven DEBUT prizes (plus honorable mentions) will be awarded. Prize categories and amounts are listed below.

NIBIB-sponsored prizes include:

• First prize: The Steven H. Krosnick Prize: $20,000
• Second prize: $15,000
• Third prize: $10,000
• HIV/AIDS Prize: $15,000, awarded with funds from the NIH Office of AIDS Research to the most meritorious entry developing engineering-based/technological solutions to current HIV/AIDS prevention and/or health care problems.
• Healthcare Technologies for Low-Resource Settings Prize: $15,000, awarded with funds from the National Institute of Minority and Health Disparities to the most meritorious entry developing technology solutions to meet the healthcare needs of underrepresented populations or to advance healthcare in low-resource settings. (Low resources settings are limited to settings located in the United States, U.S. territories or possessions.)
• Technologies for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis or Treatment Prize for $15,000, awarded with funds from the National Cancer Institute to the most meritorious entry developing technology solutions that address unmet needs in the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer, to reduce incidence of cancer or improve survival and quality of life for cancer patients; or enhance the performance, cost-effectiveness, applicability, availability or accessibility of existing cancer-related technologies. Rehabilitative and Assistive Technologies Prize for $15,000, awarded with funds from the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the most meritorious entry developing technology solutions that address the functional and healthcare needs of people with physical disabilities.
• Technologies to Empower Nurses in Community Settings Prize for $15,000, awarded with funds from the National Institute of Nursing Research to the most meritorious entry to address problems faced by nurses in community settings where they engage in prevention, treatment and care, such as schools and workplaces, homes, and long-term care facilities, justice settings or other settings throughout the community.
• New! Kidney Technology Development Prize for $15,000, awarded with funds from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to the most meritorious entry to develop ground-breaking solutions to problems faced by people with kidney diseases, their families, nephrologists, and other care providers.
• Additionally, five Honorable Mentions will be awarded with prizes of $1,000 each.
• All NIH prize winners will be offered commercialization training.
• VentureWell-sponsored prizes include:
  • Venture prize: $15,000
  • Design Excellence prize: $5,000
• These prizes are made possible with support from The Lemelson Foundation, in partnership with IEEE EMBS, the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and the Council of Chairs of Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering Programs.

Rules for Participation for NIBIB Prizes

• To be eligible to win a prize under this Challenge, an individual must be a member of a “Student Team” as described below, and each individual of a “Student Team”:
  • Must be an undergraduate student enrolled full-time in an undergraduate curriculum during at least one full semester (or quarter if the institution is on a quarter system) of the 2023-2024 academic year;
  • Must form or join a “Student Team” with at least two and not more than seven other individuals for the purpose of developing an entry for submission to this Challenge. (Therefore, Student Teams must include between three and eight individuals.) Each student on the Student Team must satisfy all the requirements for competing in this Challenge. Interdisciplinary teams including students from different departments/colleges are welcome and encouraged to enter the challenge. For submissions from institutions that have a biomedical engineering or bioengineering department, at least one student on the team must be majoring in biomedical engineering or bioengineering. The requirement of at least one biomedical engineering or bioengineering major is waived for student teams from institutions without a formal biomedical engineering or bioengineering department;
  • Shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. Non-U.S. citizen or non-U.S. permanent-resident students who are studying in the United States are eligible to be part of the competing Student Teams. However, they will not receive a monetary prize if they are part of a winning Student Team. See Prize section below for the distribution of prizes. As acknowledgement of their participation, however, the names of non-U.S. citizen or non-U.S. permanent-resident students who are part of winning Student Teams will be listed among the winning team members when results are announced and at the award ceremony.
  • Must be a member of only one Student Team;
  • Must be 13 years of age or older. Individuals who are younger than 18 must have their parent or legal guardian.
  • Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in this announcement;
  • May not be a Federal entity or federal employee acting within the scope of their employment;
  • May not be a Federal employee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or any other component of HHS, acting in their personal capacity;
  • Who is employed by a Federal agency or entity other than HHS (or any component of HHS), should consult with an agency Ethics Official to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a prize under this (DEBUT) Challenge;
  • May not be a judge of the Challenge, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Challenge or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, step-parent, child, or step-child);
• Each Student Team must appoint a “Team Captain” to carry out all correspondence regarding the Student Team’s entry. The Team Captain must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. Correspondence by other members of the Student Team or by faculty sponsors will not be considered to be official correspondence on behalf of the Student Team.
• Each entry into this Challenge must have been conceived, designed, and implemented by the Student Team without any significant contribution from other individuals.
• Entries that have been submitted to the DEBUT Challenge in prior years may be submitted again, by the same team, only if they have not won any prizes in the past.
• Students or student teams who have won DEBUT prizes in the past may enter the Challenge again with a different entry, but not the one that won a prize in a previous DEBUT Challenge.
• Federal grantees may not use Federal funds to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions.
• Federal contractors may not use Federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submission.
• Submissions must not infringe upon any copyright or any other rights of any third party.

For more information, visit VentureWell.