UC students' urban wilderness project receives Neil Armstrong innovation award

When University of Cincinnati first-year biomedical engineering students Sarah Biehl and Kathryn Huster took an Inquiry to Innovation course last fall, their section focused on outdoor leadership. Teams of students researched and proposed recommendations for the Camping and Education Foundation (CEF), a non-profit organization in Cincinnati that offers opportunities for local inner-city youth to explore and appreciate the outdoors.

Students in the Inquiry to Innovation: Urban Wilderness Project developed actionable strategies to fulfill the mission of the CEF: "bring the woods to inner city kids.” The course is part of UC Forward, an academic program promoting trans-disciplinary collaboration that enables students to work on mixed disciplinary teams to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems.
Biehl and Huster’s team created a resource packet that would help the CEF engage UC students and other community members as volunteers, mentors, and other roles. The packet also made research-backed suggestions to expand the foundation’s volunteer program and improve the efficiency of recruitment and training.

“The most rewarding part of the experience was knowing that information we provided the Camping and Education Foundation will help the children and communities get involved in the outdoor programs. Knowing that our work is going somewhere good makes this experience even more satisfying,” Huster said.

Biehl, Huster and their teammates, Sidney Sutton (chemical engineering ’22), and Lisa Barkalow (mechanical engineering ’18), were recognized by the Division of Experience-Based Learning and Career Education for their final project in the Inquiry to Innovation course. They received the 2018 Neil Armstrong Innovation Award, an honor given to a team of outstanding UC students for creating transformative inventions, innovations, or solutions using exemplary teamwork.