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Past USD Social Innovation Challenge Awards
In 2014, the Social Innovation Challenge awarded $73,500 to eight outstanding projects.
Eight (8) student winners were awarded $73,500 from University of San Diego (USD), Point Loma Nazarene University
(PLNU), San Diego City College (SDCC), San Diego State University (SDSU), University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
at the 2014 Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) Awards Ceremony on May 2, 2014. A total of 115 applicants and 52 semi­
finalist produced sixteen (16) finalists, chosen to compete with a live pitch in front of a diverse group of judges. There
were eight (8) winning teams out of the sixteen (16) finalists.
The SIC final judges were represented by:
Jenny Craig (Founder, Jenny Craig Inc.)
Siyamak Khorrami (Founder & President, SkyRiver I.T.)
Ned McMahon (Founder & CEO Primo Wind Inc.)
Keith Muhart (Director of Marketing, Qualcomm Ventures)
Peg Ross (Vice President, Global Human Resources & Organization Development, PCI Global)
Kapil Sharma (Senior Managing Director, North America, Tata Sons Ltd.)
Teresa Smith (SIC 2012 & 2013 winner)
Necla Tschirgi (USD Professor of Practice, Human Security & Peacebuilding)
Michelle Weinger (CPC Executive Advisory Board Member)
Peter Zahn (Moxie Foundation)
Additionally, all finalists received the opportunity to crowd fund on our partner Indiegogo page. Winners were given the
opportunity to apply to Connect's Springboard and to enter into the EvoNexus incubator.
2013 Awards
2012 Awards
2011 Awards
Rice Pollution Solution, Abdalla Almulla, Miluska Garcia, Chase
Mcquarrie, Clay Mosolino (Prize Money: $20,000)
The team of Rice Pollution Solution strive for reduction of heavy metals in rice to lower the potential
of cancer and to improve food quality throughout the world by implementing a retention pool on the top terrace of rice
paddies.

2. Read Rice Pollution Solution's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch Rice Pollution Solution's pitch video.
View Rice Pollution Solution's Roadmap to Success.
Green Room, Eric Cross (Prize Money: $15,000)
Eric Cross envisioned, Green Room, an out­of­the­box learning environment that provides
underprivileged students with the advanced resources needed to develop green technology projects
in their neighborhood by inspiring students to explore STEM fields.
Read Green Room's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch Green Room's pitch video.
View Green Room's Roadmap to Success.
Memoria, Laura Calderon, Jorge Lison (Prize Money: $5,000)
Calderon and Lison know about undocumented crime victims in Mexico. Their idea, memoria, is to
create a secure web­application specially designed for collecting data on victims of violence and
human abuses in Mexico in order to help victims document crime and hold authorities accountable.
Read Memoria's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch Memoria's pitch video.
View Memoria's Roadmap to Success.
G.R.O.W.I.N.G., Andrew Rae (Prize Money: $5,000)
Andrew Rae's idea, G.R.O.W.I.N.G., is a dynamic job placement program, which offers culturally
appropriate opportunities to refugee farmers and entrepreneurs from Burma living in San Diego
who may otherwise be unemployable in the region.
Read G.R.O.W.I.N.G's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch G.R.O.W.I.N.G's pitch video.

3. View G.R.O.W.I.N.G.'s Roadmap to Success.
Pacific CleanTech, James Pendarvis, Benjamin Patterson (Prize
Money: $5,000)
Pacific CleanTech is a veteran owned and operated sustainable solutions company with a mission to
create jobs for veterans through assisting businesses in becoming more environmentally sustainable.
Read Pacific Clean Tech's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch Pacific Clean Tech's pitch video.
View Pacific Clean Tech's Roadmap to Success.
2014 San Diego Track Winners
W.E. Do Good, Alex Nogle, Darla Rossi, Ezequiel Galindo, Ryan
Medina, Robert Schneider, and Kevin Semo (Prize Money: $10,000)
Rossi and Schneider's idea, W.E. Do Good, is developing an extremely affordable, portable, and durable mechanical
thesher to improve the difficult, time­consuming, unsanitary, and resource­inefficient harvesting of teff for farmers in
Ethiopia.
Read W.E. Do Good's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch W.E. Do Good's pitch video.
View W.E. Do Good's Roadmap to Success.
Vena, John Walsh, Tim Perry, Zac Fowler (Prize Money: $10,000 &
$1,000 Social Global Mobile Live Audience Choice Award)
Vena, is a low­cost, scalable, zero energy water harvester for developing regions lacking access to
potable water. A biomimetic design modeled after the cacti, it uses differences between below and above ground
temperatures to trigger a dew point.
Read Vena's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch Vena's pitch video.
View Vena's Roadmap to Success.

4. Art Without a Roof, Mitchell Gilbert, Matthew Wayne, Ryan Zomorodi
(Prize Money: $2,500)
Art Without a Roof provides socially conscious people with apparel if used with creative designs
from artists impacted by homelessness. Profits are cycled back to fund education and art therapy for
the youth without a roof.
Read Art Without a Roof's answers to the five Round 1 questions.
Watch Art Without a Roof's pitch video.
View Art Without a Roof's Roadmap to Success.
2014 Awards Ceremony
2014 SIC's Awards Ceremony was held on Friday, May 2, 2014 in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace &
Justice Theatre.
The opportunity to meet finalists in the Rotunda started at 4:00 p.m. followed at 4:30 p.m with the Awards Ceremony
Program of Finalists Pitches, $72,500 Awards, and the $1,000 Social Global Mobile Live Audience Choice Award in
the Theatre. The ceremony was followed by a Networking Reception in USD's Garden of the Sea.
The event was curated by Cheryl K. Goodman, Founder & CEO of Social Global Mobile, LLC. The Spotlight speaker
was Emily Moberly, Founder and CEO of Traveling Stories.
Cheryl K. Goodman
Emily Moberly
Following 1.5 minute pitches from each
finalist, Social Global Mobile sponsored a
Live Audience Choice Award. In addition

5. to that, Qualcomm Ventures sponsored
eight Toq Smartwatches to eight finalists
as part of a raffle. The awards
presentation was followed by networking
with our community of supporters
including representatives from Connect,
EvoNexus, and San Diego Social Venture
Partners as well as our judges, mentors,
Executive Advisory Board members, and
SIC participants.