UBIT Innovative Technologies Award

The UBIT Innovative Technologies Award supports learning opportunities in transformative technology and innovation in digital environments. Two annual awards of up to $1,000* each are given for educational resources and professional development to enhance UBIT Student Assistants’ technical, leadership and problem-solving capacities.

• Educational resources such as hardware or software/applications
• Professional development such as conference, workshop, or course fees

• Develop campus-specific social media & communication apps 

• Develop smart and IOT devices for residence halls and campus apartments 

• Explore virtual reality and extended reality for curricular and co-curricular activities 

• Attend conferences or training

• Use analytics and location engine to determine traffic flow, classroom usage and student dwell time 

Past recipients have been awarded funding for:

• CompTIA A+ certification
• Video equipment
• Blockchain and Ethereum Certification Training
• Development of facial recognition solutions

Students must meet the following criteria for eligibility:

• Current UBIT student assistant in one of the VPCIO areas (EAS, EIS, ISO, ITCE, ITCS, NCS, CIOAO, SPM)
• Full-time UB student
• Student must be in good academic standing, as defined by the Undergraduate academic catalog or Graduate School policies, at the time of application

In addition, a student may only be awarded if:

• The student's proposal can be completed prior to their expected graduation date
• The student agrees to present deliverables for the project they were awarded  

1. Student completes and submits application.
2. Award committee reviews applications for eligibility.
3. Award committee evaluates and scores all eligible applications to determine awardee(s).
4. Award committee contacts awardees(s).
5. Awardees meet with committee and or HR to review disbursement of award and requirements.
6. Awardees complete their project or professional development.
7. Awardees present results/findings and submit copies of relevant project materials to award committee.

Awardees must:

• Submit copies of relevant project materials to ubit-communication@buffalo.edu
• Present the results of their project to the awards committee

UBIT employee mentors may be available to assist with the application and project implementation stage. Mentoring availability will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and will depend on the nature of the project and available resources. Please contact ubit-communication@buffalo.edu for more information about mentoring.

Applicants should not use work hours in the VPCIO area to complete the application process or associated project.