List of previous innovations

If you notice any updates that need to be made to the table below, please let us know at madisontrust@jmu.edu.

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This table showcases a comprehensive list of past projects from 2014 to the present. The table includes the name of the project, the college(s) and/or department(s) responsible, a brief project summary, and the year presented at Madison Trust.
Project College(s) Department(s) Project Summary Year
The 21st Century Federalist Papers Project (Tim LaPira) CAL Political Science

JMU APRILab students Produce public-facing digital “explainer” campaigns – the modern equivalent of Madison’s 18th Century Federalist Papers – to raise public awareness of innovative nonpartisan solutions to significant, real-world democratic problems.

2023
JMU ArtsMobile (Benjamin Guerrero, Anna Smith) CVPA Office of Creative Propulsion

Help communities throughout (and beyond) the Shenandoah Valley engage with JMU’s exemplary arts and design programs in ways local communities find meaningful.

2023
Your Address Shouldn't Limit Your Opportunities: STEM for All (Kerry Cresawn) CISE Center for STEM Education and Outreach

JMU STEM Center to expand after school program to provide weekly, year-long, and high-impact STEM experiences to 450 children each year.

2023
Establishing the Open-Source Tradecraft Exploratory Lab (OSTEL) (Philip Baxter) CISE Intelligence Anaylsis

Provide students with resources, training, and active learning opportunities in open source intelligence and its collection to identify and leverage a broad array of real world problem set data.

2023
Radio Show about the Local Environment (Tim Thomas, Ryan Alessi) COE Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities

"Shenandoah Valley Ever Green" is an hour-long radio program that spearheads environmental education efforts in the Valley.

2023
Think Outside the Trash! (Marigona Gashi) CAL Communication and Advocacy (SCOM) Teach children in Kosovo about their agency in shaping the envionrmental future of their country. 2023
Strive for STEM (Parama Chaudhuri, Andrew Jackson) COE Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities

Bring together practicing STEM teachers at the 5th and 6th grade level with pre-service teachers and STEM majors at JMU.

2023
Digital Interventions to Mitigate Misinformation on Social Media (Chen Guo, Nan Zheng, Chengqi Guo) CAL Media Arts & Design Design and test warning mecahnisms to improve misinformation mitigation solutions to help social media users with low media literacy. 2023
Launching a Space Biology Research Program at JMU (Jaira Ferreira de Vasconcellos) CSM Biology Launch and establish a novel space biology research program at JMU focusing on bone biology. 2023
Teachers Debate Institute (Nelson Girinshuti) Office of the President Office of the President Train teachers to coach debate and create the right enviornment for building democratic ideas and values among Rwandan students. 2023
Appropriate Technology in Rural Health Innovation (Modjadji Choshi) CHBS Nursing Development of a culturally integrated educational program for rural South African villages addressing common health concerns related to Western societal influences. 2022
Be Seen, Be Heard (Cannie Campbell) University Advancement Women for Madison Development of a series of podcasts addressing everyday challenges and issues featuring JMU alumni and friends. 2022
Chronic Cough Suppression Therapy Device (Keith Holland) Research & Scholarship Further development of wearable technology designed to suppress chronic cough issues. 2022
Constructs of Local Knowledge (Nicholas Brinen) CVPA Architectural Design Collaborating with State Forestry and Public Works to repurpose otherwise discarded lumber into meaningful public projects. 2022
CPR Music (Michael Stewart) CISE/CVPA Computer Science & Music Development of a free web-based music making and learning interface for K-12 students. 2022
Expanding the Living Laboratory on East Campus (Wayne Teel) CISE Integrated Sciences Expansion of the meadow and improvements to the food forest, pollinator beds and handicapped access in the outdoor laboratory area. 2022
FYRE: First Year and Transfer Student Research Experience Program (Meredith Malburne-Wade) Research & Scholarship Identifying mentored research opportunities for underserved students, specifically first year undergraduates and transfer students. 2022
JMU Veteran and Military Student Center (JMU VALOR) (Tim Miller) Student Affairs Improving JMU support systems and recognition for Veteran, Dependent and Active Military students. 2022
Virtual Reality Video Game for Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VG-VRT) (Jonathan Spindel) CISE Integrated Sciences Development of a virtual reality interface to assist patients with balance issues in completing rehabilitation exercises. 2022
Writing for the Future (Carol Fleming) School of Professional & Continuing Education Mentoring immigrant & refugee high school students in professional writing and job search skills. 2022
Africa Supply Chain (William Ritchie) COB Business Warehousing and shipping of durable medical equipment to African nations where it can be repurposed. 2021
BizLab Phase 2 (Abigail Christophel) COB Business, Computer Information Systems Having laid out consistent project processes, the next phase of growth is effectively refining those processes with an end goal of becoming fully self-sustaining. 2021
Call the Midwife (Heather Soper) CHBS Nursing In home collaborative mid-wife care for local patients utilizing School of Nursing students. 2021
Collaborative Pedagogies (Emily York) CISE ISAT Support for a series of small workshops with faculty participants from humanities, social sciences, science, and engineering, to collaboratively develop mutually informed teaching modules oriented toward imagining and building more just futures at the intersection of science, technology, and society (STS). 2021
Global Learning (Felix Wang) Center for Global Engagement The Center for Global Engagement (CGE) at JMU is tasked with helping students develop capacities they need to enter the workplace and society and to successfully collaborate with people from a wide array of backgrounds and experiences. 2021
Madison Community Consultants (Nicholas Swartz) Professional & Continuing Education Assist with business process realignments to align with the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic business restrictions. 2021
MeshSAT (Jonathan Spindel) CISE ISAT Development and deployment of a low orbit network of satellites more affordable for small business use. 2021
Precious Plastics (Jared Stoltzfus) CISE ISAT
Since the primary barrier to plastic recycling is the higher cost relative to virgin materials, to increase plastic recycling requires approaches that minimize production costs, and can use plastics without significant sorting and cleaning which adds cost to recycling. This project explores innovative solutions to plastic recycling.
2021
Trash to Treasure: Part 2 (Jared Stoltzfus) CISE ISAT Recycling and repurposing of styrofoam into a lightweight and lower cost building material. 2021
Wellness 360 (Sharon Maiewski) CHBS Nursing Offering holistic health solutions for the homeless using School of Nursing students. 2021
Animal Monitoring (Katrina Goebetz) CSM Biology The Animal Monitoring Data Station is an innovation to reduce overhead and risk during the collection of data on small mammals. 2020
Beyond the Valley (Katie Sensabaugh) Center for Global Engagement The Valley Scholars program was designed to provide educational opportunities that inspire and motivate area high school students to be leaders in the classroom and community. At the Center for Global Engagement (CGE), we want to take that a step further by producing leaders not just in the classroom and the community, but in the world. 2020
Broadband Radio Wave (Giovanna Scarel) CSM Physics & Astronomy This Project's aim is to build the prototype for a radio wave energy harvester, capable of capturing radio waves in the 100 MHz to 1 GHz frequency range. The radio wave energy harvester will transform that energy into electricity. 2020
Gus Bus (Jolynne Bartley) CHBS
The Gus Bus mobile classroom program seeks funding to purchase 25 iPads for elementary-aged students to use while on the Gus Bus.
2020
Healthy Families (Yvonne Frazier) CHBS Healthy Families connects JMU to the rural communities of Page and Shenandoah Counties. The program will support home visiting services that not only benefit the families in the program but also act as experiential learning opportunities for JMU students. 2020
Mad for STEM (Kerry Cresawn) CSM, CISE & COE STEM Center Seeking funds to develop a state-wide JMU STEM Camp: a week-long summer day camp for middle school students from low-income communities. This camp will be an innovative way to increase the accessibility to STEM in Virginia while also serving as a strategy for recruiting from regions under-represented at JMU. 2020
Next Generation Energy (Masoud Kaveh) CSM Physics & Astronomy Proposal for an innovative design for the next generation of energy storage devices that can replace traditional lithium-ion batteries. 2020
Paralympic Skill Lab (Cathy McKay) CHBS Kinesiology By shifting the paradigm through which students view disability and disability sport, the stereotypes and social norms that guide student behaviors, attitudes, and decisions can be challenged, and a sense of responsibility for both self and community can be developed. 2020
Rebound (Brad Jenkins) CAL Studies and anecdotal evidence show that college students are less resilient and able to deal with failure now than in the past. We propose one way to increase student resiliency at the university. 2020
WILD (Cannie Campbell) Women in Leadership Development Steering Committee WILD aims to cultivate women in leadership, professional development, career preparation and philanthropic interests. 2020
Brew House Bridge (Samuel Morton) CISE Engineering Upgrade to the campus academic brewery operation to state of the art equipment to allow students to develop skills they can utilize working in Virginia's craft brewery industry. 2019
Campus Pantry (Livvy Call) Student Affairs On JMU's campus, there are students going hungry. Food, housing and basic needs insecurity increases for historically marginalized populations such as students of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, nontraditional students, and veterans. 2019
Madison Civic Leadership (Windi Turner) University Programs Outreach & Engagement It is rare for an academic program to be designed specifically around the broad set of interdisciplinary skills and competencies needed to effectively engage local and state government within the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Madison Civic Leadership Series seeks to become this resource for Virginia's adult learners. 2019
Creating Community Relationships (Emily Parsons) Hospitality, Sport & Recreation This proposed learning activity and collaboration will allow for more students to have the ability to learn the skills to plan and execute an event while engaging with multiple community partners. 2019
History more Colorful (Zack Bortolot) CISE Geography This project will expand on realistically colorizing historical black and white imagery and creating 3D models from them. 2019
Learning by Giving (Laura Hunt Trull) CHBS Social Work Allowing students in the JMU Grant Writing for Agencies course to partner with a local non-profit organization to write a grant proposal. 2019
Madison Garden (Wayne Teel) CISE ISAT This project will help to establish a garden "lab" near the ISAT building that will allow students to work on projects relating to agriculture, agroforestry and land management within a convenient distance from the classroom. 2019
Smart Surfaces (Klebert Feitosa) CSM Physics & Astronomy This project seeks to develop technology that can harvest clean energy from ocean, river and air currents with smart devices that mechanically adapt to flow conditions by changing its surface pattern on demand. 2019
Think Madison! (Laura Desportes) COE Education Think College is a national organization dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving inclusive higher education options for people with intellectual disability. This project would allow JMU to become one of three schools in Virginia with a Think College program. 2019
Trash to Treasure (Jared Stoltzfus) CISE ISAT Expanded polystyrene (EPS), commonly called Styrofoam, is well known for its high insulating value, but creates serious challenges as a waste product and there are few recycling programs available nationwide. 2019
Alumni Legacy (Cannie Campbell) University Advancement A program to engage alumni with children entering the college search process in an effort to educate the families and increase their comfort with the college search process as well as introduce them to the JMU Admissions process. 2018
Chronic Cough Suppression (Kamarunas, Holland & Ludlow) CISE & CHBS Communication Sciences & Disorders, Engineering The project, named MediValley, is creating a device that aims to suppress chronic coughing in adults. 2018
CIRCLE - Caring for Immigrant and Refugee Children's Learning Experiences (Vesna Hart) Academic Affairs Center for Global Engagement, Academic Affairs The CIRCLE project will inspire local teachers and JMU education students to mindfully design learning experiences that cultivate students' ability to live successfully in a globally diverse community. 2018
Madison Online Marketing (Theresa Clarke) COB Marketing The Madison Online Marketing Challenge (MOMC) is a replication and extension of the Google Online Marketing Challenge global competition, but held at the university level. 2018
Math Connection (Paul Warne) CSM Mathematics & Statistics JMU Mathematics Connections Theater is using the power of the arts to help connect students to mathematics and raise the curtain on prevailing attitudes . 2018
Mindful Connection (Marsha Mays-Bernard) Student Affairs Wellness, Orientation & Multicultural Engagement
Our students are often more connected to screens than they are to each other. JMU's Initiative for Contemplative Study and Practice has been working to address this by integrating mindfulness meditation and other practices into classes and programs.
2018
Personalized Prosthetics (Callie Miller) CISE Engineering This project will advance the field of prosthetics by exploring and advancing 3D printed productions for medical purposes such as splints, braces and prosthetics. 2018
Small Animal Data Station (Katrina Goebetz) CSM & CISE Biology, Engineering Research by a wide variety of organizations requires the trapping of small animals. We developed a bait station which allows us to weigh, measure, and photograph trap visitors while allowing mammals to enter and exit at will. 2018
STEM Outreach Next Level (Kerry Cresawn) CSM Biology This is a self-designed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) outreach program that reaches 1,000 children per year in the Shenandoah Valley while also engaging JMU students with the highest needs populations in our community. 2018
Talent & Targets (Joyce Krech) COB Small Business Development A key to success for new entrepreneurs and small businesses is "to be found” by having an up-to-date, engaging Web presence paired with targeted branding. These marketing tools, while recognized as essential, can be a challenging budget issue for new businesses. 2018
App for Child Education (Oris Griffin) CISE & COE ISAT, Education Development of a mobile app for the Explore More Discovery Museum in downtown Harrisonburg. 2017
Biomimicry Structures (Hao Zhang) CISE ISAT Exploring the possibility of designing high raw cost parts (made from stainless steel or titanium) utilizing 3D printing technology. 2017
Camp Kenya (Michelle Cude) COE Education Construction of a small camp at a girl's school in Kenya to provide accomodations for visiting students and faculty. 2017
Cognitive Proclivity (Jonathan Keller) CAL Political Science Proposal to develop a Cognitive Proclivity Module that can be administered to intelligence analysts to help them and their superiors better understand their cognitive proclivities and likely blindspots in the realm of estimating probabilities, assessing cause-effect linkages, and making forecasts. 2017
Community History (Kevin Borg) CAL History Creation of a community webtool for visualizing historic maps, images, and stories associated with specific locations. 2017
Computer Science Pipeline (Dee Weikle) CISE Computer Science Outreach effort to middle and high school girls to recruit and retain more women and women of diversity into computer science majors. 2017
Connect Hub 2.0 (Elise Barrella) CISE Engineering A web platform designed to help students, faculty, alumni and the community to collaborate on project ideas, allowing team members from various disciplines and careers to innovate for social good. 2017
Female Spatial Ability (Diane Wilcox) COE Education Development of an educational Virtual Reality application without gender bias that will provide students with experience visualizing complex concepts and solving 3-dimensional puzzles. 2017
Food Literacy (Mikaela Schmitt-Harsh) University Studies IDLS Develop and establish a local food forest, a food production system that is self-sustaining and low maintenance, to benefit JMU and the community. 2017
Virtual Worlds (Carol Dudding) CHBS Communication Sciences & Disorders Development of an innovative virtual simulation lab in the College of Health & Behavioral Studies allowing educators to design interactive simulations for students with no risk to actual patients. 2017
ARES (James Herrick) CSM Biology Authentic Research in Epidemiology for Students (ARES) wish to expand lab opportunities for students to partner with the FDA to identify Salmonella strands and to be available to crowdsource research into potential outbreaks. 2016
Brain Plasticity (Mark Gabriele) CSM Biology Increasing research on brain flexiblity to improve hearing disabilities in a cost effective manner. 2016
Brewing & Distilling (Samuel Morton) CISE Engineering Creation of a Center for Brewing and Distilling to enhance support and collaboration within Virginia's booming brewing industry. 2016
Camp in Kenya (Michelle Cude) COE Education Construction of a small camp at a girl's school in Kenya to provide accomodations for visiting students and faculty. 2016
Pathogenic Bacteria (Seifert) CSM Biology, Chemistry, Physics Using chemistry, physics and biology to create a more effective antibacterial agent. 2016
Restorative Justice (Josh Bacon) Student Affairs Campus Community Restorative Justice Initiative to work toward community solutions for student transgressions while growing in empathy and understanding. 2016
Rocktown Music Lab (David Stringham) CVPA Music A community center for a diverse student population that would reach outside of traditional music education, with the help of JMU student-teachers. 2016
Rural Mental Health (Schulte, Stewart & Marcopulos) CHBS Psychology Improving rural mental health by establishing an integrated Behavior Health and Primary Care Internship and Residency to benefit the community and students by offering a rural residency in the Shenandoah Valley. 2016
Solar System (Jennifer Mangan) COE & CSM IDLS Development of a scale model of the Solar System using the JMU campus. 2016
Well-Being Initiative / Adaptive Living (Gregg Henriques) CHBS Psychology Opening a center on campus uniquely focused on mental health for students. 2016
Adapted Sports (Pate & Moran) COB & CHBS Hospitality Sports & Recreation, Health Services Adapted sports project to engage people with disabilities and increase their confidence in performing the activities of daily life, especially those relating to becoming a JMU student. 2015
Career Networking Month (Alicia Pettis) Alumni Relations, Leadership Giving Networking event that targets young alumni, both to encourage giving and foster further employment connections among them. 2015
Caregiving App (Julie Sanford) CHBS Nursing Development of an app to be used by adult family caregivers to comfort and monitor their care recipient when unattended for short periods. The app would also organize medical and other critical information about the patient. 2015
Community Engagement (Kerry Cresawn) CSM Biology Development of a program targeting K-5 students to increase the number of minority and low income students pursuing STEM majors and careers. 2015
Demystifying the Expert (Constantin & Feitosa) CSM Physics & Astronomy Program featuring conversations between faculty from the College of Science and Mathematics and members of JMU's comedy troupe, New & Improv'd to highlight scientific discoveries in an informal atmosphere. 2015
Innovation & Entreprenuership (Bourne & Perrine) University Advancement Development of a short film and related video clips showcasing entrepreneurial activities in and around campus to share these events with alumni and the community. 2015
Novel Platform to Study Cartilage Tissue Regeneration (Kubow & Bechtel) CSM Biology, Physics Cross-disciplinary project studying cartilage tissue regeneration in an environment conducive to cartilage cell behavior. 2015
Smart Parking (Samy El-Tawab) CISE ISAT Replacing current parking passes with smart tags including Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) to count cars entering and exiting parking lots and provide real-time parking lot information to drivers. 2015
STEM Fear Factor (Temple & Herrick) CISE & CSM ISAT, Biology Removing the “fear factor” for young women aspiring to a STEM major with a computational biology research experience. 2015
Thermopower Wave Battery (Costel Constantin) CSM Physics
Development of a thermopower wave battery design using manganese oxide as a wave source to resolve current lithium battery issues and challenges.
2015
Concrete Spit (Ludwig & Tickle) CSM & COB Biology, Business
Development of a concrete formula containing limestone which contributes to stronger shells and improved health in oyster reefs than the use of regular concrete.
2014
ERAMAT Game (Deaton, Coffman & Mayiani) CAL & CISE ISAT, Anthropology, Sociology
Tool that helps users gain a deeper understanding of problems in communities worldwide, as well as a learning tool for American students that contributes to greater global understanding.
2014
Highway Stability (Admassu & Gipson) CISE & CSM Geology & Engineering
A feasibility study of liquid polymers that could be applied to cut slopes along rural highways to protect motorists from rockfalls.
2014
Innovation-Collaboration Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (Mary Lou Bourne) Research & Scholarship
The Ecosystem seeks to benefit the Shenandoah Valley and their Angel Investors, Harrisonburg and JMU communities and improve access to capital for budding entrepreneurs
2014
JMU Connection Theater (Paul Warne) CSM & CVPA Theater, Math
Student actors integrate math, science, and humor on stage with the goal of teaching college students the relevance of math in their lives.
2014
JMU to World (Giovanna Scarel) CSM Physics
A workshop for both students and faculty featuring physicists to discuss the topic of infrared power generation. This will also help fund student research, giving JMU to World the opportunity to further working toward cutting-edge discoveries.
2014
MadInc (Carol Hamilton) COB Business
MadInc gives innovative students access to mentors, seed funding and other resources necessary to develop sustainable and high-impact businesses.
2014
Madison Connect HUB (Kurt Paterson) CISE Engineering
A web-based platform that will enable the JMU community and local/regional external partners to design a more interconnected community that propels new innovation for social good through cross-disciplinary and meaningful partnerships.
2014
mTBI (Lincoln Gray) CHBS Communication Sciences & Discorders
Study of traumatic brain injury in United States Military veterans and development of a training method to assist them to be less distracted by background sounds.
2014
Riverside JMU Farm (Carole Nash) CISE ISAT
Implementing placed-based learning at the JMU Farm, to include ecological and cultural studies as well as community outreach efforts.
2014
Starry Nights JMU (Bogard & Virani) CSM & CAL Physics, Astronomy, English
A campaign to make JMU a leader in energy-efficient campus lighting and help reduce light pollution in the Shenandoah Valley.
2014
Winning with Money (Brad Barnett) Financial Aid
A presentation designed to enlighten students in four different financial areas: budgeting, debt repayment, credit and retirement.
2014

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