Each year, the Zillion Solutions Competition at the University of Michigan-Flint invites students to develop a solution to a challenge they see in the world around them, and then share it with others.
Sponsored by the Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the C.S. Mott Foundation, this year’s competition drew 705 students and more than 430 submissions from across six academic divisions, ultimately narrowing to ten finalists who presented their concepts before a panel of senior executives and an audience of over 150 guests.
Among those finalists, two from the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education walked away with prizes.
Jennifer Christel – Psychology
Christel earned the $1,000 first runner-up award for Story Before Screening, an AI-powered tool designed to improve communication between patients and providers before appointments begin.
“What inspired my project initially was my own experience trying to communicate a complex illness and feeling misunderstood,” she said. “As I learned more in my cognitive psychology classes, I started to understand the real limitations clinicians face, especially around time, cognitive load, and how information is structured. It helped me see that these challenges aren’t about a lack of care, but about how the system is currently designed. That realization led me to consider how we could redesign the process to better support both patients and providers.”
Participating in the contest itself brought additional skill development to Christel. “I learned how difficult it is to distill a complex idea into something clear, concise, and understandable, especially within a short timeframe and for a broad audience,” she shared. “It challenged me to communicate not just what my idea is, but why it matters and how it works, in a way that people can quickly grasp. That’s a skill I’ll carry with me.”
Roni Ahmed – Interdisciplinary Studies
Ahmed claimed the $500 second-runner-up prize for the Homeless App, a platform designed to connect people experiencing homelessness with community-driven, non-monetary support.
“I was inspired mostly by the people around me,” he said. “My community has always shown up for each other, and watching that taught me how much goodwill already exists when there’s a way to channel it. The idea came from wanting to make it easier for that goodwill to reach the people who need it.”
In terms of the contest experience itself, Ahmed found the interaction with mentors and judges invaluable. “ The mentors gave honest, careful feedback, and the judges asked questions I hadn’t thought to ask myself,” he noted. “The other competitors were the most surprising part for me. Their projects pushed me to think harder about my own work, and their thinking sharpened mine. I came in thinking I was there to share an idea, and I left realizing how much I still had to learn from everyone in the room.”
Both Christel and Ahmed encourage UM-Flint students to participate in next year’s Zillion Solutions Competition.
“It’s a really valuable experience because it gives you a chance to take an idea out of your head and put it into the world. You’re not just thinking about solutions, you’re actively shaping and communicating them,” Christel said. “It also builds confidence in your ability to take something complex and make it accessible, which is an incredibly important skill in any field.”
“The team running Zillion Solutions creates a space that genuinely welcomes early-stage ideas, which is rare,” said Ahmed. “The mentors, the judges, and even the other students give back so much more than you expect. Even if you don’t win anything, you leave with a sharper idea and a network of people who actually care. Show up, be open to feedback, and the program does the rest.”
To stay in the loop about upcoming Zillion Solutions Competitions, check out the Zillion Solutions page on the UM-Flint website.
