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Student Innovation Center

Applied AI Challenge

Iowa State University Student Innovation Center

April 3–17  |  $14,000 in Prizes  |  All Majors Welcome

The Applied AI Challenge invites every Iowa State student — undergraduate and graduate, coder and non-coder alike — to design, prototype, and present an AI-powered solution to a genuine problem.

Choose a track, form a team, and spend three weeks building with support from industry mentors, AI Innovation Studio staff, and your fellow participants. This isn’t about mastering AI. It’s about using AI to amplify what you already know, care about, and want to change.

Registration Open Now!

Click to register for the 2026 Applied AI Challenge. Limited seats are available.

Four Ways to Participate

Media icon of video making clapper board.

Gen Media Creation

Create videos, interactive content, and multimedia that inform, persuade, or educate. Use AI video generation, voice tools, and image tools to produce professional-quality media — no production experience required.

AI Agent icon of a robot in a chat bubble with a headset on

AI Agent Design

Build Q&A bots and AI assistants that make complex information accessible. Design conversation flows, train on real content, and deploy tools that help specific people find what they need.

Making icon of wrench

AI-Assisted Making

Design physical prototypes — custom accessories, DIY tools, and playful prototypes — using AI to go from sketch to 3D-print at the makerspace.

Coding icon of a lapop

AI-Assisted Coding

Develop websites, apps, or services using AI-assisted development tools. Build functional prototypes that solve real problems, even if you’re still learning to code.

Prizes

$14,000 in awards across two divisions: undergraduate and graduate.

Competition Awards
Award Undergraduate Graduate
Innovation Grand Prize $3,000 $3,000
Gen Media Creation $1,000 $1,000
AI Agent Design $1,000 $1,000
AI-Assisted Making $1,000 $1,000
AI-Assisted Coding $1,000 $1,000

  • Division Eligibility & Award Details

    Undergraduates and graduates may join up to form mixed teams. Any team with more than one graduate student member will be considered for graduate division awards. All awards are tuition scholarships distributed evenly among team members.

Judging Criteria

All projects are evaluated on five criteria:

How clearly does your project explain the value it creates? Judges want to see that you understand specific user pains and gains — not a generic problem statement, but a grounded one.

How does your solution work, and what makes it an innovative application of AI? Explain the technical and design choices that distinguish your approach.

How will your solution make a meaningful, positive difference — for a community, organization, or group of people? Scope matters less than specificity and credibility.

How did your team build prototypes, test with real users, gather feedback, and improve your design? Show your work.

How did your team leverage diverse skills, backgrounds, and perspectives to make the project stronger? Collaboration is a core competency here.

Timeline

Part 1 – Kickoff

Friday, April 3 | 5:00–8:00 PM | Student Innovation Center

Meet your fellow participants, connect with industry mentors, and finalize your team and track. Facilitators will guide a structured ideation session to help teams define their problem and get started. Light food provided.

Part 2 – Development Week

April 6–10 | AI Innovation Studio, open hours

The heart of the challenge. Teams develop their prototypes with access to studio resources, makerspace equipment, and virtual mentoring sessions with industry and faculty experts. Open studio hours allow teams to work at their own pace with staff available for support. We will support drop-ins and by-appointment meetings with our staff.

Mentoring sessions are scheduled individually during this week. Your team will receive an introduction to your assigned mentor and coordinate directly for a 30–40 minute virtual meeting.

Part 3 – Final Presentations

Friday, April 17 | 5:00–8:00 PM | Student Innovation Center

Finalist teams will be selected based on applications. Selected Finalist Teams present their completed prototypes to a panel of judges and the broader community. Awards are announced at the end of the evening.

AI Innovation Studio Resources

The Student Innovation Center’s AI Innovation Studio Makerspace are available to all registered participants throughout the challenge. Visit the AI Innovation Studio Makerspace page for current hours, available equipment and software, and contact information for staff.

Questions?

Contact the AI Innovation Studio team at sictrai@iastate.edu.

Abram Anders

Jonathan Wickert Professor of Innovation Associate Director, Student Innovation Center
adanders@iastate.edu

Alireza Bahari

Graduate Assistant, AI Innovation Studio
sictrai@iastate.edu

Avnish Poonia

Graduate Assistant, AI Innovation Studio
sictrai@iastate.edu

Kunal Suresh

Graduate Assistant, AI Innovation Studio
sictrai@iastate.edu