Maine Ideas Challenge

UNE’s Maine Ideas Challenge is an idea-stage innovation challenge that fosters the development of innovative and sustainable solutions to real-world social, environmental, and healthcare problems. 

Winners receive cash awards to help advance their ideas to the next level. You don’t need to be a business major or a technology buff to enter the challenge. All you need is an idea that you are passionate about or a desire to help out on a team.

Watch Highlights from the 2022 Challenge

Why You Should Join the Maine Ideas Challenge

Green Learning Community

First-year Business, Communications, Sport and Recreation Management, and Marine Entrepreneurship majors are able to participate on a competitive basis in the Green Learning Community (GLC). The GLC is an intentional community of professors and first-year students dedicated to studying human relations to the environment through many ways of knowing. You will study environmental issues through the integrated lenses of biology, literature, environmental studies, and economics.

Clubs and Organizations

Your time at UNE also includes valuable experiences outside the academic setting, with more than 90 student clubs — ranging from outdoor recreation to our student newspaper to a student theater company — allow you to interact with other students and faculty members in the ways that matter most to you. 

Enactus Club

In the Enactus club, you prototype ideas leading up to the Student Innovation Challenge. Enactus club members also present the impacts of their efforts to Fortune 500 executives at regional competitions with large job fairs.

Partners in Business 

The Partners in Business Club strives to engage UNE students in activities that develop the skills necessary to succeed in today’s business world. The club offers a selection of valuable educational events and an expansive business network, positioning you to apply your academic learning to the launch of successful careers. We travel to business-focused events and career fairs, meet local business leaders, and engage the larger UNE community in business initiatives. You don't have to be a Business major to join. We welcome anyone with a desire to gain business knowledge and experience. ​Business is not just a management skill, but a skill for life.

For more information about joining, contact Shamus Higginbottom at shigginbottom@une.edu or faculty adviser Janet Nelson at jnelson11@une.edu.

Research

Research experience is as critical a component of a well-rounded degree and provides you with skills that benefit you long after graduation. No matter what your major is, you can participate in undergraduate research projects that engage you in the process of creating new knowledge in your field. This exposure to the hands-on creation and application of knowledge prepares you for success in careers and graduate study and as responsible citizens.

Undergraduate Research by the Numbers

92%

of our undergraduates participate in clinical rotation, fieldwork, or internships

41%

of our undergraduates participate in faculty research

Intramurals

The mission of the Intramural Sports program is to provide fun and safe activities for the UNE community for the purpose of promoting growth and development, positive interpersonal relationships, and healthy lifestyles. The UNE Intramural Sports program offers all undergraduate, graduate, and medical students, faculty, and professional staff 22+ opportunities to engage in a wide variety of recreational activities. These activities are open to everyone and include both team and individual sport activities.