Since coming to Notre Dame, Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering, has “dreamed of doing a challenge like this.” On August 31, 2026, that vision came to life as students packed the Dahnke Family Ballroom for the kickoff of the inaugural Notre Dame Innovation Challenge, beginning a semester-long effort to explore new ways to reduce, replace, recycle, or reimagine plastics used at Notre Dame athletic events.
Nearly 320 students on 60 teams have taken up the challenge and, four weeks into the competition, are well into developing their ideas.
“Notre Dame students want to use their talents in service of humanity and the world,” Culligan said. “By bringing students from different disciplines together around real-world challenges, we give them the opportunity to support and learn from one another, imagine what is possible, and turn their ideas into solutions that can improve people’s lives.”
The Innovation Challenge brings Notre Dame students together each year to tackle a different real-world problem. Open to all undergraduate and graduate students and supported by partners across campus, including every college and school, the Challenge is designed to harness the creativity and diverse perspectives of the Notre Dame community. While this year’s focus is plastics use at Notre Dame athletic events, the experience goes well beyond a single challenge: students will think critically and creatively, learn from experts across disciplines, and experience firsthand what it takes to transform an idea into a solution with real-world impact.
The inaugural class of participants includes students from the College of Engineering, the College of Science, Mendoza College of Business, College of Arts & Letters, the Graduate School, Keough School of Global Affairs, the Walsh Family School of Architecture, and the Law School. Eighty-one percent of participants are undergraduates, while 19 percent are graduate students.
Throughout September and October, teams participate in Breakfast & Learn Sessions, Office Hours, and mentoring as they develop and refine their ideas, with opportunities to learn from Notre Dame faculty and campus experts, as well as industry experts along the way.
During an Office Hours session with Challenge mentor Kyle Doudrick, Rooney Family Collegiate Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences at Notre Dame, teams asked questions about plastics, life-cycle analysis, and campus plastic use.
Teams have also had dedicated Office Hours with leaders from University Operations, Events, and Safety, including Brian Fremeau, assistant vice president, Operations; Geory Kurtzhals, executive director, Campus Sustainability; Silvio Mendez, director, Stadium Operations; Lee Sicinski, executive director, University Events; and David Werda, assistant vice president, Hospitality and External Partnerships.
In one Learning Session, Under Armour’s Gabriella Métraux, Ph.D., senior program manager, and Matthew Trexler, director of Material Science Innovation – Research, shared the company’s work in textile sustainability, including materials, textile composting, upcycling, and material degradation. At another session, Wendy Angst, Neumann Family Director of the Powerful Means Initiative and professor of management and organization in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, guided students through problem discovery and scoping, encouraging them to validate the problem, understand who experiences it, and consider whether a potential solution is feasible and scalable.
“The incredible opportunity to participate in interdisciplinary workshops and classes has been influential to my team’s ability to learn about the plastic life cycle, financial business modeling, and transforming an idea into a feasible pitch for possible donors,” said Marina Jane Vonhof, a sophomore in chemical engineering. “The program outline supports the progression of ideas and solutions that we hope will be a force for good at Notre Dame Stadium and beyond.”
The Challenge also gives students opportunities to experience the problem firsthand. Following the Notre Dame–Rice football game, about 35 participants returned to Notre Dame Stadium to learn about the postgame cleanup process from David Konkey, assistant director of Notre Dame Building Services, and Ryan Klontz of Great Lakes Property Management before helping clean the student section in two passes — first collecting landfill waste, then recyclables. Upcoming stadium operations tours, organized with support from Notre Dame Stadium Operations, will give teams another opportunity to see the Challenge up close and better understand the systems and operational realities they may need to consider.
“Having the opportunity to be a part of the stadium cleanup gave our team a unique perspective as to how we should tackle our problem,” said Augie Ruf, a first-year finance student. “The firsthand experience, especially with the help of the stadium professionals who walked us through the process, allowed us to better understand the difficult process of event recycling and how any action we take must be well integrated within the whole system.”
As teams develop their concepts, several broad areas of focus have emerged, including alternative materials, recycling and reuse, operational improvements, technology and data, and behavior change. The ideas are still evolving, but teams are now preparing for the next phase of the competition: a three-minute virtual pitch featuring slides with a voiceover. In the pitch, teams will need to clearly define the problem they are addressing, explain their proposed approach to a solution, and demonstrate its potential impact.
Initial pitch presentations are due October 12, and finalists will be selected October 20. Those teams will spend the remainder of the semester refining their concepts, working with mentors and experts, and preparing for final presentations in early December, when winners will be announced and $35,000 in prize money will be awarded.
All teams, regardless of whether they are finalists or not, will have the opportunity to carry their ideas into Notre Dame’s McCloskey New Venture Competition, creating a pathway to continue developing a concept that began with a real-world problem on Notre Dame’s own campus.
The Notre Dame Innovation Challenge is made possible through the generosity of alumni donors Celeste (’78) and Kevin (’75) Ford, as well as Michael and Sarah Trela, members of the Class of 2004. The Challenge is also supported by our partners in Campus Sustainability; the College of Arts & Letters; the College of Engineering; the College of Science; Hesburgh Library; the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative; the Keough School of Global Affairs; the Mendoza College of Business; Notre Dame Learning; Notre Dame Research; the Career Center; the Graduate School; the IDEA Center; Under Armour; University Operations; and the Walsh Family School of Architecture.
—College of Engineering, written with the assistance of AI.