By Anastasia Merkulova

Representatives from xFoundry@UMD, an entrepreneurship program at the University of Maryland, introduced their 2026 Xperience program to students at the E.A. Fernandez IDEA Factory on Nov. 19. 

The Xperience program is a competition composed of interdisciplinary teams to solve real-life challenges during a 15-month cycle. The winning team will receive anywhere from $250,000 to $2 million in investment money, according to the meeting’s presentation.

At the meeting, they introduced the upcoming challenge of innovating mental health treatment on college campuses. Challenges are chosen based on seven domains—climate, education, energy, food and water, health, society and transportation, according to their website. 

The initiative’s first challenge, launched in the spring of 2024, is focused on developing a solution for rapid detection and notification of school shooting events in K-12 facilities, according to their website. 

Fourteen teams are currently competing in the first challenge and at least three different disciplines must be represented on each team, said Jasmine Kelly, the associate director of academic programs with xFoundry.

Alison Waldman, the program manager of xFoundry, said the interdisciplinary aspect is one of the core parts of the challenge. 

“The idea is that you need minds and skills from all different corners of campus to solve a problem,” Waldman said. 

Kelly promoted entrepreneurship as a career and said that students participating in the program will be able to get jobs right after graduating during the presentation. 

Meeting attendees participated in a mini-challenge simulating the upcoming competition. People split into groups and had 10 minutes to brainstorm a business idea related to the upcoming mental health innovation challenge. 

Other UMD programs, similar to this one, require students to prepare a business idea prior to being accepted into the program, while xFoundry already provides an idea to the students, according to Kelly. 

“You don’t have to come to us with an idea,” Kelly said. “You can come to us with your passion, your energy and your talent.” 

The program’s main goal is to solve grand challenges and take different problems off the table, according to Kelly. 

Aditi Gubba, a junior public health science major, applied to the upcoming competition. She said that she has always loved doing STEM-related competitions and believes that the interdisciplinary aspect of the challenge is helpful.

“That’s what I’m really excited to do, just like work with students that are experts in their fields,” Gubba said. “We can put our minds together and create something great.” 

Waldman said that participating in this program is a great opportunity to learn important skill sets for their future, even if their team does not win. 

“The structure of the competition teaches you things like problem-solving and team building, and these are skills that are going to be applicable, no matter what job recruiter you go [to],” Waldman said.

Featured Image: University of Maryland students listen to a presentation on Nov. 19 given by xFoundry@UMD introducing their 2026 Xperience program. Photo by Anastasia Merkulova.