Big Idea Challenge Showcase – The year two check-in
Six teams showcase their cross-disciplinary research collaborations for the University of Arizona Research and Partnerships' Big Idea Challenge.
Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, senior vice president for research and partnerships at the U of A, welcomes participating teams and an audience of more than 120 to the Big Idea Challenge Research Showcase 2026 on May 8 in the Grand Challenges Research Building.
Photo by Kris Hanning, U of A Office of Research and Partnerships
On May 8, the University of Arizona Office of Research and Partnerships hosted its inaugural Big Idea Challenge Showcase in the Grand Challenges Research Building, where six research teams tackling some of today's most pressing problems presented their progress to judges, fellow researchers and students.
The Big Idea Challenge launched in May 2025 under the theme "Pitching the Future." From a field of 72 applicant groups representing 19 university units, finalists pitched their proposed transdisciplinary research projects in seven-minute presentations before a panel of judges that included senior university leadership, CEOs, research executives, and industry leaders.
Six teams were chosen to receive two-year awards of up to $250,000 each, with research spanning six strategic areas: data, information systems, and artificial intelligence; defense and national security; energy and environmental sustainability; the future of health and biomedical sciences; the human experience; and space sciences. Half of each award was disbursed immediately; the remainder depended on meeting defined benchmarks by the end of year one.
A year later, those same six teams returned to report on what they had accomplished — and what comes next.
“The problems we face as a society today transcend boundaries,” Tómas Díaz de la Rubia, senior vice president for research and partnerships, said as he welcomed teams and attendees to the event. “If we don't bring the social sciences and humanities and education and arts, together with the STEM disciplines, we cannot truly tackle these challenges that we face.”
The presenting teams include:
- Convergent Digital Health for Remote Access (CoDiRA)
- Summoning microbial allies to reduce nitrogen fertilizer dependency in modern agriculture
- Making Space for off-Earth Scalable Cloud Computing and Data Infrastructure
- From early Earth to Mars: Landscape terraformation and digital twinning at Biosphere 2
- Heat and Health Resilience Innovation Consortium
- Invest in TIME! Earth hazards research through tree-ring science and solar archives
The teams highlighted advances in research, commercialization, new publications and community outreach, with a particular emphasis on graduate and undergraduate involvement. Judges questioned them on future partnerships and potential investors — conversations that will continue in the coming weeks as judges work through additional feedback to determine the next phase of funding.
“The energy that is generated has been so wonderful,” University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella said during the event. “I think each of these ideas that you're working on could well become that big next research initiative. This is meant as seed funding that gets you going, proves the ideas you've got, and hopefully in the second year you're all building that bigger picture.”
Alongside the team presentations, the showcase also featured 32 students presenting 24 posters, including six undergraduate and 18 graduate posters highlighting student research contributions to the presenting teams.
A team of judges reviewed the posters, talked with the students, and presented four award certificates of excellence to two undergraduates and two graduate presenters. The poster winners were:
- 1st place graduate: Smit Shah and Manasvi Potla, the CoDiRA project
- 2nd place graduate: Charlie Cunningham, the from early Earth to Mars project
- 1st place undergraduate: Brett Lewis, the Heat & Health Resilience project
- 2nd place undergraduate: Christien Steven, the Invest in TIME! project.
In addition to Díaz de la Rubia, the Big Idea Challenge judges include Dr. Corey Casper, chief research officer at Banner Research; Fletcher McCusker, CEO of UAVenture Capital; Karla Morales, vice president of the Southern Arizona regional office at the Arizona Technology Council; Mary O’Reilly, vice president of bioscience research programs at the Flinn Foundation; Alex Rodriguez, CEO, FreeFall 5G, Inc.; and Vivian Highton, principal, VLW Strategy + Implementation.
The poster judges, all from the U of A, included Adrián Arroyo-Pérez, associate director of faculty programs at the Office of the Provost; Elizabeth Boyd, executive director of program management and institutes administration in the Office of Research and Partnerships; Sarah P. Chavarria, assistant dean of research in the College of Education and assistant director of the Arizona Astrobiology Center; Javier Duran, director of the Confluencenter; Doug Hockstad, associate vice president of Tech Launch Arizona; Erika Hamden, director of the Space Institute; Amanda Kraus, vice president of Student Affairs; and Maria Sohn Hasman, manager, RISE Program.
