Purdue University Student Soybean Innovation Competitions

Responsibility of the Faculty Advisors

  1. Advisors will comply with Purdue University guidelines, and serve as mentors for their teams.
  2. Provide crucial input during the product idea process so that your team will be able to create a novel product with value and the potential for commercialization.
  3. Provide your team with laboratory space to create their product.
  4. Provide Lab Safety Training.
  5. Review, sign and approve all written assignments and research notebook entries.  You are not expected nor allowed to write the assignments for the students.
  6. Answer questions regarding patent searches, literature reviews, budget, vendors, technical summaries, etc. that your team may have.
  7. Provide guidance for marketing and packaging your team’s product for the judges as well as for the display table at the awards ceremony.
  8. Be available for regular meetings with your team and their second faculty advisor.
  9. Attend the Awards Ceremony, if available.

 

Purdue University Student Soybean Innovation Competitions

Rules and Regulations for Student Competitors

Eligibility

  1. Competitors must be currently enrolled students at Purdue University and must continue to be enrolled at Purdue University throughout the competition.  Competitors must complete this form and provide their PUID to authorize the Registrar to verify enrollment status.
  2. Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to participate.  Each team must have at least TWO undergraduate students and may have a maximum of FOUR undergraduate students and may have a maximum of FOUR team members.
  3. All work must be the original work of the team.  All work must be conducted using Purdue facilities.

Faculty Advisors

  1. Teams must also have TWO FACULTY ADVISORS.  (At least one of the faculty advisors must have sufficient expertise to serve as a TECHNICAL ADVISOR.).
  2. The team’s TECHNICAL ADVISOR must verify that each member of the team has completed LAB SAFETY TRAINING before any lab work may be performed.  All research must be performed in the lab of one of the faculty advisors and be properly documented, dated, and witnessed in a lab notebook that will be submitted at the end of the competition.
  3. If an Advisor can no longer advise a team, that team must select a new Advisor and resubmit an Advisor Form for approval.  If the team’s technical advisor resigns, a new lab safety training form for all team members must be submitted within 10 days of the new Advisor’s acceptance.  Teams should halt product development until these requirements are met.

Team Structure

  1. Team products MUST BE A NOVEL APPLICATION.  The product must not be currently commercialized, in development or publicly taught.
  2. Individuals may NOT participate simultaneously on different teams.
  3. To participate in the competition, each student competitor must sign an assignment of intellectual property rights to be provided by Purdue University. By signing the assignment, the student competitor will be agreeing to assign any intellectual property created as part of the competition to Purdue University.
  4. Each team member will complete Model Release documents (video, press and photo release), for Purdue University and the Indiana Soybean Alliance.
  5. If a team member decides to resign from a team, that member should send an email to the Program Manager to confirm resignation from the team.  If new member(s) are added, a new Student Registration Form must be completed, and turned into the Program Manager.
  6. Team members may not be dropped or added after the 2nd full week of the spring semester.
  7. Teams must adhere to all rules and regulations of Purdue University.

Lab/Technical

  1. Teams will be notified of meetings which will be held throughout the competition.  At least one team member should attempt to attend these informative meetings.  Assignments, forms and due dates will be discussed at these meetings.  Guest speakers with subject matter expertise will be invited to these meetings.   A variety of forms and documents will be distributed and assignments will be given.  Documents such as (but not limited to), Registration, Product Idea, Bibliography, Timelines, Patent Search, Literature Review, Intellectual Property, Market Analysis, Human Subject, Budget, Vendor,  Technical Process, and Lab Safety will be discussed and reviewed.
  2. During the competition, a mandatory elimination session will be set up for all teams.  Each team member should participate in this elimination session.  Teams should be prepared for a professional meeting to determine if the team will be permitted to continue in the competition. 

Judging/Awards

  1. Official judging of products will be according to guidelines of Purdue University and Indiana Soybean Alliance; Judges will review each team’s final report before judging their product prototype.  Judges will be provided by Indiana Soybean Alliance.;
  2. To be eligible to present a product at the awards ceremony, teams must meet all assignment guidelines/check points and produce a working product prototype and a final written report.
  3. The contest will conclude with the official awards ceremony at a location to be determined by Purdue University and Indiana Soybean Alliance officials.  Teams are required to set up a display at this event and meet with the public.
  4. The winning teams will be announced at the official awards ceremony.  Any monetary awards will be divided equally among team members.
  5. All winning team members will be required to sign the Acknowledgment of Prize & Release and Purdue Payee Certification document before any monetary awards will be paid.  For payment, these forms must be signed and turned into the Program Manager within 7 days of the official awards ceremony.
  6. Purdue University reserves the right to change, adjust, or remove any awards.

 

Advisor Registration Form

Advisor Information:

Purdue Address:

By signing this document, I verify that I have read and agree to abide by all the rules and regulations for the Purdue University Student Soybean Innovation Competitions, and will fulfill my duties as a Faculty Advisor for my team.