Big Ideas: Pictured above are Miami Dade College faculty during a professional development seminar where they used the design thinking process, which will be part of the Innovation Fellowship Program curriculum. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANABELLA SARDINAS/THE IDEA CENTER
NewsWolfson Campus

Idea Center To Launch Innovation Fellowship Program

Isabella Arce

The five-month initiative will provide MDC employees with financial resources, one-on-one mentoring and workshops to develop ideas aimed at making the College more efficient and effective.

“Right now, if you’re a Miami Dade College employee and have an idea of how to improve something, you can try it, but the institution doesn’t have a formal process to support this—that’s what the Innovation Lab is going to do,” said Idea Center Executive Director Alejandro Gonzalez.

The fellowship, which will be housed at the Idea Center at Wolfson Campus, will be led by Gonzalez and Vice President of Innovation and Technology Partnerships Antonio Delgado.

Employees had the opportunity to apply to the program until Sept. 13. Seven to 10 projects will be selected for the first cohort in October.

“I love the idea of working on projects that directly address real challenges faced by our students,” said Evelyn Falcon, assistant dean of students at Hialeah Campus, who wants to create an AI-powered enrollment and scheduling system.

Workshops will require participants to use design thinking. This involves identifying consumer needs/problems, proposing solutions, creating prototypes to test those solutions and reflecting on their effectiveness. 

Fellows will receive mentorship through Beyond Academics, an educational consulting company, and monetary compensation; Delgado and Gonzalez said they are still deciding on how much money will be given.

In February—a date and location has not been determined—fellows will pitch their completed projects to a panel, and the top three will be presented at Conference Day 2025 in March. The College will invest in the top three initiatives. 

Hialeah Campus President Georgette Perez is among the program’s 64 applicants.

“All it takes is one good idea … with the right tools, workshop, thinking and collaboration, you can really make that idea an actual reality,” Perez said.

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Isabella Arce

Isabella Arce, 19, is a pre-nursing major in The Honors College at Kendall Campus. Arce, who graduated from Downtown Doral Charter Upper School in 2023, will serve as editor-in-chief for The Reporter during the 2024-2025 school year. She aspires to be an international travel nurse, specializing in emergency care or pediatrics.

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