The Global Alliance for Rapid Diagnostics (GARD) is a multidisciplinary peer-to-peer global network committed to improving health worldwide, founded by Dr. Evangelyn Alocilja, MSU Professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Since 2021, the virtual GARD Forum has occurred in a collaborative format, allowing experts and academics from different regions across the globe to hold technical sessions, short courses, virtual cultural presentations, and cross-continent discussions about the use of innovative technologies to sustain all aspects of health.

A key part of the GARD Forum is the Innovation Challenge, a competition open to professionals and students (undergraduate and graduate) interested in taking action towards solving relevant global problems.

The GARD Forum 2025 took place virtually on March 20-22, and the Innovation Challenge was open to individual or team proposals in the form of 3-minute elevator pitch videos on a proposed solution related to challenges in sustainable food systems, water, health, and the environment, among others. MSU’s Global Youth Advancement Network (GYAN) was responsible for organizing, implementing, and promoting this year’s Innovation Challenge, in collaboration with the Asian Studies Center, and Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at MSU, along with De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines. The event was sponsored by the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at MSU. 

The competition received 46 submissions representing five distinct countries: Indonesia, Albania, Kenya, India, and the United States. The most popular themes across all received proposals were related to the development of biosensors for identifying different kinds of diseases at early stages, how to help solve the ocean microplastics crisis, and innovative ways to improve food systems in terms of sustainability and/or food waste reduction. In total, the GARD Forum was attended by over 200 registrants. 

After a pre-screening of all proposals, the best six were chosen and presented to all GARD Forum 2025 attendees during the final round of the Innovation Challenge, a live online synchronous event on March 20th moderated by MSU Ph.D. Candidate and GYAN Global Citizenship Intern Sarah Potts. Opening and closing remarks were given by Dr. Alocilja, and an esteemed panel of judges was also in attendance, composed by: Opal Bartzis (Assistant Dean for Global Learning and Innovation and Executive Director of the MSU Office for Education Abroad), John Chamberlin (Entrepreneur and Instructor for Innovation Hub at Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas), Jon Debling (Technology manager of the MSU Innovation Center), and Dean Shinaberger (Mentor in residence at Spartan Innovations). The judges were able to provide constructive feedback and ask questions to the teams after their presentations, followed by a Q&A session open to all event attendees.

Three winners were selected and awarded professional development cash prizes as an opportunity to execute plans and to establish a professional network related to the fulfillment of their proposals. The winners are featured below together with their proposals.

• 1st place with proposal "MacSchug Materials: Enabling Environmentally Responsible Solutions for Food Waste Through Sustainable Chemistry”: Hugh MacDowell and Conrad Schug from Michigan State University
• 2nd place with proposal “Rapid Point-of-Care Diagnostic Device for Neisseria meningitidis”: Begawan Samad, Diana Mejia, and Dov Myers from Michigan State University
• 3rd place with proposal “The Zero Effort Phone Cleaner”: Yenna Park from Michigan State University

When reflecting upon this year’s Innovation Challenge, 2nd place winner Begawan Samad said:

"It has been a fun adventure completing the GARD 2025 Innovation Challenge. We are thankful for the opportunity to present our project and are proud to be awarded the second place winner in the competition."

Congratulations to all Innovation Challenge participants and thanks to all judges and other involved parties in making this event a resounding success!

GYAN looks forward to future collaborations with GARD and invites you to know more about them and the GARD Forum by visiting their website.