Create your own path. Be the driver of your future career. Combine your passion for creativity or desire to create change with your work in the classroom. Inspire others with your creative work or solutions to real world problems.

What are entrepreneurial and creative endeavors?

Students learn to set their own course by having experiences in early stage start-ups, advancing ideas to solve real world problems, or create artistic, written or performance-based projects. 

DifferenceMakers By the Numbers

  • $5M
    raised by teams
  • 40
    companies formed by teams
  • 11
    Number of teams patents filed or issued

Meet the DifferenceMakers

Mina Lam, a junior business administration major, handing out buttons and stickers for the UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association (UMLJSA).
UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association (UML JSA)
DifferenceMakers

UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association (UML JSA) is a student organization that aspires to promote greater awareness of Japanese culture throughout the University of Massachusetts Lowell community.

UML JSA immerses students in Japanese culture.
Read More About UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association (UML JSA) 
UMass Lowell Image
Support Our Students '14
DifferenceMakers

Support our Students (SOS) is a nonprofit organization that addresses the issue of hunger in the UMass Lowell community.

SOS is confident that they will be successful in their endeavors to support and feed students on campus.
Read More About Support Our Students 
UMass Lowell student holds a book he published titled "There's a Tale In Between"
Adam Basma '22
Marketing, Entrepreneurship

Inspired by Assoc. Teaching Prof. Deborah Finch, Adam Basma published his first novel for his senior Honors College project.

Every time I’ve reached out to ask for advice or a reference, faculty have been so reciprocating with positive energy.
Read More About Adam Basma 
Justin Marcouillier looking at a face mask, Siddhant Iyer posing with the blue Rist Campus Wide DifferenceMaker trophy, and Pranav Ramaswamy holding a prototype of the N95 face mask with the TrueFIT technology.
TrueFIT, Rist Campuswide DifferenceMaker
DifferenceMakers

The TrueFIT design can be used to help employees in various industries, like construction, healthcare, and more.

The TrueFIT design can be used to help employees in various industries, like construction, healthcare, and more.
Read More About TrueFIT, Rist Campuswide DifferenceMaker 
Jonathan Aguilar talking with two students at a desk
Jonathan Aguilar '21
Mechanical Engineering

Jonathan Aguilar ’21 started a 3D printing company as an undergrad that he now runs at the Haverhill Innovation Hub.

It feels great to be able to apply what I learned in school in the real world.
Read More About Jonathan Aguilar