Humphrey School student included in Acara Challenge

Seven teams of collaborating student entrepreneurs from universities in the United States and India have been selected winners of the 2012–2013 Acara Challenge, a competition co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment and the College of Science and Engineering. The selected teams will be provided the opportunity and resources to further develop their innovative business solutions for environmental and social challenges.

Three Gold Level winners will receive $1,500 toward pilot expenses, Silver Level honorees will receive $1,000, and Bronze Level recipients get $500. Winning teams on all three levels also receive four individual scholarships to the Acara Summer Institute in Bangalore, India.

A team including Humphrey School student Georgia Rubinstein placed at the Silver Level. Through its project, Nutricycle, the team of University of Minnesota and Xavier Institute of Management students will seize the opportunity presented by India’s growing composting and urban agriculture movements. Partnering with the Aradhana apartments in Bhubaneswar during their pilot phase, Nutricycle will demonstrate the ability of community composting to improve an existing waste management system, while empowering clients to grow their own fresh, healthy vegetables.