Hyperloop at VCU Featured in University's #GivingTuesday Celebration

RICHMOND, Va – As part of the #GivingTuesday celebration VCU is featuring Hyperloop at VCU and 10 other campaigns on its new crowdfunding website Igniter.

Igniter highlights groups at VCU in need of support for their ambitions. This includes helping medical students graduate with less debt, getting a dental student to a conference or sending an honors student on a study abroad trip. A familiar group featured on Igniter is Hyperloop at VCU, the University’s student team competing in SpaceX’s Hyperloop Pod Competition next summer.

Hyperloop at VCU is a team of students from an array of backgrounds helping design the future of travel. The Hyperloop pod would travel in a pressurized tube underground and can achieve speeds of 700 mph – at those speeds, one could travel from Richmond to Washington D.C. in as little as nine minutes.

In their debut competition last summer the team reached the top 20 and was one of nine teams from the U.S. Now the team has entered the first stage of the 2019 competition and will submit its final design package this winter. Arthur Chadwick, founder and president of Hyperloop at VCU, said funding is a concern against team with massive budgets.

“Some of these other teams have Hyperloop pods that have about €700,000, or about 1 million dollars, involved in making that pod happen,” Chadwick said.

For #GivingTuesday the team is hoping to raise $10,000 to help purchase five motor controllers which will cost $26,450. One of the challenges the team faced last year was a that they didn't have much time to test the pod because they joined the competition later than other teams. These controllers regulate the information and power going to and from the pod’s propulsion system which is vital to properly testing the pod.

Created by the Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact in 2012 #GivingTuesday is “a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration” celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. According to the #GivingTuesday website, the purpose of the movement is to celebrate and support the act of philanthropy and the beginning of the charitable season.

In an article in VCU News, Michael Andrews, VCU’s executive director of annual giving, said “The array of unique campaigns featured on Igniter illustrates the creative and transformational work done by our students, health care providers and academic programs.” Tuesday is not the only day the VCU community will be able to contribute to the university Igniter will feature a new round of campaigns after #GivingTuesday has ended.Check out the campaigns featured on Igniter here before #GivingTuesday comes to a close.