RIT summer fellowships designed to spark the innovation process

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Max Schulte

CAPTION: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships allow RIT students to spend their summers immersed in research and the innovation process.

There’s a new way for RIT students to spend their summers. The Center for Student Innovation is helping to spearhead and coordinate a number of Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships that will allow selected undergraduates to spend their summer months immersed in research, innovation and camaraderie.

The Center for Student Innovation, numerous RIT colleges and the RIT-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation have all created summer fellowships that will include $3,000 stipends and possibly RIT housing. In addition to receiving research support, fellows will come together for weekly sessions to compare notes, listen to guest speakers, engage in roundtable discussions and participate in other activities. The experience will culminate at the end of the summer when each fellow presents at RIT’s annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.

The Center for Student Innovation Fellowship Program is especially interested in undergraduates with innovative and multidisciplinary project and research ideas to apply. Each applicant must identify an appropriate faculty member who is willing to serve as a mentor throughout the process.

“We will welcome coordinated applications from pairs or larger teams of students from different colleges,” says Jon Schull, the Center for Student Innovation’s faculty lead. “Applicants will get to develop an idea and a proposal with faculty and student collaborators and, if accepted, they’ll get to pursue and present their projects at a high profile symposium. It’s a summer microcosm of how collaborative innovation works. The learning experience begins right now, as students talk to potential collaborators, developing ideas for the Feb. 22 application deadline.”

The RIT-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation will fund 10 summer research positions for students who are underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Candidates for that program should contact Eulas Boyd at 585-475-4705. Those interested in the Center for Student Innovation fellowships should click the “Summer Support” link at innovation.rit.edu. Other students should contact their college’s dean’s office for information about college-specific fellowship opportunities.