We are pleased to announce the launch of to 66 University Innovation Fellows from 45 U.S. campuses! A complete list of students is below. University Innovation Fellow bios, campus profiles and strategic priorities can be found on the student universityinnovation.org wiki here: http://universityinnovationfellows.org/wiki/University_Innovation_Fellows_Program.

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Epicenter University Innovation Fellows – Press Release April 2014.

For Immediate Release
(April 9, 2014)

Media contact:
Laurie Moore
Communications Specialist, Epicenter
(650) 561-6113
llhmoore@stanford.edu

66 U.S. Students Named University Innovation Fellows by NSF-Funded Epicenter

(April 9, 2014) — Sixty-six university students from 45 higher education institutions across the United States have been named University Innovation Fellows by the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter).

The University Innovation Fellows are a network of student leaders working to create lasting institutional change that will increase student engagement with entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, design thinking and venture creation. The program is part of a national movement to help all students gain the attitudes, skills and knowledge required for them to compete in the economy of the future.

The new cohort of Fellows brings the total number to 110 Fellows at 78 schools in the U.S. The program is run by Epicenter, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Stanford University and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).

“It is no longer enough for engineering students to graduate with a purely technical education,” said Tom Byers, Director of Epicenter and Professor at Stanford University. “Whether they start their own companies or join established organizations, engineers need to have an entrepreneurial mindset to identify and seize opportunities, bring their ideas to life, and solve global problems.”

The program offers undergraduate students in engineering and other fields the guidance and support to become agents of change on their home campuses. The Fellows have made it their mission to expand the number and quality of resources available to students and to advocate for necessary advancements with external advisory boards, trustees and institutional leaders.

Fellows are sponsored by faculty and administrators at their schools and selected through an application process each spring and fall. Following acceptance into the program, students complete six weeks of online training, during which they connect with their new network of Fellows, examine their current entrepreneurial ecosystems and formulate action plans for their ideas.

At their schools, Fellows have founded entrepreneurship clubs and organizations, worked with faculty to create courses, hosted events and workshops, and created student design and maker spaces. Read more about their activities at epicenter.stanford.edu/story/engineers-take-action-university-innovation-fellows.

“University Innovation Fellows help their peers complement their coursework with interdisciplinary projects that build on their passions, career goals and desire to make a real impact in the world,” said Humera Fasihuddin, leader of the University Innovation Fellows program for Epicenter and Senior Program Officer at NCIIA.

“Students are capable of honing their leadership abilities by leveraging creativity, design thinking and an entrepreneurial mindset to solve problems on campus, in the local community and around the globe – all while still enrolled in school,” Fasihuddin continued. “These experiences give students a highly competitive edge in the job market because they are able to demonstrate the ability to bring products and services to market.”

The Fellows gathered in Silicon Valley March 20-22, 2014, for their annual meeting, where they took part in immersive experiences at Google, Stanford University and NCIIA’s Open Conference. Fellows participated in workshops and exercises focused on design thinking, creativity, brainstorming and team building. They engaged with entrepreneurs and leaders from Google, Google Ventures, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Design for America, 3 Day Startup, StartX and many others.

Learn more about the University Innovation Fellows program and learn how to apply at epicenter.stanford.edu/university-innovation-fellows.

About Epicenter:

The National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter) is funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Stanford University and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). Epicenter’s mission is to empower U.S. undergraduate engineering students to bring their ideas to life for the benefit of our economy and society. To do this, Epicenter helps students combine their technical skills, their ability to develop innovative technologies that solve important problems, and an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset. Learn more, and get involved at epicenter.stanford.edu.

Spring 2014 Fellows

• Jorge Sanchez, Arizona State University
• Ali Djire, Solomon Alolga & Ability Kakama, Berea College
• Nicholas Sinai, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
• Lionel Cross, Clark Atlanta University
• Corey Brugh, Colorado School of Mines
• Nicholas Breeser, Cooper Union
• Malik Oliver, Fayetteville State University
• Bipol Alam, Florida State University, Panama City
• Benjamin Riddle, Furman University
• Alexandra Flohr, Megna Saha & Rachel Ford, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Howard Brown, Hampton University
• Attiyah Lanier, Howard University
• Jevon Grant, Jackson State University
• Lauren Distler, Fletcher Grow, Jessie Gabris, Kaitlyn Pirrello, & Sarah Rozman, James Madison University
• Hunter Casbeer & Saheb Kapoor, Kettering University
• Brandon DuQuette, Michigan State University
• David Shull, Michigan Tech
• Jaime Arribas Starkey-El, Morgan State University
• Mauricio Garcia, NMSU
• Natalia von Windheim, North Carolina State University
• Jacob Keasbey, Norwich University
• John Herbert, Ohio University
• Meghan Olson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Enis Cirak, Tennessee Technological University
• Gurlovleen Rathore, Texas A & M University
• Kim Ma, Maria Garcia Quesada & Thien Ninh, Tulane University
• Myisha Moore, Tuskegee university
• Hristina Milojevic, Union College
• Eduardo Rojas-Flores & Nicholas Fong, University of California Merced
• Caleb Carr, University of Colorado Denver
• Atin Mittra & Meenu Singh, University of Maryland College Park
• Jade-Elizabeth Overton, University of Maryland Eastern Shore
• Jacob Hulme, James Abdallah, Kevin Desjardins & Ana Gouveia, University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Amanda Ejups, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
• Lauren Abston & Ryan Phillips, University of Oklahoma
• Claire Sakaguchi, University of Oregon
• Kevin Bastien, University of Portland
• Anish Dalal, Dasha Tyshlek, Kelly Thomas & Rachel Smith, University of Virginia
• Robert Salamon, Alex Francis & Carlton Reeves, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• Abbey Buckenheimer, Villanova University
• Ulysses Knight, Virginia State University
• Amber Graviet, Washington State University
• Chigozie Dike, Xavier University of Louisiana
• Chinmay Jaju, Yale University

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University Innovation Fellows Manifesto from Epicenter on Vimeo.

Manifesto

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