Are you an engineering student in need of funding as you continue to pursue academic excellence? Meet with Dean Pippenger and Ms. Roach of the Fellowships Office to learn about opportunities to fund research, your education (both undergraduate and graduate), or even study abroad. The information sessions will take place in the Core Conference Room of 202 Hamilton Hall on Monday, March 1st and Tuesday, March 9th, both at 3:30 pm. Please reach out to our office with any questions concerning this event.

Please note that applications for the Udall Scholarship will be due into the Fellowships Office on February 8th at 5 pm.   Sophomores and Juniors who have demonstrated commitment to careers related to the environment or who are Native American or Alaska Native students who have demonstrated commitmentto careers related to tribal public policy or Native health care.

This year, a single Columbia junior will be selected as the Steamboat Summer Scholar and will have the unparalelled experience of interning at the Hospital of Special Surgery with Columbia alumnus and New York Mets team physician Dr. David Altchek. The Scholar will spend ten weeks in the summer of 2010 shadowing Dr. Altchek in clinical consultations and observing surgical procedures in the operating room, while contributing to a relevant independent clinical research project. The Steamboat Scholar will also receive a $12,000 financial award, participate in leadership-building events, and live and learn with the ten other Steamboat Scholars, all of whom hail from different universities and bring a range of perspectives and interests to the group.

The Summer Scholar Program underscores Steamboat Foundation’s aim: to build a lasting culture of leadership that emphasizes integrity, demands a rigorous work ethic, and encourages the kind of risk-taking that leaders must learn to assume. It is designed to be a rigorous and comprehensive experience, timed to impact young leaders at a formative moment in their professional and personal lives, preparing them to take on leadership roles at work and in their communities.

GRANT SPECIFICS: The Steamboat Foundation awards a $12,000 grant to the selected Steamboat Scholar recipient for the summer. The Scholar attends a two day orientation at the beginning of June with other Steamboat Scholars and attends Steamboat Scholar events such as, the opening reception at the Forbes Galleries, two to three Foundation Dinners with distinguished guests, five Leadership Evenings with facilitator Dr. Tom Inck and other social events in and around New York City. The Grant specifies that Scholars are housed together at the New School in Manhattan’s West Village during the internship period. Scholars submit a Final Essay and Evaluation at the close of the summer.

ELIGIBILITY: A candidate must be a third year undergraduate and have demonstrated financial need (Columbia financial aid recipient). If you are not receiving financial aid from Columbia but believe that you have other circumstances that would qualify you as financially needy, please submit a self-declaration of financial need. This statement will be required if the applicant is not receiving financial aid directly from Columbia. Only students from Columbia University will be considered for the Steamboat Scholar Placement at Hospital for Special Surgery.

The 2010 International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) Program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and organized by Purdue University, is now accepting applications for the 2010 grant cycle. IREE 2010 awardees will receive a stipend (US$4,000 for graduate students and US$3,000 for undergraduate students) to conduct engineering-related research in China from May - August 2010. Additionally, grant awardees will receive allowances for: an orientation program; travel to and housing/meals in China; plus a re-entry program. The 50 students (20 undergraduate and 30 graduate students) that receive the IREE award will spend 10-12 weeks working on frontier engineering research projects in university, industry, or government labs in China.

Applicants must be currently enrolled and in good academic standing as degree-seeking undergraduate OR graduate students at a U.S. institution of higher education. They must also be able to express both a demonstrated interest in a field of engineering related research, and a desire to work in China. Finally, strong preference will be given to United States citizens or nationals, or permanent residents of the United States. In addition, women, underrepresented groups, and students from schools with limited research opportunities are particularly encouraged to apply.

The IREE Program was initiated by the National Science Foundation (ENG/EEC) in 2006 to promote enhancement of global competency of 21st century engineering professionals, development of collaborations with engineering researchers abroad, and providing students with opportunities to experience the life and culture of a another country. It enables early-career researchers in the U.S. to gain international research experience and perspective. IREE also seeks to enhance U.S. innovation in both research and education, as well as enable connections between the research programs of NSF's divisions with the education of students.

View photos from the event.

Five accomplished College alumni were honored on March 3 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City with 2010 John Jay Awards for distinguished professional achievement.

Brian C. Krisberg '81, an attorney; Frank Lopez-Balboa '82 and Tracy V. Maitland '82, both from the finance sector; David Rosand '59, the Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History; and Julia Stiles '05, a stage and film actress, were joined by alumni, faculty, students, family and friends at the black-tie event, which drew more than 600 attendees and raised more than $1 million for the John Jay Scholars Program.

Board of Trustees Chair William V. Campbell '62 welcomed the guests and introduced Columbia College Alumni Association President Geoffrey J. Colvin '74, who introduced and thanked the dinner's co-chairs. One of the co-chairs, Louis De Chiara '82, introduced the keynote speaker, Marit Perlman Shapiro '10, a John Jay Scholar, who spoke on behalf of all John Jay Scholars. Each of the honorees was later presented the award by a John Jay Scholar.

Shapiro, a Los Angeles native, spoke of how the Scholars Program has impacted her career choice. After working in a hospital in Madagascar "finding [herself] in a delivery room," she decided she wanted to be an obstetrician and plans to focus her work either in developing countries or inner cities in the United States. Columbia and the Scholars Program, Shapiro said, "taught me flexibility, taught me the value of continued learning, taught me the importance of service to my community and taught me to have enthusiasm."

Dean Michele Moody-Adams, attending her first John Jay Awards Dinner, addressed the attendees and thanked the honorees for "setting such stellar examples of all a Columbia College education will allow one to achieve." She quoted from a letter written in 1785 by John Jay [Class of 1764] about the importance of making a "proper degree of education" available to all and described the honorees as "people who have done extraordinary things with that 'proper degree of education' provided by this great institution."

The evening concluded with the Clefhangers singing  Sans Souci and Roar, Lion, Roar.

-Lisa Palladino; photo by Eileen Barroso