The fifth cohort of University Innovation Fellows (UIF) at MSOE are headed to the Silicon Valley Meetup at Stanford University in California. They will join UIF fellows from across the country and world to attend workshops, networking events and other hands-on learning opportunities over the course of five days.

The current cohort, which includes Bansari Modi, civil engineering; James Siedschlag, mechanical engineering; Benjamin Paulson, computer science; and Asher Sprigler, computer engineering, are looking forward to this opportunity to learn about other Fellows’ work and to build on what they are doing at MSOE.

“One of the most important reasons for going to meetups like this is collaborating with the participants from other colleges,” said Sprigler. “You meet some of the most creative, motivated and genuinely great people at events like these. By working with them we can all learn how to better improve our respective campuses and serve our fellow students to the best of our abilities.”

The UIF Meetup will be held at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school). The trip will also include visits to Silicon Valley companies like Google and Microsoft.

“I can’t wait to participate in the leadership and ideation workshops and use the skills we gain to help us improve current projects on campus,” said Modi. “I am also looking forward to exploring Stanford University’s campus and meeting new people.”

“It will be really encouraging to be in that atmosphere – I hope we leave inspired to keep working to improve MSOE in any way we can,” said Siedschlag.

The fifth cohort put on this year’s Winter Market in Diercks Hall and one of their ongoing projects has been the MSOE to CEO Speaker Series. The series features MSOE alumni who come to campus to share their knowledge and industry experience with students.

“These MSOE alumni all come with experience in developing businesses, being heavily involved with leadership and utilizing the technical education they achieved at MSOE to create innovative solutions, providing attendees a way to gain foresight into the adventurous space of entrepreneurship,” said Paulson.

Through their programing, the Fellows are working to create lasting impact on campus that also aligns with the entrepreneurial mindset at MSOE and from the UIF program.

In 2018, MSOE created its first cohort of University Innovation Fellows. The Fellows are currently recruiting for MSOE’s sixth cohort. If you are interested, apply here by April 2.