The Student Initiatives Fund—established, funded, and managed by Hopkins Engineering alumni and friends of the Whiting School—is designed to reward ingenuity and increase opportunities for students to expand their creative horizons. The fund allows engineering undergraduates to apply the skills they’ve honed in classrooms and labs and while also using their creativity and problem-solving abilities to pursue new areas of interest.

The Student Initiatives Fund is currently accepting applications for the 2018-19 cycle. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and award decisions will be made within one month of receipt of application. The deadline for applications to be received is Monday, February 11, 2019.

The Student Initiatives Fund is open to project teams consisting of a Johns Hopkins Engineering student lead (undergraduate or graduate), and team members who are JHU students in any school (undergraduate or graduate).

Successful proposals may include these characteristics:

• Create opportunities for students to build practical, hands-on applications that may solve real world problems or is a fun application of engineering knowledge
• Are innovative, creative, and self-motivated (i.e., not part of a course or sponsored faculty research)
• Foster a collaborative environment across Johns Hopkins divisions or build community in the Whiting School, the university, or in the greater Baltimore community

The fund will not support:

• Research in your professor’s lab
• Projects that are required for a course (including senior design, unless an extension of the project)
• Travel expenses
• Events comprising a purely social component
• Student groups’ operating budgets (must be for a specific project or initiative)

Individual students may apply for funding, but preference will be given to group projects. Total funding amount varies each academic year. Projects will receive up to a $2500 grant; however, proposals with higher budgets may be considered. Students may apply for more than one project per cycle but only one project per applicant or group will be funded. Students must obtain the support and signature of a faculty adviser.

For questions regarding the fund, please contact Kim Sheehan.