The Berkeley Engineering Design Scholar Program is a 10-week summer research program open to all continuing UC Berkeley undergraduates in the College of Engineering or with relevant experience in design innovation. The Scholars actively contribute to the growing design ecosystem at UC Berkeley—participating in seminars, workshops, and special events with members of the design community, including their cohort of fellow undergraduate Design Scholars, graduate students, and faculty. In addition, they learn and practice critical skills of making through the Maker Pass program. Scholars also receive a $5000 stipend. The per week commitment will fluctuate, but students should prepare to be able to commit at least 20 hours/week towards research.
During the program, each Scholar is matched with a faculty advisor based on their interests, and conducts faculty-guided research in areas such as Engineering Design, Design Methodology, Human Computer Interaction, and Data-driven Design. If there is mutual interest from both the Scholar and faculty advisor, they may have the option of continuing their research beyond the summer.
The program is led by Professor Kosa Goucher-Lambert (Mechanical Engineering), with additional mentorship and project supervision from Professor Hannah Stuart (Mechanical Engineering), and other UC Berkeley faculty.
We are planning to offer the Berkeley Engineering Design Scholar Program as an in-person, on-campus experience in summer 2022, starting June 6th and ending August 12th.
The Maker Launchpad is another program hosted by UC Berkeley College of Engineering this summer (July 5th to August 12th) that may be completed in conjunction with the Design Scholar program. Students must apply independently to both programs. If selected to both programs, students will receive a partial fee waiver for the Maker Launchpad program along with a partial Design Scholar research stipend, and participate in both programs’ activities.
Eligibility Requirements
Participants must be matriculated Berkeley students during the program. Students are also expected to be able to participate in person in program activities, as the Design Scholar program will be run on the Berkeley campus.
The Design Scholar program is open to all continuing Berkeley undergraduate students in the College of Engineering, although freshmen are encouraged to wait until their sophomore or junior years to apply. Continuing Berkeley students outside of the College of Engineering with a track record of experience in design will also be considered. Student veterans, persons with disabilities, women, transfer students, and students of color are especially encouraged to apply.
Selection Criteria
Applicants should demonstrate their broad range of relevant skills, desire to learn about cutting-edge research in engineering design, and commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in the Berkeley engineering design community. Ideal candidates will have experience and/or interest in engineering design, such as human centered design, qualitative data collection and analysis, electro-mechanical-software prototyping, or data science topics applied to design. Ideal candidates will also demonstrate interest in pursuing or learning more about research and graduate school.
Applications for the summer 2022 cohort are due Sunday, March 20th at 11:59pm. Applicants will receive selection decisions in early April. Scholars will be matched with faculty mentors in April/May, after they are accepted into the program.
Students interested in participating in the Maker Launchpad in conjunction with the Design Scholar program must apply independently to both programs. Applications for the Maker Launchpad are now being accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis; please visit the Maker Launchpad website for more information.
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To learn more about the program, please contact Amy Dinh (amydinh@berkeley.edu). Learn more about the Scholars from prior cohorts here.