Dr. Linda S. Schadler, dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, is charting an ambitious vision to dramatically grow enrollment, expand and upgrade facilities, and focus on excellence. The Dean’s Excellence fund allows Dr. Schadler to allocate funding where it will have the greatest immediate impact.

Scholarships in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences offer donors a way to support the next generation of STEM leaders. CEMS students have chosen fields of study that will enable them to shape the future of our world as society faces ever-larger challenges, such as utilizing our limited resources more efficiently, reducing the human race footprint on the planet, and developing new and more powerful computing tools that allow us to solve problems faster and more efficiently.

Donors can choose to fund scholarships in many ways. Some examples are:

• In support of an academic program or department
• For students who demonstrate merit or a financial need
• For students from a geographical area
• In memory or in honor of an individual

Gifts can be directed to existing scholarship funds, or new scholarships can be created and named based on specific giving thresholds. Please feel free to contact Charley Thompson at 434-825-9106 or Jenny.Weatherholtz@uvm.edu for more information.

Increasingly, research is no longer the privilege of graduate students and student-faculty collaboration is taking place earlier and earlier in the academic career of CEMS students. This is a natural extension of the strong relationships built between students and research faculty. One opportunity includes the Richard Barrett Research Program.

Learn more about undergraduate research at CEMS

An important component of education is the application of theory into practice. This is modeled in the curriculum with service-learning and the first-year and senior capstone project challenges, but students are also passionate about their involvement with such groups as the Alternative Energy Racing Organization (AERO), a student run group that works for the advocacy, research, and development of alternative energy drive systems. Modeled after a progressive engineering firm AERO’s primary goal is to design, build, test, and race a highly competitive vehicle in the annual International Formula-Hybrid competition.

Student groups like AERO are partially funded by the Student Government Association, but the full scope of their plans can only be realized with philanthropic support from others.

Learn more about our student clubs and organizations

This creative space is where cutting-edge technology meets engineering design and artistic creation. 3D imaging, scanning, and printing have enabled an accelerated pace in the iterative design process and voices from disparate origins are blending to create stylish design and creative solutions to technical and practical challenges. Additional equipment being sought includes a water jet cutter, vinyl cutter, die cut machine, sewing machine, computer stations, and software.

Learn more about the FabLab

This discretionary fund is managed by students with the intent of improving the experience of students during the academic year. Whether it is supporting guest speakers, traveling to events, computers or furniture for the student lounge, or a coffee social hour, this is an important way for students to advance their sense of community in this college.

CEMS can boast an impressive array of community-based activities including FIRST Technical Challenge, the Governor’s Institute in Engineering, MATHCOUNTS, Engineer’s Week, Champlain Maker Faire, and the Vermont High School Math Contest. All of these are deeply rewarding experiences for faculty and staff and they build meaningful relationships across that state. Funding for these programs is derived from the generous benefactors across the spectrum.

When students incorporate experiential learning into their academic curriculum, they gain rich perspective of the praxis of knowledge being applied in the dynamic settings of the workplace. Previewing what a career might look like, students gain comfort and confidence that they can make the leap from the classroom to their future. Further, these internships are valuable at helping UVM and the private sector to help meet the needs of the state of Vermont in its quest to emphasize STEM career development.

The senior engineering design courses rely heavily on external clients and donors to sponsor projects.  Clients can propose projects by submitting an online application that defines the problem they are looking to solve and a funding commitment.  The SEED instructor will work with potential clients to focus the problem statement into realistic projects and put together a team of engineering students that will solve the problem over 2 semesters.  The SEED program also accepts donations to support projects submitted by faculty, students, non-profits or other community members who do not have the financial resources to support a project.

Learn more about SEED and our other capstone programs