The Student Initiatives Fund, established and funded by Hopkins engineering alumni and friends of the Whiting School, is designed to reward innovation and increase opportunities for students. 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.

Student Initiatives Fund Application for Funding >

The types of projects that are envisioned to garner support from the fund are those that:

• Create opportunities for students to build on theoretical engineering knowledge and classroom training with hands-on, practical application
• Are innovative, creative and self-motivated (i.e. not part of a course)
• Foster a collaborative environment across Johns Hopkins divisions or build community in the Whiting School or the Homewood campus
• Create new opportunities for engineering students to become leaders on and off campus

It will generally not fund:

• 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 comprised of 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 with budgets from $100 to $3,000 have been supported in the past; however, proposals with higher budgets may be considered. No more than one student participating in a group may have previously received or can concurrently receive funding for a project funded by the Student Initiatives Fund. To be considered for funding, please bring a completed application to the Whiting School Office of Academic Affairs in Shaffer Hall, Room 103. Students must obtain the support and signature of a faculty advisor.

If you have any questions about the Student Initiatives Fund application process, please contact Linda Moulton.