The School of Informatics and Computing has formed a partnership with FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to offer nearly 20 scholarships to high school graduates or home schooled students from the state of Indiana.
FIRST® is an international, K-12 not-for-profit organization founded to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. The FIRST® Tech Challenge and FIRST® Robotics Challenge are two competitions geared toward students grades 7-12, and they challenge students to design, build, and program robots to compete against other teams’ designs. The competitions are focused on inspiring students to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills and foster innovation. Students who have participated in FTC® or FRC® will be eligible to apply for one of 18 scholarships offered by SoIC.
“Our partnership with FIRST® is a clear example of our dedication to STEM fields, and the scholarships will provide opportunities for students to pursue their dreams,” says Raj Acharya, dean of SoIC. “FIRST® provides a great foundation for students of all ages and will allow the next generation of SoIC students to find success in the classroom.”
Four $5,000 and four $2,500 annual scholarships for Intelligent Systems Engineering will available, as will 10 $2,000 annual scholarships for Computer Science or Informatics. The scholarships will be renewable for a total of four years.
Students who have been admitted to SoIC at IU Bloomington as a full-time student will be eligible to receive the scholarships, but the student will not need to have been admitted at the time he/she applies for the scholarship. Applications for the SoIC FIRST® Scholarship are available from Dec. 15-March 1.
“At FIRST, our mission is to inspire young people to pursue careers in STEM,” says FIRST® president Donald E. Bossi. “The School of Informatics and Computing is helping FIRST® students pursue the next steps toward becoming leaders in their fields.”
Visit soic.indiana.edu to learn more about SoIC’s undergraduate programs in computer science, informatics, and intelligent systems engineering.
Contact Hilary Horrey (horrey@iu.edu, 812-855-6605) for more information about the FIRST® scholarships.