Photo by FIU News: “This year’s DOE Fellows at an induction ceremony in November.”

Photo by FIU News: “This year’s DOE Fellows at an induction ceremony in November.”

Three CEE undergraduate students have been chosen to be a part of the newest 12-student cohort of FIU’s Department of Energy (DOE) Fellowship. The lucky inductees are: Christopher Strand, Alexis Smoot, and Sarah Bird.

This amazing fellowship gives minority students the chance to learn current scientific and engineering industry practices hands-on in ways they can not do in a traditional classroom setting.

The two to four-year program consists of hands-on work and research experience alongside a scientist/engineer mentor, a paid 10-week summer internship at DOE sites, a tuition waiver for graduate students, and the opportunity to attend/present at energy conferences. This is all in addition to a paid, 20-hour/week student research assistantship at FIU’s Applied Research Center (ARC) in the Engineering Campus during the school year.

The DOE Fellowship strives to drive up the numbers of minority students in STEM disciplines, produce STEM students that are better prepared for the workforce, and attract young graduates to jobs in the DOE to fill the current age gap.

The program accepts applications from students of the following STEM majors: biomedical engineering, civil/structural engineering, construction engineering, environmental engineering, environmental sciences, electrical/computer engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, math, and information technology.

Since the fellowship’s inception in 2007, 108 FIU minority students of various STEM majors have been inducted. After graduating, previous undergraduate fellows have gone on to obtain Master’s or PhD degrees from FIU, MIT, Stanford, and Virginia Tech – to name a few.

The current hiring rate for DOE Fellows is over 99%, with some being hired directly by the DOE or its affiliates. Thirteen fellows have also been hired by other federal, state or local governments including: the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Commerce.

We encourage more CEE undergraduate and graduate students to apply to the DOE Fellowship program in upcoming years as it clearly provides invaluable opportunities to advance in STEM careers.

To learn more about the DOE Fellowship program and apply, please visit: fellows.fiu.edu.