We believe that SMU can provide a great setting for a Grand Challenges Scholars program. While many of our engineering students are already involved in some, if not all, of the required GCSP components, we believe the NAE GCSP will provide a framework for our best students to complete all of the components with the added benefit of focusing their efforts on a problem that has been determined to be one of the science and engineering challenges of the 21st century. For the hands-on research component of the GCSP, one of the unique advantages that SMU can provide for our Grand Challenges Scholars is access to great mentors from the local business community. Dallas has many high tech companies that are specifically addressing problems associated with the grand challenges, providing internships and co-op opportunities for projects directly related to the Grand Challenges Scholars research projects. We also have many faculty that are working on problems directly related to the grand challenges, providing mentoring and infrastructure for the students to carry out their research projects. We believe the GCSP will provide a unique experience for the participants because it allows the students to not only help solve a problem, but it allows them to take an active role in defining The problem. Many times in undergraduate research projects, and even graduate research projects, the students are given a specific problem to solve based on the deliverables of the research grant or contract that is supporting the work. While problem solving is a necessary and important skill, it is even more important to be able to determine and define the problems that will have significant impact. Graduates from the Grand Challenges Scholars Program will be ideally positioned to define and solve the most pressing challenges. Entrepreneurship is part of the university as a whole. There are a wide range of courses dealing with entrepreneurship in 5 of the 7 schools on campus. The Grand Challenges Scholars will have a multitude of opportunities to both learn and practice entrepreneurship. Dallas is one of the most entrepreneurial cities in the country. Because of SMU’s liberal arts history and tradition, there are many opportunities for students to study and be involved in public policy, ethics, human behavior, and business law, as well as be exposed to literature and the arts. We believe the GCSP will provide even more incentive and structure for the students to obtain as well rounded an educational experience as possible. We will work closely with the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity in the Lyle School to meet the service learning and global dimension components of the GCSP. The mission of the Hunter &
Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity is to develop and scale sustainable and affordable technologies and solutions addressing the challenges of the global poor, in perfect alignment with several of the grand challenges. This Institute applies engineering problem solving in this context to challenges in refugee camps across the globe as well as prototyping and addressing problems in Dallas’s own backyard. The Grand Challenges Scholars will bring much needed engineering expertise to these problems.