Four students selected as Stanford University Innovation Fellows

Four Grand Valley students have been selected to the University Innovation Fellows program at Stanford University, where they will work with students from other universities, faculty and administrators to create new learning opportunities.

All four of the students are part of the Frederik Meijer Honors College, including two students from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and two from the Seidman College of Business.

The students are:

     - Meredith Filter, sophomore, comprehensive science and art for teaching major

     - Dean Geschiere, freshman, finance and entrepreneurship major

     - Haley Jennings, junior, general management and entrepreneurship major

     - Madalyn Slubowski, sophomore, biology major

The students recently completed online training modules and will travel with Paul Lane, professor of marketing, and Kathryn Christopher, visiting professor of engineering and current University Innovation Fellow, to Palo Alto, California, for a four-day meeting with hundreds of other fellows. 

The group will spend time visiting Google, Microsoft and other innovative companies in the area.

While some fellows in the program work independently on their respective campuses, Grand Valley's group of students have formed a "Leadership Circle" and will also pair with a similar group of four students at UNAN-Nicaragua, the country's main public university. 

The students will return to campus after spring break, along with the students from Nicaragua.

Each of the students was formally selected as a University Innovation Fellow at a pinning ceremony on March 1 in the Honors College.

The fellowship program encourages students to work with faculty and administration to create chances for students at their schools to engage with innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking and creativity.

About the program:

The University Innovation Fellows program empowers students to become agents of change at their schools. The Fellows are a global community of students leading a movement to ensure that all students gain the necessary attitudes, skills and knowledge required to compete in the economy of the future. These student leaders from schools around the world create new opportunities that help their peers develop an entrepreneurial mindset, build creative confidence, seize opportunities, define problems and address global challenges.

Fellows are creating student innovation spaces, founding entrepreneurship organizations, hosting experiential events, and working with faculty and administrators to develop courses. They serve as advocates for lasting institutional change with academic leaders and represent their schools at national events.

The University Innovation Fellows is a program of Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school). The program was created as part of the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter), a five-year National Science Foundation grant.