Draper Welcomes Next Class of Draper Fellows Beginning Fall 2018

CAMBRIDGE, MA—This summer, 32 scholars hailing from a cross-section of seven prominent United States universities will be welcomed to the Draper Fellow Program, which supports graduate study in engineering and the sciences at select universities. The Draper Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for students to benefit from not only immersion in their university’s academic research environment, but also from Draper’s facilities, collective knowledge and experience. With this latest round of Fellows, the program has now selected a total of 1,200 students to collaborate with universities to conduct research.

Since 1974, the Draper Fellow Program has supported exceptional graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in engineering and the sciences. Draper Fellow Alumni are from both civilian and military backgrounds and excel worldwide in the technical, corporate, government, academic and entrepreneurship sectors.

“One of the main goals of the Draper Fellow Program has been to engage one of the nation’s most important assets, its engineering and science graduate students,” said Sheila Hemami, Director of Strategic Technical Opportunities at Draper. “Given the caliber of our incoming class of Fellows, we are looking forward to their contributions across a broad range of problems and to working with them as they apply their skills in scientific inquiry and innovation.”

Draper Fellows work closely with Draper technical staff to develop state-of-the-art technologies in world-class laboratories, and their scholarly outputs often go beyond top-tier journal papers and conference presentations to include prototypes, testbeds and field implementations. Each Draper Fellow conducts research under the supervision of both a university faculty advisor and a Draper supervisor who is a member of Draper’s technical staff in an area of mutual interest.

Those areas at Draper include organ-on-a-chip devices and microfluidics (in Biomedical Solutions); aerospace engineering, human spaceflight and celestial and spaceflight mechanics (in Space Systems); 3D printing, mechatronics and additive manufacturing (in Materials Engineering and Microfabrication); and wearable sensor systems, assistive devices and exoskeletons (in Human-Centered Solutions).

“The Draper Fellowship empowers these outstanding young people with the freedom to innovate and explore their talents in collaboration with leading technical experts,” Hemami added. “We look forward to what they will accomplish.”

Details about the program, including how to apply, are available at Draper.com. Find a full listing with bios of the 2018 Draper Fellows here.