Our Program

The Grand Challenges program is a living learning community that started in the Fall 2012. This program is open to all majors since every discipline has something to contribute to these challenges. In the twenty-first century, it’s impossible to solve any of these problems without considering the engineering, science, business, and policy challenges that accompany them.

Our program has three core components: living, learning, and leading. Once you’re accepted to the program, you will live with other program participants in a newly renovated residence hall, Howell, and take classes  together. As part of those classes, you’ll be divided into teams to complete coursework that will challenge you to develop your problem-solving skills to find potential solutions to real-world problems. In both semesters of your coursework, developing leadership skills and team camaraderie will be vital to your success. At the end of your first year, you and your group will pitch a project proposal for funding more work on your concept. The winners can use the awarded funds to continue growing their freshman design projects, limited only by ambition and imagination.

These grand challenges aren’t problems that can be solved in a year, but we hope that this program will give you the tools and resources you need to take on challenges of this magnitude in the future. By the end of the year, you will have put your unique skills to good use and created something that is designed to improve the world around you.