No problem is too big for Tulane students to solve

Jamie Logan
newwave@tulane.edu
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—Beth Wee, director of the Grand Challenge Scholars Program at Tulane
“The Grand Challenge Scholars Program was put together to train students for the 21st century.”

From engineering better medicines to finding ways to provide access to clean water, global problems are getting attention from Tulane University students.

Tulane is the newest member of the national Grand Challenge Scholars Program, organized by the National Academy of Engineering to tackle 14 of the world’s most pressing challenges.

“The Grand Challenge Scholars Program was put together to train students for the 21st century,” said associate dean Beth Wee, director of the Grand Challenge Scholars Program at Tulane.

A steering committee of six Tulane School of Science and Engineering faculty members will guide selected students during their junior and senior years to develop proposals around the challenges. A call for applicants will be made this fall.

“The program requires five things: research experience, an interdisciplinary curriculum, entrepreneurship, a global dimension and service learning,” Wee said. While students in any major may apply, those applying “should be engaged in research, service, interdisciplinary coursework, entrepreneurship, and some aspect of global education.”

Tulane’s Grand Challenge Scholars Program is designed to work in an interdisciplinary fashion looping in several departments across campus.

“We have great students,” said Wee who will join academics from around the world at the third biennial Global Grand Challenges Summit this summer. “This program will give them a reason to be even greater and allow them to be recognized at a national level.”

For more information about the program or for details on how to apply, contact Beth Wee at bwee@tulane.edu.

Jamie Logan is a senior majoring in English and classical studies with a minor in psychology at Tulane University.

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