Corporations Invest in Graduate Students

With fellowship support ...

Like many graduate students, Jessica Crouch applied for a fellowship even before she began her first semester in the UNC Computer Science Department. Rather than exploring the traditional avenues of government and academic foundation funding, however, Jessica set her sights on a corporate fellowship. Lucent Technologies is glad she did. Through their Bell Labs research and development branch, Lucent rewarded her endeavors with a four-year fellowship that includes tuition, an annual stipend of $17,000, books, fees, and related travel expenses. The fellowship is an extension of the company's Graduate Research Program for Women, designed to "identify and develop research ability in women and to increase female representation in science and engineering." Jessica explains: "Bell Labs has traditionally been a great supporter of research and education. I think this fellowship is in keeping with their desire to support and promote education in the technical fields." In Jessica's own academic career, it has certainly had its intended impact: "The fellowship has given me the freedom to work on the research projects that I found most interesting and promising, without regard to the projects' funding situations." The stability and freedom offered by the Lucent fellowship has enabled Jessica to immerse herself in the research that interests her most: 3-D medical imaging. She is currently working on developing computer algorithms that will automate the alignment of multiple images.

But the Lucent Fellowship has impacted Jessica in other ways besides funding; it has also introduced her to the corporate computer industry. One of the opportunities that the fellowship offered was the chance to spend a summer working at Bell Labs. Although Jessica was not very familiar with the computer industry before her arrival, the experience really opened her eyes to what Bell Labs had to offer. Jessica was assigned a mentor from the Bell Labs staff who worked closely with her throughout the summer, and she came to really appreciate the research setting: "The working atmosphere at Bell Labs is quite similar to that of a research-oriented department like the Computer Science Department at Carolina. Although there is some management oversight of the research, staff members enjoy quite a bit of freedom in choosing their research directions."

Lucent is quick to point out that fellowship recipients are under no obligation to seek employment with the company upon completion of graduate studies. Whether Jessica will choose an industrial or academic career path is still unknown. What is clear is that both she and Lucent Technologies have already benefited from getting to know one another.

... and hands on training

Some corporate connections involve whole departments rather than specific individuals. The UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Statistics, for instance, has had an informal connection with several RTP companies for almost 20 years. Currently, graduate students John Johnson and Xin Ge are working for SAS Institute, Inc., Kouros Owzar for Glaxo-Wellcome, and Nick Locantore for Waratah Corporation. Instead of supporting themselves by teaching (like many of their peers), Kouros, Nick, John, and Xin are gaining practical corporate experience in their field even as they work toward their degrees. John and Xin's employment with the Cary-based SAS Institute, for instance, is bringing them into contact with cutting edge statistical software packages. SAS Institute, on the other hand, is gaining advanced statistical help from these part-time employees. At the same time, SAS may be becoming acquainted with future employees. Bob Derr, for instance, graduated from Carolina's Statistics Department last year and is now employed full time by the SAS Institute.

The connection with these Triangle companies is also one that benefits the University as a whole. Dr. Doug Kelly, the Chair of the Department of Statistics, explains: "This sort of employment frees up resources that the department can use to attract and support other students. It allows us to provide more support for our graduate students."

Despite its longevity, however, this corporate connection is still in the process of being defined. Dr. Kelly points out, "The connection itself is rather informal. The department has contacts and facilitates the relationship for interested students, but the students ultimately negotiate as free agents with whatever companies appeal to them." Even though this allows for a certain amount of freedom, it is Kelly's long-term vision that it will develop into a more stable connection. Eventually, he hopes that one of the companies might give an endowment to fund a fellowship. "From their standpoint," he points out, "this makes a lot of sense. It could secure a continuous stream of knowledgeable student employees for years to come." In the meantime, both students and companies continue to benefit from their interaction.

- John Adrian

© 2002, The Graduate School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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