Scholarships and Fellowships
The IDC Foundation has funded $3 million in scholarships and fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students at Columbia GSAPP, NYIT, NYU Tandon, Pratt Institute, and The Cooper Union. How the scholarships and fellowships are disbursed – and to whom – has always been determined by the recipient institutions. Scholarships are used to reduce the cost of tuition; fellowships support research initiatives. In some cases, the stipends are need-based; in others, merit-based. In some cases, they are awarded in larger amounts to attract or support specific students; in others, they are awarded in smaller increments to address a broader set of needs.
“Being a scholarship recipient pushes me to make the most out of my academic career and will continue to push me to reach all my goals and ambitions. Thanks to your help, I am currently doing research work and will have one of my projects professionally fabricated and installed in NYCxDesign Week.”
Hannah Bacsoka, IDC Foundation Scholar, Pratt Institute
Examples of how IDC Foundation-funded fellowships have been used include the following:
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A fellowship at NYU Tandon has supported the multi-year graduate education and research of Keundeok Park. He was the primary co-author, with his faculty advisor, of a 2022 article for the American Society of Civil Engineers titled “Toward Intelligent Agents to Detect Work Pieces and Processes in Modular Construction: An Approach to Generate Synthetic Training Data.” He was a co-presenter on a related topic at the International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction in 2021 in Dubai, UAE.
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A fellowship at NYU Tandon has supported the multi-year graduate education and research of Siyuan Xiang into 3D object understanding and visualization for construction robotics. Following graduation, she will continue her work on 3D object understanding and visualization as an applied research scientist at Amazon.
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IDC Foundation fellowship recipients at Columbia GSAPP receive tuition remission and non-tuition financial aid for their research and participation in the GSAPP Housing Lab. Recent research by one of the fellows focused on expanding the affordable housing bulk within New York City’s limits through the implementation of Accessory Dwelling Units as well as explorations in sustainable modular construction details. Research by another fellow focused on housing policy and public health with the goal of creating more equitable and sustainable housing.
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IDC Foundation Innovation Fellowships at The Cooper Union provide crucial aid to selected rising seniors, as they advance their skills in transformative multifaceted work and strive to address environmental, technological, or other societal problems in their final year as undergraduates. The Fellowships provide all recipients with full-tuition scholarships (including other financial aid) and cover some expenses for their research projects.
“Thank you so much for enabling me to pursue this project to help wheelchair users ascend and descend staircases without needing to conduct uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous seat transfers into conventional stairlifts. This scholarship has inspired me to pursue a PhD in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on healthcare applications.”
Raphael Kepecs, IDC Foundation Innovation Fellow, The Cooper Union