Project Highlight: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Scholarship and Fellowship Program
When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed in 2002, its leaders realized immediately that the science and technology workforce demands would be great. Like many federal agencies, they needed to prepare a new generation of scientists and engineers, trained in the areas that matter most to homeland security.
The answer? A new scholarship and fellowship program, designed to attract students into DHS-relevant research at colleges and universities nationwide.
And who better to design and implement such a program than an organization with 60 years of experience in the business: Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). Using established, proven processes for managing such a program, ORAU was able to quickly launch the DHS Scholarship and Fellowship Program in 2003. We condensed a one-year startup process into three months.
ORAU's experience was critical for success with the DHS program. We have application processing and review models that have proven effective for managing other large national competitions like the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which typically receives 6,000 plus applications. The infrastructure, people, hardware, and software was in place when we needed it.
The DHS program is administered through ORAU's Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) through a Work for Other's contract.
While ORISE followed its well-established outreach methods to announce this new program, clearly the strong sense of wanting to help secure the homeland felt by all Americans after 9/11 made this program very exciting for many people. In the first year, ORISE processed more than 2,400 applicants. Of those, 101 received the DHS education award.
These exceptional students receive a monthly stipend, tuition and fees, an internship at a DHS-designated facility, and potential DHS employment after graduation. Their fields of study range from chemical, electrical, and civil engineering to physics, mathematics, animal science, international relations, and clinical psychology.
For more information about this program, visit the DHS Scholarship and Fellowship Program's Web site.
