The Fowler School of Engineering connects students and faculty with industry partners to solve real-world challenges and spark innovation through initiatives like internships, capstone projects, and research collaborations. These collaborations prepare students with practical skills while giving companies access to emerging talent and fresh ideas.
Opportunities for engagement
Your company can become a CEIP member and work with engineering students at Chapman through:
- Internships: Provide students with hands-on work experience.
- Partnerships and research collaborations: Partner with faculty on cutting-edge research.
- Scholarships and sponsorships: Engage with students through hackathons, networking events, or workshops.
Internships
Industry engagement with Fowler School of Engineering through internships is vital to our students’ overall success during the academic year, summer and post-graduation.
Companies who wish to advertise job and/or internship opportunities should connect with our office of Career and Professional Development. They will work with you directly on both promoting specific job opportunities or internships and recruiting Chapman talent.
Partnerships and research collaborations
Our faculty values industry partnerships and prepares students to collaborate with professional companies through the following initiatives:
Project “challenges”
Fowler School of Engineering works with corporate partners/CEIP members to solve project “challenges” by building sponsored projects into coursework.
- Corporate partners/CEIP members interested in this opportunity can purchase a slot in our “Challenges” course sequence, with our Machine Learning Challenge being a notable opportunity for companies possessing interesting data sets.
- Currently, additional programs are being built around additive manufacturing, mechanical testing of materials, software engineering, electronics and 3D design.
- The typical fee for Challenge Sponsorship is $75k/year.
For more information, contact Anthony Lemus, Fowler’s Director of Industry Relations at anlemus@chapman.edu.
Machine learning (ML) challenge initiative
Through the ML challenge initiative, students are provided access to data from a corporate partner under the guidance of Chapman faculty members who have expertise in machine learning.
Students then apply machine learning tools to the data over the course of an entire semester and then present their findings to the partner at the semester’s end.
Grand Challenges Initiative (GCI)
The Grand Challenges Initiative (GCI) develops future science and engineering leaders through hands-on, team-based problem-solving.
- Students in the program collaborate on innovative solutions to real-world challenges.
- Under the mentorship of our world-class faculty, they explore the nature of the challenge, learn sophisticated and interdisciplinary methods for problem-solving, and pursue ideas with the power to transform.
- Over four semesters, they develop project management, teamwork, and communication skills.
Benefits of the GCI partnership
As a GCI partner with Fowler School of Engineering, you get:
- A team of 4-6 students who will spend three semesters working towards a solution for
a problem that you propose.
- World-class faculty and postdoctoral fellows will facilitate the team’s contributions.
- Full access to the equipment available in the Grand Challenges Initiative
Makerspace and in the new Keck Center for Science and Engineering in support of your project. - The opportunity to identify and begin training promising students for summer internships and employment after graduation.
- This includes invitations to two career networking events per year.
- Regular written updates and an end-of-semester presentation of progress.
- Invitations to Grand Challenges Initiative lectures and other special events.
Become a GCI partner
We are seeking partners from the community to propose challenges for student teams. To become a partner, you must:
- Provide a brief written description of the proposed project and access to any relevant background information.
- Meet with the team and their faculty mentor once or twice per semester by video conference or in person, to discuss the project.
- Make a $5,000 philanthropic investment in the Grand Challenges Initiative (per team) in support of resources for the program and project.
Scholarships
Scholarships allow engineering students to pursue specific disciplines without the burden of tuition.
- Providing your support through scholarships is an outstanding way to build connections with students interested in various fields such as data science, biotechnology, computer engineering and AI.
- They also create valuable, long-term relationships with students throughout their college journey.
Companies interested in discussing scholarship programs that support their industry should contact Dean Tom Piechota at piechota@chapman.edu.
To learn more about Fowler School of Engineering scholarships, see our Scholarships page.
