Support for Under-Represented Groups in Engineering (SURGE) Fellowship

The Support for Under-Represented Groups in Engineering (SURGE) Fellowship Program is provided by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Engineering. It aims to increase the number of persons qualified for engineering faculty and research positions from underrepresented groups in engineering.

A SURGE Fellow draws support from the College of Engineering through its fellowship funds and the home department through assistantship funds for five years. In the first year, the college must provide a tuition and fee waiver and a fellowship stipend, currently $34,000, paid over 11 months. In the succeeding four years, the department provides the Fellow with the tuition and fee waiver, plus half-time assistantship funds for 11 months, and the college provides a supplementary $4,000 fellowship each year. Support will continue for five years maximum if satisfactory progress is maintained toward the doctoral degree.

Applicants must be United States citizens or have permanent resident status; must be entering a graduate engineering program and be interested in pursuing a doctoral degree full-time at Illinois. To increase the diversity of the engineering student body, preference will be given to members of one of the following groups underrepresented in engineering: women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, Latino/as, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, or Native Pacific Islanders.

Recipients

2023

Dakarai Crowder
Mitchell Hermon
Javier Nieto

2022

Ibtihal Ferwana
Chloe Makdad
Cody Rivera
Eleanor Wedell

2021

Rafael Fauza
Margaret Lawson
Brando Miranda
Malachi Phillips

2020

Rafael Fauza
Margaret Lawson
Brando Miranda
Malachi Phillips

2019

Rafael Fauza
Samuel Grayson
Margaret Lawson
Brando Miranda
Malachi Phillips

2018 Margaret Lawson
Brando Miranda
Malachi Phillips
2017 Daniel McKee
Meghan Shanks
2015 Giordano Salvador
2014 Alex Morales
James Stevens
2013 Jessica Mullins
Imani Palmer
2012 Simon Garcia De Gonzalo
2011 Robert Deloatch
2009 Steven Dalton
Alexander Mont
2008 Lynda Yang