Discovering study locations through Innovation Fellows
Jan. 2, 2019
By Alex Haro, graphic design senior
Why applied learning?
Thanks to our location in Kansas' largest city, Shockers in every major can gain the
skills, connections and confidence needed for career success — before graduation —
with employers in virtually every industry.
Alex Haro is a senior studying graphic design at Wichita State.
He is a design intern in the Office of Strategic Communications.
Maggie Brown is a sophomore aerospace engineer major and is one of a only six Wichita
State students chosen as a University Innovation Fellow.
University Innovation Fellows (UIF) is an organization that is funded through Stanford
University that’s all about creating positive change throughout university campuses.
Maggie, with her team, finished a 6-week training on how to identify on-campus problems
and work on fixing them. One of the issues Maggie wants to tackle is a student awareness
campaign, called Shocker Study Spaces, for on-campus social and study spaces. While
her team was interviewing students, they found out that when students have down time
after classes or want to study somewhere that’s not where they live, they come to
campus. When they do that they usually go to the RSC or the library, but some students
can say that these places can be loud or crowded. Throughout Maggie’s and the UIF’s
time and training, they put out an effort to find different places on campus for students
to study.
Maggie says the skills she's learning as an innovation fellow will apply to other
areas of her studies and life. She hopes to someday work for NASA or SpaceX.
Maggie found out about UIF after competing at the Koch Innovation Challenge with five
classmates when professor Gary Brooking told them if they wanted to continue doing
working on innovative ideas, they should look into the UIF program.