Vest Scholars

Charles M. Vest NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering International Scholarships

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering is one of eight universities in the United States establishing Vest Scholarships at their institutions. This new scholarship program, endorsed by the NAE and the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering and named after outgoing National Academy of Engineering (NAE) President Charles M. Vest, will foster international collaborations among graduate students whose studies are focused on tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges.

USC Viterbi and the other participating universities will host Vest Scholars for one expense-paid year to pursue research opportunities related to the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering, 14 “game-changing” goals that address global issues in order to improve life in the 21st century. At USC Viterbi, Vest Scholars may research a number of these challenges:

• Securing cyberspace and digital assets
• Reverse-engineering the brain
• Enhancing virtual reality

In the first year of this program, USC Viterbi will accept applications from students currently enrolled at the institutions that participated in the 2013 Global Grand Challenges Summit held in London. In future years, the program will be expanded to additional institutions.

Other participating schools are Duke University, Illinois Institute of Technology, MIT, North Carolina State University, Olin College, California Institute of Technology and the University of Washington.

Additional details about the Vest Scholarships and application requirements can be found at vestscholars.org.