Supporting Scholarship with Nice Scholars and CoSearch NDSU
The NICE Explorers is the first of 10 initiatives launching in the spring of 2019 at NDSU. Click here to see all 10 initiatives as they launch.
Last week, we announced the launch of the NICE Explorers to help students connect with ideas and change-makers around the country. We’ve had a huge response with 14 applicants in the first week alone!
One secret with this program is that by sending students out to learn, they come back with excitement and ideas that are contagious. In this way, we use our work for an outsized impact. We change the change-makers, in a sense.
This is the “Archimedes Lever” strategy, which I wrote about here. Archimedes of Syracuse was a famous scientist in ancient Greece. He said: “Give me a place to stand, and with a lever I will move the whole world.” He proved you could move massive objects with a small amount of force (and a lever). This week, we announce projects that will solve massive problems with a small amount of research (and funding).
Introducing NICE Scholars
NICE Scholars supports scholarship in the areas of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. An emphasis is placed on research that informs how North Dakota, and the Fargo-Moorhead community in particular, should support the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The NICE Scholars program awards up to $10,000 per calendar year in funds for NDSU researchers, both faculty and student researchers. These funds are a 1:1 match with NDSU departments to encourage campus-wide investment in innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. In this way, we are able to use our lever at the future NICE Center to focus efforts and funds around big challenges facing entrepreneurship in our state and community.
Researchers who have support from at least one department may apply for matching funds here. There are two application deadlines. The deadline for the first cohort is May 23rd. The second deadline for the second cohort is October 1st.
Launching CoSearch — A Research Competition April 12–13
Offering funds will help promote research, but we thought that we could do more to stimulate research and encourage researchers to think entrepreneurially. That’s why we’re excited to also launch CoSearch NDSU.
CoSearch NDSU is a 30-hour research competition that we first introduced two weeks ago. Researchers from NDSU, as well as researchers from around the community and state, are invited to come with, or without, a research idea. The participants share their research ideas or listen to the ideas of others. Then, they join a team and work from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening to develop an interdisciplinary research proposal that will be presented to a panel of judges and community members.
Reserve your spot as a CoSearch NDSU participant or an attendee to the Saturday showcase.
CoSearch NDSU participants will be perfectly prepared to apply for the NICE Scholar funds as well as additional funds that will be made available by NDSU. In this way, we are again working to build a lever that will encourage interdisciplinary research on issues of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Learn more about CoSearch in the video below or our original introduction.
Building Our Levers
The future NICE Center wants to help build the scaffolding for a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem. To do so, we need to build levers and use our resources for outsized impact.
We believe one of the best ways to improve innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship at NDSU is to support the development and scholarship of our faculty. When they become more innovative, creative and entrepreneurial, they can share their knowledge, passion and experience with their students and other faculty members.
The NICE Scholars and CoSearch NDSU do exactly that. They help researchers think entrepreneurially and create scholarship that will leave an outsized impact on our ecosystem for years to come.
Want to Help Us Build Our Lever?
We need as many researchers to know about these efforts. Please share this post with them and encourage them to apply for the NICE Scholars and for CoSearch NDSU.
To learn more, read about our other 10 initiatives and subscribe to our uncommonly insightful newsletter.
