We talk a lot about the ambition that Spiders share — it propels them to create new ideas and become leaders beyond our campus. Five students are demonstrating that quality as they join a global network of undergraduate changemakers as UR’s first University Innovation Fellows.

The program, run by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, connects students from 90 higher ed institutions in 13 countries and empowers them to advocate for innovation on their campuses. Juniors Xiaodi Hu, William Walker, and Bingjie Liu, and sophomores Kartikey Sharma and Sandeep Kumar are our influential representatives. 

"These are five students who have worked exceptionally hard to evaluate opportunities for innovation programming on our campus using the tools and resources of this global network,” said professor Todd Lookingbill, who serves as the UR team’s faculty advisor.

We can’t wait to see what this group does next!