Graduate students don’t simply provide extra brainpower for research. They set in motion a cycle that lifts the entire research and educational enterprise. They help realize their advisors’ research agendas by conducting experiments, creating simulations, and publishing papers. They enhance the quality of undergraduate education by serving as teaching assistants and mentoring undergraduates. For UVA’s faculty—world-class researchers who are also passionate teachers—the ability to recruit and work with outstanding graduate students is invaluable.

With this in mind, the School of Engineering and Applied Science launched the Graduate Fellows Initiative in October 2016 to create a $5 million fund to recruit the nation’s top graduate students, providing more than 100 first-year fellowships over a 10-year period.

“Our success over the next decade and beyond will be defined in part by the graduate students we recruit today,” said Craig Benson, the school’s dean. “We see leveraging graduate student excellence as one of the highest-value investments alumni and friends can make in helping us achieve national excellence in engineering research and education.”

Fellowships give faculty members the ability to recruit graduate students to ambitious, high-risk, high-promise projects regardless of the availability of grant funding from industry or the government. Without fellowships, these initiatives would remain dormant, and graduate students would go elsewhere.

The school’s supporters have responded enthusiastically to the graduate fellowship strategy. The campaign launched with a $1 million lead gift and other alumni and parents have committed an additional $900,000. Longtime benefactors Chip Blankenship (Engr ’92) and his wife, Belinda, have contributed to the fund, as have a number of alumni including Blaise Warren (Engr ’02) and his wife, Sarah. The Blankenships’ gift supports students in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Warrens’ gift is designated for students in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “I was drawn to supporting graduate fellowships because it will help raise the Engineering School’s research profile in key growth areas,” Warren said. “I benefited tremendously from my engineering studies at UVA. I wanted to ensure that others have even better opportunities.”