The NAE Grand Challenge Scholars Program, which is within the Cook Grand Challenge Honors Program, is an initiative of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and is designed to prepare students to be the generation that solves the grand challenges facing society. To complete this ambitious program, students must meet with our Honors faculty to form an individualized plan of curricular and extracurricular experiences that must include:
Interested in the Grand Challenge Scholars Program?
Please use the link below if you are a current engineering student who is interested in participating in the Grand Challenge Scholars Program. We will then contact you to set a meeting to discuss your interest further. Please contact Jessica Greene (jgreene@utk.edu) if you have any questions.
Grand Challenge Scholars Program Interest Form
Tracking Progress
NAE Grand Challenge Scholar candidates meet with the Honors faculty periodically to set short term goals and track progress towards the long term goal of completing all requirements. Students graduating from this program will be designated a NAE Grand Challenge Scholar and recognized individually during Commencement. They will also be nationally recognized with their peers from other participating schools on the NAE website.
NAE Grand Challenge Scholars are expected to fulfill one of these requirements at the extensive level, two at the intermediate level, and two at the introductory level. View examples of effort levels for NAE Scholars.
The overarching Cook Grand Challenge Honors Program has been designed in an effort to motivate larger numbers of students to contribute to solving the Grand Challenges. In addition to completing honors coursework, all engineering honors students must now also complete two breadth requirements which are chosen from the five curricular and extracurricular experiences listed above. We hope that many of these students will discover the value in broadening their education in this way and choose to complete the NAE Grand Challenge Scholars Program.