Venture Firm Poaches Engineering Talent With a Fellows Program

By On February 8, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Computer Science, Engineering, Fellowships, Information Systems Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Software Engineering

Venture Firm Kleiner Perkins is strategic in more ways than one. To attract top engineering talent, they’ve established the competitive KPCB Engineering Fellows Program. In this summer fellowship, engineering students spend a summer at Kleiner Perkins in the San Francisco Bay Area where they will be paid to develop their technical skills while being mentored by an engineering executive within the company. Fellows will also be invited to attend private events, such as talks by reps from Twitter, Groupon, Zynga and Chegg. They will also have the opportunity to network with other talented engineering students and technology luminaries at planned outings like a Giants game, camping in Big Basin, or a hackathon at Klout.

25 Fellows were just chosen from nearly 1000 applicants from over 100 universities. The universities the class of fellows are joining from are Franklin Olin, Rice, Princeton, UPenn, Carnegie Mellon, Brown, UCSD, University of Michigan, Duke, and University of Kentucky. According to TechCrunch, sample summer projects include working on an energy efficiency insight algorithm on Opower’s data platform, and developing graph analysis to provide data insight that will drive product designs at Klout.

Eligibility for the KPCB Engineering Fellows Program is open to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at U.S. universities who are studying computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics or fields related to software development. The next application deadline is likely to be October 2012.

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Cybersecurity Fellowships to Confront Cyber Threats

By On September 4, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Computer Science, Fellowships, Public Service, Technology

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is recruiting the best and brightest in computer science for fellowships in cybersecurity. DHS has recently established two new programs, the  Emerging Leaders in Cybersecurity and the Secretary’s Honors Program for Cybersecurity Professionals. Both are for recent graduates in Computer Science, Network and Computer Engineering, Information Assurance and other cyber-related disciplines.

Through rotational assignments, Fellows can contribute to a top secret forensics project with the Secret Service or respond to cyber threats with the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. has made progress in cybersecurity since the 9/11 attacks, but relies heavily on the private sector to protect infrastructure critical to national security. These fellowships are a chance for top students in computer science to seek a rewarding career in public service.

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Code For America: A New Kind of Fellowship!

By On September 2, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Computer Science, Fellowships, Public Service, Social Entrepreneurship, Technology

Code for America recruits talented web developers, designers, and entrepreneurs through its fellowship program to leverage the power of the internet to make governments more open and efficient. Fellows are competitively selected and are paid to work on innovative tech projects in cities such as Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington DC, and Boston. In doing so, they become civic leaders able to realize transformational change in government with technology.

In January, the fellows receive a one month orientation program at CfA’s Bay Area headquarters, including a guest speaker series with leaders in both government and the web industry. In February, fellows will be embedded on-site in their assigned cities, working with city officials hands-on to understand their needs and develop the project. See the 2011 11-month program schedule. Fellows receive a stipend of $35,000, travel expenses, and healthcare benefits.

Jennifer Pahlka, Executive Director of CfA, wrote:

“Our fellows are trained to ask questions first, code later. Throughout the year our teams in Seattle and Philadelphia conducted extensive, on-the-ground user research, developing a deep understanding of how to empower local civic leaders. What they learned was that there was a great amount of energy and enthusiasm in both cities for civic participation, but they lacked some modern tools to turn those ideas into action.” Read more.

Sounds very cool to us. We hope there will be a Code for New Zealand one day!

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