Laidlaw Scholars
The Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Program provides students with hands-on research experience and leadership training to prepare them to serve as future leaders in their respective fields. The program is made possible by the generous funding of Lord Irvine Laidlaw of Rothiemay through the Laidlaw Foundation.
The Laidlaw Scholarship funds undergraduate students over the course of two consecutive years. Scholars are supported for up to six weeks the first summer, working closely with a faculty mentor of their choosing. The second summer Scholars will take part in an engaging project to build their leadership skills outside of the lab. Laidlaw Scholars also participate in activities to promote their development as leaders, including workshops, trainings, and other more informal mentoring opportunities. Following completion of the program, scholars will receive a transcript notation identifying them as a Laidlaw Scholar.
Support for the scholars includes:
- Living Stipend: Approximately $4200/year
- Research & Travel Stipend: Up to $650/year to be used over the course of the two summer experiences
- Faculty mentors will receive a monetary research award
- 80 Hours of Leadership Training - Over the course of the two years, covering leadership topics from self-reflection to public speaking.
- Ethics Program with The Oxford Character Project.
- One summer research period of six weeks where you will undertake a research project while working in collaboration with a faculty mentor.
- A Leadership in Action (LiA) component over six weeks in your second summer. This is most often abroad (please see the LiA handbook for exceptions).
- Cultural Immersion Experience most often while working with a community abroad.
- Dawn earned a doctorate in higher education research from Harvard University. She is interested in college-choice decisions, financial aid issues, retention, management information, quality assurance, assessment and evaluation. She provides guidance across the university on issues relating to institutional research, outcomes assessment, and evaluation.
- Andrew has a B.S. from MIT in Biology and a background in social-impact enterprises, wind-power generation, user-computer-interfaces, as well as computer network design. He joined the program from Venture Café, which in partnership with Cambridge Innovation Center connects and educates the entrepreneurial and innovation community in locations on four continents.
